Climate adaptation, aesthetics, community engagement, identity, urban development, quality of life – it all comes together in the plans to make ceramics a visible part of the Danish town of Middelfart. Travelling the new ceramics route.

Mariko Wada (b. 1972) has captured a lasting representation of her footprints in an outdoor art project in northern Aarhus that may seen as a principal piece in her ceramic practice. On a windy October day, I meet Mariko Wada in the inspiring and community-oriented town of Nye north of Aarhus, more specifically in the open but shaded passage where her ceramic piece Terrain (2021) is mounted in the ceiling. We both tilt our heads back to explore the installation.

With their presence in the public space, decorative projects, art installations and building-integrated art can expose a wide audience to art and culture in everyday settings. With this current theme, Formkraft focuses on the atmosphere that crafts can bring to the public space by virtue of its inherent material culture, techniques and aesthetics. And why it is more relevant than ever to include craft makers and designers when state-owned buildings are renovated, when municipalities develop decorative projects and when private actors seek to imbue the modern city with soul and sensuous qualities.