KH prisen. Statens Kunstfond. Le Bureau.

KH Prisen/Statens Kunstfond. Le Bureau. Photo: Maria Tuxen Hedegaard

Theme:
Statement Design & Craft

‘There is a forward-looking vision in critical design, in thought-provoking statement design. Here, common assumptions are challenged,‘Lars Dybdahl, design researcher, author and member of Formkraft’s editorial board. (Quote: From William Morris to Global Goals: Lars Dybdahl on the role and potential of Danish design in society.)

Through several articles, Formkraft has highlighted how crafts and design create identity, cohesion and value in all aspects of society, from health and well-being to urban spaces and sustainability. With this theme, Formkraft wants to focus on works that change our common perception of the world through precise comments, materials or expressions in order to highlight the connections between crafts, design and society.

How can Craft and Design change ways of thinking? And what role do practitioners play in society now and in the future?

Look forward to articles such as:

Author Kristine Harper has interviewed Le Bureau, creators of the KH Award 2025, about design that is never neutral.

Researcher Maria Fabricius Hansen draws parallels between today’s focus on nature as a co-creator and the worship of nature in the 1500s to understand the role of designers and craftspeople today.

Author and architect Marie-Louise Høstbo introduces statement design with examples from past and present practitioners.

Formkraft also publishes exhibition and book reviews. Feel free to tip off the editor about upcoming exhibitions and publications.

Stay up to date with the latest releases here.

Article

Design is never neutral

By Kristine H. Harper, writer

Danish design is not only beautiful, but also carries a risk of invisible exclusion. In this interview, Kristine H. Harper talks to Lene Nørgaard from Le bureau about designing for places, bodies and presence: about controlled misdirection, physical presence, the hyperlocal, and what gives life value.

Le Bureau. KH-prisen 2025. Foto: Maria Tuxen Hedegaard

Article

Connections through time: Materials, nature and creativity from the 16th century to now

By Maria Fabricius Hansen, Professor, Department of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Materials have always been a key condition of human creativity, but in recent decades, they have taken on renewed prominence in artistic practices. This article examines how today’s focus on materials relates to ideas from 16th-century understandings of nature and materials and how these connections can shed new light on the ongoing departure from modernism and on the artist’s role and position.

Bente Skjøttgaard. Frieze P7 no 1217
Stoneware and glaze
173 x 38 x 6 cm
Photo: Jeppe Gudmundsen-Holmgreen

Article

The most radical rebellion is silent

By Marie-Louise Høstbo, Architect MAA and freelance writer

On the outskirts of many Danish cities, there are neighborhoods where not only the houses but also the windows speak. Not in words, but in shapes. In almost every window there is a vase – the same vase. It sends a quiet but insistent signal: someone who has their life in order lives here. In its own way, it is a statement. Marie-Louise Høstbo delves into historical statements, the time spirit, and the quiet rebellion told through her own encounters with crafts and design.

Anna Søgaard.Fotograf: Peter Vinther
Tekst: Værker på værksted, Prags Boulevard 61.

Interview

Ochre at all times

By Tyra Dokkedahl, architect MAA, journalist, co-founder of Empathic Environments

Buried in the soil of Jutland lies a 300,000-year-old story. For furniture designer Thomas Woltmann, ochre is not just a colour, but a link between nature, culture and industry – and the basis for a new Danish colour production.

Thomas Woltmann

Interview

The magic of the gut skin

By Julie Bach, textile artist

Based on Greenlandic craft traditions, textile artist Julie Bach creates works that combine history, body and sensation. In Puggut Anernerat / Breathing Membranes, she shows how art can bring forgotten techniques and materials into a contemporary context.

Julie Bach, tekstilkunstner. Foto Soffi Chanchira Larsen.

Exhibition review

Imagining the Future

By Kristine Harper, writer

The exhibition ‘Imagining the Future’, which is currently on display at the Royal Academy in Holmen until 16 April 2026, features 29 different proposals for design and architecture that can solve the climate challenges of the future. The exhibited projects, created by students, teachers and researchers from the Royal Academy, are a treasure of visionary ideas for new ways of living, dressing, housing and socialising.

Forestillinger om fremtiden. Det Kongelige Akademi.

Book review

Boris Berlin in a book

By Lars Dybdahl, design researcher and writer

Boris Berlin's output is of such volume and value that it clearly calls for a serious book providing an overview of his wide-ranging work.

Read book review

GUBI

Speakers Corner

Don’t forget crafts in the new EU cultural compass

By Hanne Brøbech Sønnichsen, forperson for Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere

The new European Cultural Compass is an ambitious attempt to formulate a common European direction for cultural policy. It contains strong intentions: better working conditions for artists, increased access to culture and international encounters, and a strengthening of Europe's cultural values. But amid these ambitions, there is one area that risks disappearing from view: Crafts.

Read speakers corner

Hanne B. Sønnichsen. Fotograf Jane Rahbek Ohlsen.