From the Coolest Corner

From the Coolest Corner - Nordic Jewellery presents groundbreaking and fresh jewellery from Northern Europe, a comprehensive selection of current works by artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Baltic States. The best and most innovative Scandinavian art jewellery is presented, assessing its possibilities and potential at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The project presented in this publication, culminating in a symposium and a travelling exhibition, challenges stereotypical notions of northern European art jewellery. Do the typical Nordic trends of the nineteen-nineties still apply today? Indeed are there currently any general trends at all in Scandinavian design? Or has the orientation towards international design become so dominant that there are no longer any regional characteristics? Renowned experts have made a selection of representative works, as a basis for researching the role of northern European jewellery in the context of international art.

Text in English, Norwegian & Swedish.

Liesbeth den Besten is chairwoman of the Francoise van den Bosch Foundation for contemporary jewellery, member of the advisory board of the 'Chi ha paura...?' Foundation for serial jewellery and a founding member of Think Tank, a European Initiative for the Applied Arts. Widar Halen, is director of the department of Design and Decorative Arts at The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo/Norway. Jorunn Veiteberg, has worked as a critic, curator and head of arts in Norwegian Broadcasting/Television and was editor-in-chief of the Norwegian arts and craft magazine Kunsthandverk from 1998 to 2007; she is currently professor of curatorial studies and craft theory at Bergen National Academy of the Arts. Love Jonsson is a craft and design critic and contributes regularly to dailies and magazines in Sweden and abroad. He is currently a teacher at the School of Design and Crafts at Goteborg University. Paivi Ruutiainen, is a researcher at the University of Lapland focusing on what contemporary art jewellery is, and what it can be.