Born 1971 in Mariestad. Work since 2000 in my own studio in Stockholm, Sweden, mainly with exhibitions, public and private commissions, small productions and as a designer for Kosta Boda.
Represented by
HostlerBurrows, New York/LA
and several agents in Stockholm such as Stockholmmodern
Vad är det som slår an våra känslor? Vad får oss att le och vad får oss att bli engagerade när den riktiga världen är så svår? Hur skapar jag kontakt? I mitt arbete har jag återkommande tagit fasta på det som upplevs som för mycket. Det direkta och sensitiva. Känslor som jag och många med mig blir förlägna över. Objekt som avväpnar eller får oss att reagera oväntat. Det mänskliga med allt vad det kan innebära. Det som fascinerar och genererar energi. Eller det som får oss att känna ödmjukhet inför livet och dess varelser.
Jag intresserar mig också för rummet, både det offentliga och det privata. Vad vi väljer eller inte väljer att omge oss med. Vad som är accepterat eller inte i olika sammanhang. Om våra inlärda åsikter om hur saker och ting ska vara. Och vem som bestämt det. En del i mitt arbete har varit att försöka synliggöra detta, göra betraktaren varse om problematiken och på så vis också kanske öppna upp för nya tankegångar.
Jag ser mig själv som konsthantverkare. Det är min angreppsmetod och ur konsthantverket kommer den problematik som jag intresserar mig för.
Foto: Patrick Miller
Upcoming projects
Text, Claes Britton
Please, scroll down for english version
Frida Fjellman
Frida Fjellman är en av de ledande samtida konstnärer och formgivare som har bidragit till en pånyttfödelse i svensk hantverksdriven konst under det senaste årtiondet. Hennes djärva, färgstarka, stundtals radikala uttryck i glas, keramik och andra material har firat triumfer i Sverige och internationellt — inte minst i USA, där hon har många samlare och där Fjellman under senare år utfört en rad prestigefulla offentliga gestaltningar för uppdragsgivare som Art Basel.
Frida Fjellman är född och uppvuxen i Mariestad, i en familj med stark tradition inom konsthantverk, där handens arbete i alla material värderades högt. Mamma och mormor vävde. Pappa tog henne med till keramikkurs. ”Allt man kunde gjorde man själv”, säger Frida. ”Hade man en täljkniv så skulle den användas.”
Mariestad var, som Fjellman säger, ”ingen kulturstad” men hon konsumerade all konst hon kunde komma åt under uppväxten. Under en kurs i keramik på folkhögskolan i Tidaholm fick hon som lärare Inger Persson, den stora keramikern vid Rörstrand, som blev Fridas mentor.
”Hon var underbar, stenhård, otroligt engagerad och fantastisk på att se och uppmuntra olika personers olika talanger. Jag fick lära mig allt — gjuta, göra kakel, använda starka färger, underglasyrer, spraymåla keramik, väldigt gjädjefullt och experimentellt men också mycket noggrant, skarpt och estetiskt.”
Inger Persson uppmuntrade Frida Fjellman att söka till Konstfack 1993 med ett arbetsprov med kakel med en dekor av rosa bröst. ”Jag lärde mig det mesta av Inger. På Konstfack var det mest en kamp, en tävling, inte alls lika snällt, även om jag lärde mig mycket om form.”
Efter utbildningen började Frida arbeta i en egen ateljé i Stockholm. Hon sökte sig till USA där hon gick olika kurser på Pilchuck utanför Seattle, i Upstate New York och i Philadelphia. Här fick hon utlopp för experimentlusta inom både keramik och glaskonst, bland annat med att arbeta med neon och andra okonvetionella material, som med olika nya glastekniker. ”Det var befriande att komma bort från den svenska traditionen och de normer som rådde då.”
Efter examen 1998 och utflykterna till USA, och även till Japan, varvade Frida Fjellman utställningar med offentliga gestaltningsuppdrag. ”Jag jobbade halvt ihjäl mig under många år men fick det knappt att gå ihop. Tills sist blev jag utbränd. Jag bestämde mig för att satsa på en sista utställning. Om det inte hände något då så skulle jag lägga av.”
Denna ”sista utställning” var I huvudet på Frida Fjellman som visades på Eskilstuna konstmuseum 2011, där den unga konstnären satsade allt i en djärv rumsinstallation, utan hänsyn till morgondagen. Djur hade från början varit ett centralt motiv för henne. Här vågade hon att som centralpjäs skapa en björn i naturlig storlek i ringlad keramik, bränd i en jätteugn i Norge — ett högriskprojekt. Björnen höll och utställningen blev Fjellmans genombrott.
”Jag tänkte att jag går hela vägen för det spelade ingen roll, jag skulle ändå sluta sedan. Det är ett tips jag kan ge till andra i samma situation — att gå in i projekt som om det vore det sista man gjorde.”
Galleristen om designentreprenören Thomas Ekström såg utställningen och tog Frida Fjellmans konst ut i världen. Sedan dess har de stora uppdragen följt slag i slag, framför allt i USA. Hon har gjort rumsgestaltningar och installationer för uppdragsgivare som Art Basel, där hon gjort VIP-loungen, Forbes, Four Seasons och flygbolaget Net Jet. I Sverige är hon aktuell med en monumental offentlig skulptur vid Ersta sjukhus på Södermalm i Stockholm.
Mentorn Inger Persson förblir en viktig influens för Frida Fjellman. I övrigt så inspireras hon inte så främst av sin samtid utan av äldre design, konsthantverk och måleri av mindre haussade konstnärer som John Singer Sargent och Pierre Bonnard från den så kallade Nabis-gruppen.
”Jag älskar att gå på äldre museum, som Nationalmuseum eller Metropolitan i New York. Man blir helt yr i huvudet. Det finns hur mycket som helst att inspireras av, även sådant som jag inte gillar … som Tiffany-avdelningen på Metropolitan … herregud, helt snurrigt …”
Glas har alltsedan studietiden varit en stor kärlek för Frida.
”Glas är det roligaste som finns. Det är som att laga världens roligaste mat. Det luktar gott, går fort. Jag älskar allt det som folk är rädda för med glaset — det förföriska, glänsande, gnistrande. Det finns oändliga möjligheter. Bara en egen tid är begränsningen. Jag gillar ju färg och älskar att jobba med färg i glaset.”
Frida Fjellmans konst finns representerad på institutioner som Nationalmuseum, Röhsska Museet och Sveriges Glasmuseum, samt i privata samlingar över hela världen.
ENGLISH
Frida Fjellman was born and raised in Mariestad, in a family with a strong tradition in craftsmanship, and in which handicrafts in all materials were highly valued. Her mother and grandmother were weavers. Her father brought Frida to a ceramics course. “We made everything ourselves that we could,” she says. “If you carved a knife, you used it, even if it was really bad.”
As Fjellman says, Mariestad was “not a cultural town,” but she consumed all of the art she could find while growing up. One of her teachers during her studies in the ceramics track at Hellidens Folk High School in Tidaholm was the great Rörstrand ceramic artist Inger Persson, who became Frida’s mentor.
“She was wonderful, super tough, incredibly dedicated and great at seeing and encouraging all of her students’ different talents. I learned so much – like casting, raku, wood-firing, throwing, making tile, underglazes, spray-painting ceramics. It was very joyful and experimental, but also incredibly meticulous, precise and aesthetically minded.”
Inger Persson encouraged Frida Fjellman to apply to the University of Arts, Crafts & Design in 1993 through a work sample of tile decorated with pink breasts. “I learned most things from Inger. At the University of Arts, Crafts & Design, it was more of a struggle, a competition, not at all as kind, even though I did learn a lot there, too.”
After her studies, Frida began working in her own studio in Stockholm. She went to the US, where she took different classes at Pilchuck outside of Seattle, at Corning in upstate New York, and in Philadelphia. She found an outlet there for her desire to experiment in glass art, for example by working with neon and unconventional techniques. “It was liberating to get away from the Swedish tradition and the prevalent norms of the time.”
After graduating in 1998 and her excursions to the US and Japan, Frida Fjellman alternated between working on exhibitions and public art commissions. She was one of few artists in her generation who could survive on her art, but she had to work very hard, in a way that was unsustainable. Ultimately, she decided to focus on one last make-or-break exhibition.
This “last exhibition” was called Being Frida Fjellman and it was shown at the Eskilstuna Art Museum in 2016, where the young artist presented a daring installation in a room. Since the beginning, animals have been a central theme for her. She courageously used a life-size bear as the central figure, made of curled ceramics and fired in an enormous oven in Norway – a high-risk project. The bear made it and the exhibition was Fjellman’s breakthrough.
“I thought I may as well go all the way because it didn’t matter; I was going to stop afterwards. That’s one tip I could give to others in the same situation – go into a project as if it were your last.”
After the exhibition, Frida Fjellman was able to begin an international career. Her work had a huge breakthrough at the Design Miami trade fair. Since then, the commissions have come in a steady stream, primarily from the US. She has created spatial designs and installations for clients such as Forbes, Four Seasons, the airline Net Jet, and Art Basel, for which she created the VIP lounge. In Sweden, she is currently working on an enormous public sculpture by Ersta Hospital on Södermalm in Stockholm.
Her mentor Inger Persson is still an important influence for Frida Fjellman. Even if she “consumes tons of art and design,” at the moment, she is not particularly inspired by her contemporary era, but rather by older design, craftsmanship and paintings by classically respected artists like John Singer Sargent and Pierre Bonnard.
“I love going to the older museums, like Nationalmuseum or the Met in New York. It’s overwhelming. There is so much to be inspired by, even things I don’t like. I’m fascinated by Tiffany, but I didn’t know that until I saw a huge exhibition at the Met, because that era isn’t very visible in Sweden.”
Since her studies, glass has been Frida’s great love.
“Glass is incredibly joyful. It smells good, moves fast. You have to be a hundred percent present. I love everything that people find alarming about glass – its allure, shimmer, sparkle. There are endless possibilities. The only limit is your own time. I like color and I love working with color in glass.”
Frida Fjellman’s work is represented at Nationalmuseum, Röhsska Museum, and Public Art Agency Sweden, as well as in private collections all over the world.
Graft, Galleri Formats 20-års jubileumsutställning, Oslo
2011
Biennalen for Kunsthåndverk & Design 2011, Koldinghus, Kolding
2010
Oväntat, separat del tillsammans med Pia König och Mårten Medbo, Skövde Konsthall
2010
Momentum Design, Punkt Ö, Momentum Konsthall, Moss, Norge
2010
Ceramic Context, Bornholm, Danmark
2009
Reymyre Matters, Reymyre Antik, Reymyre
2009
Ashes to ashes, Contemporary art center of Virginia, Virginia Beach
Irrevent:Contemporary Nordic Craft Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Sakernas Tillstånd, Kulturhuset, Stockholm
2008
Voices, Contemporary ceramic art from Sweden, producerad av Inger Molin och Svenska Institutet. Vandringsutställning i Europa och USA, 2006 - 2012
2007
Present, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal, Norge
Det är inte som det var att gå längs stranden – Naturen som motiv i samtida svenskt konsthantverk, kurerad av Love Jönsson för Dahlslands Museum, Eskilstuna Konsthall och Röhsska Museet
Global Views, Heller Gallery, New York
Check-in Europe – Reflecting Identities in Contemporary Art, European Patent Office,Munich
2005
Cool Liquid, American Museum of Glass, Millville, New Jersey
Strata, Skulpturens Hus, Formbart, Liljevalcs Vårsalong, Stockholm
Diverse utställningar med We Work In A Fragile Material (Tumult, Gustavsbergs Konsthall;
Månsamåla 2001, Crystal Palace; Happy Campers, New York; Tingenes Tilstand, Nationalmuseum i
Oslo; Sthlm ArtFair, You can do it! Testa Konsthall & Blås&Knåda; Skokloster Slott; AK28; Röda
Sten mm)
Collections (selected)
Vitra
Eskilstuna Konstmuseum
American Museum of Glass, Millville, NJ
Collection de Vincent Bazin, France
Collection de Björn Springfeldt
Nationalmuseum
Röhsska Museet
Stockholms Konstråd
Eskilstuna Konstmuseum
Skövde Konstmuseum
Växjö Glasmuseum
Statens Konstråd
Västerås Konstmuseum
Ebeltoft Glasmuseum, Danmark
Public Art
2019
Offentlig Konst Uppsala Kommun
2018
Venus in Glass, 8 m totem at the Swedish Nationalmuseum
The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, 5 years working scholarship
2010
Erik Höglund Scholarship
Carl-Axel Valléns stiftelse
2009
Craftist of the year, Residence Magazine
2009
2-year working scholarship, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2007
Stockholm City Culture Award
2006
Irma and Einar Forseth's Foundation of Culture
2005
The Creative Glass Center of America. Fellowship during 3 month
2004
2-year working scholarship, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2004 - 2016
IASPIS, Internationellt Kulturutbyte several occations
Being Frida Fjellman, text
Being Frida Fjellman - text
Being Frida Fjellman begins with a journey that takes an alarming turn with earthquakes, tsunamis and a total breakdown at a nuclear power station. We shift from joy and inspiration to fear and uncertainty as we sense the terror and the radioactivity coming ever closer to us.
I see the exhibition as being about a journey because the journey was the point of departure. But the exhibition is concerned with so much more.
I regard the room as a three-dimensional painting. Like a game-plan where I fix the boundaries and decide on the players. There is a scene in the film The Shining in which the elevator can no longer support all the blood that comes flooding out like a torrent. That scene provided the point of departure for the curtain and the carpet; a metaphor for what happens when we fail to work on traumatic experiences. But the stage provides a defined space with which to work on a purely visual level. When the exhibition was shown at Eskilstuna Konstmuseum the room was larger and the red carpet lay like an island or a pond in the middle that flowed from the curtain. Now the pond has been reduced to the size of the room but the link with the elevator still remain.
Early on I decide which basic elements are to be included in the exhibition. I choose items and plan the exhibition based on the symbolic value, aesthetic experience and my own personal roots. There are certain figures that are highly insistent. I need to feel really strongly about the objects that are going to be included. Otherwise I am just not interested.
I try to establish a personal connection between my players and the beholder. And so the gaze, the facial expression and the chosen poses are all the more important. I spend a lot of time working on their expression. It is no accident that the marmot is sitting on his rump. Or that the dog’s ears are drawn back.
This is what turned up inside my head when I was asked to produce a solo exhibition with a journey as the point of departure (that being the condition). The idea was that I should travel to Japan with my family and study figurines and patterns, and that I would come home with new inspirational material. But my starting point proved to be very different. During our visit to Japan a massive earthquake took place that resulted in the collapse of the Fukushima nuclear power station and a devastating tsunami.
Some months after the exhibition was shown for the first time I came to the conclusion that it is primarily concerned with the fact that, regardless of the people around us, ultimately we have to deal with whom we are and what we experience by ourselves. We need to work inside our own heads.
Frida Fjellman
11 September 2015
The Chandeliers, text
The Chandeliers
I see my chandeliers as a playful development of the traditional chandelier. I try different ways to go by experimenting with colors, shape and the environment. Vulgar, sober, decadent, powerful or even poetic. By playing with the dimensions it is also possible to make the viewer feel small or like a child again. I made the first one as a significant object among others for a big solo exhibition 2015 ”Being Frida Fjellman” (see text further down) . When I saw it hang there I wanted to work more with it.
I see the chandelier interesting as a phenomenon. Partly as status symbol but also as focus point and time stamp. The chandelier also look different in different part of the world.
In my chandelier I increased the actual gem size and made it becoming the precast element itself. Like a scraped treasure someone just grabbed and walked away with...
Frida Fjellman is one of Sweden’s most prominent Craft Artists. Her creations in ceramic and glass are very different from the aesthetics of minimalism and form following function that we have come to expect of Swedish Craft Artists and Designers, blurring the line between Craft and Fine Art. Her ceramic animals take us into a dreamlike world of myths and fables, of human interaction with animals and nature, most of them originating from the Swedish Northern landscape. Her glass chandeliers are sparkling gem like prisms that are suspended jewels in a room. In the exhibition “Being Frida Fjellman” at Gustavsberg Konsthall, one walks in to a dramatic stage set, red velvet curtains as a backdrop, and engaging with the artwork, her animals move and trigger different feelings within the visitor.
Frida has exhibited very widely at home and abroad, has won numerous grants and awards, among them, Residence Magazine’s Craft Artist of the Year 2010. Her art is in the collections of major museums in Sweden and there are numerous installations in public spaces.
You studied ceramics and glass design at Konstfack, how did that become your choice of material as an artist?
It was ceramics that had the biggest influence on me. I used to accompany my father to Ceramic classes when I was little and always had a fascination for the material. When I later attended an introductory course at the Community College Helliden, I had a wonderful teacher, Inger Persson who previously worked as a designer for Rörstrand. She taught me a lot and she really made me love ceramics. So it was without any doubt that I would choose that line of study. Even though I had thought that it would just be for a little while.
In your exhibitions you seem to create a very theatrical atmosphere, bringing ceramics, light, glass and lamps together in a very dreamlike scenario, what is the story that you are trying to create?
It differs from time to time. Often I have a clear picture of the whole thing from the start, and plan all the materials and elements from a very early stage of the process. I see the exhibition space as a three dimensional painting which you are also able to experience from within, adding certain elements that will trigger the senses. It is a mixture of symbolic meanings, aesthetic experiences and my own personal take on it. I have a certain object as a “base”, like main characters (after I have set my own frames and rules for the show) and it grows from this. It is a slow process and it takes time. I guess that the story would be some kind of essence of what has actually been on my mind over the last year transformed into something tangible.
You use a lot of animals in your sculptures, what do they represent to you?
They represent so much… It can be my signature, myself, our relationship to nature, myths and tales, our cultural heritage, our relationship to things of the past, general emotional states of being and so on.
Could you describe the process you go through in creating your animal sculptures?
It is quite a challenging process. Firstly I need to choose the type of animal. It can come from an idea that’s been brewing over time. Then a pose that will match my design objective. I would also have to decide what the animal will project. At the same time I will have to read up on that particular animal, both facts and people’s private experiences. Once I have decided on the pose, I start looking for pictures, then comes the time to start building… I begin with a rather brutal process, I start by spiralling up a base that is a lot smaller than the intended sculpture of the animal, so that I can start adding a lot of clay while pressing and bending into shape. Then I wait for the base to be stable before I can start to sculpt the animal properly. I make it hollow from the start. It takes time and it is a laborious process but it’s also beautiful and rewarding. I really feel the animal when I am working with it. After that the last step is moving it to be glazed, and that is another whole process.
You studied light and neon at the Pilchuck School of Glass in Washington, what attracts you to neon and is it challenging to work with?
Only because I just loved it!
What is it that you want to project with your art to those viewing it?
I would like the visitors to go close to the objects. I would like to trigger curiosity and sometimes fascination. There are times I have worked with questions surrounding what we have come to believe and try to demonstrate that through my sculptures but mostly I would like the viewer to be sucked in and think about something else for a moment. I would like to move the viewer into questioning why did this happen? Why am I sad to see a mole curled up on a cushion?
I love your chandeliers, what was the inspiration for the design?
Thank you! Emeralds were the inspiration. And the prisms on a traditional crystal chandelier. I needed an element that would symbolise something magical and captivating. A focus point, like a large treasure. And I needed something to be up in the air, and that’s how the idea for the chandelier was conceived. The last chandelier was made with the prisms itself as the building part, they are leaning on each other.
How do craft artists merge craft into the world of Fine Art, especially in Scandinavia, where craft is known for its minimal aesthetics? Do you find this a challenge?
I see that as an opening and an access. A long time ago, after my graduation from Konstfack, I worked more actively with it. For example I did my own version of “Scandinavian Blonde” but for me it contained the Northern Swedish mountain landscape, Mountain Owls, Lemmings, Ermines, more drama. And I have been working with people’s preconceived opinions as well. I found it interesting, with the beaver’s shape for example. The big belly, rounded back, the short neck and big yellow teeth. Qualities that we mostly consider ugly or unattractive. I think those are ideas that we have taught ourselves. But for a beaver, this look is perfect. They are perfect animals for its purpose and I wanted to demonstrate that in some way. And that’s how it went, one thing led to another.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a public commission at Eskilstuna for a new Bath House and I am also starting to work on a public commission at a new sport arena in Varberg. Also something The National Swedish Association of Art, SAK, and a few other projects.
NEWS
PRESS
Dreamy gas clouds on it’s way to Miami
2024
Photo: Patrick Miller
— 2024-10-16 —
My book is here!
Available in my studio or at Konts/ig and Sjöströms Antik in Stockholm, Karströms in Mariestad, The Glass Factory in Boda and at Holmegaard Vaerk, Denmark!
Just write to me at:
frida@fridafjellman.com if you are interested
Description
This richly illustrated overview of Frida Fjellman’s practice accounts for her installation work with glass and ceramic sculptures, commonly placed in a setting of magical scenography. Fjellman creates a wold of fables with a peculiar gaze at the behaviour of animals and the natural world.
From the text by Bo Madestrand: Björnar, ugglor, lämlar, hundar – alla är de aktörer i Frida Fjellmans konstnärliga universum. Som keramiker och glaskonstnär har hon skapat ett eget uttryck, där djuren både är bärare av mänskliga egenskaper och självständiga individer bortom den mänskliga logiken.
Djuren i Frida Fjellmans verk är realistiska, men konstnärligt bearbetade och infogade i ett scenografiskt sammanhang – som aktörer i en narrativ struktur. Det är en strategi som gett respons, Frida Fjellman är i dag en av Sveriges mest uppmärksammade konstnärer internationellt, oavsett genre och material.
I den första boken om Frida Fjellmans verk får vi tillträde till en lika välbekant som främmande värld, där antikens myter möter samtida estetiska uttryck. I sina konstnärliga verk överskrider Fjellman de gamla konstnärliga kategorierna – i sitt allkonstverk förenar hon konsthantverk, bildkonst, scenografi och inredning.
Boken Frida Fjellman innehåller en nyskriven essä av kritikern och författaren Bo Madestrand, samt en mängd nytagna fotografier av Patrick Miller, medan Patric Leo står för den grafiska formgivningen.
My Totem Buddies will stay another week being a part of this exhibition together with 7 other female artists/designers.
”From Tuesday to Saturday it’s Stockholm Design Week. For the occasion Misschiefs has invited 8 outstanding womxn designers to show their latest creations, welcome from Tuesday 10am to 5pm at Linnégatan 4 and online on our YouTube channel live as well as on our instagram live for regular updates and surprises @studiolottalampa @studiokajsawillner @hunnd_katt @is.a.girl @monicaforsterdesignstudio @fargblanche @saraszyber @fridafjellman @studiolottalampa @stockholmdesignweek”
Misschiefs Take Over by me
2/2 – 6/2 2021
During my take over I built and mounted 7 totem buddies. And gave them new life from being stored in parts on shelfs since ”Venus in glass”, the sculpture I made for Nationalmuseum 2018. Time passed and suddenly it was time for the new buddies.
Vase, protector, friend or lamp at the same time!
— 2021-02-08 —
Well written article
by Jennifer Detlefsen in GAS news, Glass Art Association
Scandinavian design has long been prized for its sleek aesthetic, bold primary colors and no-nonsense utilitarianism. The glassmaking traditions in Sweden, Norway and Denmark were no exception; centralized craft schools such as Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Sweden and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art Design School in Bornholm produced makers whose legendary precision was a testament to the rigors of their technical training. As the dominance of the 1950’s modernist movement waned, this region experienced the birth of a studio movement that decentralized glassmaking. New expressions in glass were able to emerge – but were still in large part fettered by a common, almost morally-based aversion to embellishment. It is only relatively recently that Scandinavian glassmakers have begun to step away from the canonical purity of design that so characterizes their region and embrace the intentional eccentricity of mixed media, kitsch and performance-based work in their product offerings. The Scandinavian women profiled here are finding ways to synthesize their hard-won technical skills with unique methods of personal expression. The results are smashing stereotypes and redefining the very idea of “product” in our changing world.
Frida Fjellman’s work straddles a glorious line between traditional fine glasscraft and Lynchian absurdity. Fjellman is best known for her works involving light, and was featured in 2019’s New Glass Now exhibition. Raised surrounded by Scandinavian values of sparse design and dogmatic rejection of decoration, Fjellman actively seeks subversion in her attention to adornment. Her iconic design takes the archetypal decoration of a chandelier, the crystal, and enlarges it to the point of absurdity. Her clusters of oversized gems in luscious candy colors evoke a range of emotions and styles. “I find the chandelier fascinating because depending on how it’s presented, how you use the colors, it can be vulgar, or cute, or pop art; really beautiful or completely tasteless.”
She likens this design process to painting, and delights in tweaking her display choices in her Stockholm studio, where she has freedom to experiment. This solitary arrangement suits her much better than the school environment that she chafed against at Konstfack – which she describes as having been excessively competitive. She still relies on some of the technical knowledge she gained there; specifically, the moldmaking skills she uses for her blown glass components were developed in school. Fjellman’s education at Konstfack has been supplemented over the years by courses at Pilchuck Glass School and the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. At Pilchuck, she studied plasma and neon, both electrifying components in a mixed media arsenal that translates as well to public art as it does in her solo exhibition spaces.
In all of her works, Fjellman pulls from a long list of macabre and surreal references, starting with the hypnotic visual psychology of David Lynch. Fjellman credits her time abroad as a fellow at Wheaton Village with her discovery of ornamental Victorian glass, and was equally seduced by a trip to the Metropolitain Museum of Art’s Tiffany Collection. The reverence for décor, color and intricacy overwhelmed her visual palette. “We don’t have any of these things in Sweden –you just wouldn’t see it. So when I came across this style, I went crazy for it.” Other detectable notes in her ominous installation artworks are the original versions of fairy tales which she read in her youth – stories she revisited with her own children, only to be shocked at their violence and misogyny. She is also fascinated by the constructed environments of old museums, specifically natural history museums, and the taxidermied creatures that haunt their halls.
Despite such unnerving references lurking in her reservoir, Fjellman is regularly awarded public art projects to round out her practice, and is currently waiting on travel restrictions to subside so that she can complete a project for a school in Norway. A large-scale cast-aluminum tree branch suspended from the ceiling, intertwined with her twinkling emblematic mega-gems, will hover above a “pond” of polished black stone in this installation. Fjellman considers public art projects like this one to be a way for artists to stay relevant in our disposable culture. She is categorically uninterested in competing with mass-market produced wares, instead hoping that the stakeholders in public art derive a feeling of ownership when they see her artwork in their place of business, in their park or on their commute. “That is a different kind of product,” she explains – one that builds community through a sense of shared experience.
Fjellman has a long list of similar projects she’s excited to explore in the near future. Her firm belief in the futility of multitasking drove her to turn down opportunities for the last several years as she focused on raising her daughters – but she has recently started saying yes again, and the opportunities on the horizon, including a show in Los Angeles in 2021, are thrilling for her. Her momentum now bears an interesting parallel to her feelings on modernism. “It’s not that I don’t like modernism. I do – there are many wonderful things about it. But it’s never good to try to control what someone else should think – the pendulum is going to come back and hit you.” She’s swinging back into action with a vengeance, and at this point in her career she feels fully empowered to bringing the weird right along with her.
— 2020-06-22 —
Part of public installation, soon off to school in Norway
Photo: Patrick Miller
Installation view at Hostler Burrows new opened gallery in LA
— 2020-05-14 —
Recently mounted chandelier Jeanne D’Arc in Falkenberg
New crystal clear chandelier at the GlassFactory
The blue room, opening Hostler Burrows, Los Angeles
photo: Shade Degges
Le Pastel, private commission
Lustre en Cristal Forêt et Chienne Reine
— 2019-12-13 —
Mounting test
And portait by Patrick Miller
— 2019-05-08 —
FOG Design + Art 2019
The Crystal Atmosphere in clear glass for Hostler Burrows
— 2019-02-18 —
Le Emeraud Pale for Stockholmmodern at the Antique Fair 2019
Now it’s possible to watch the making of Venus in glass. A 13 min long movie from Nationalmusei Vänner and Bengt Julin’s foundation by Staffan Redin.
— 2019-01-29 —
This chandelier is shown at Stockholmmodern a month from now
— 2018-11-19 —
Productions just started for these vases which are two of the three last ones for my series What’s up? for Kosta Boda.
Great, 7 pages, article in Plaza Interiör by Charlotte Frey Svidén.
LAURITZ KONSTHANTVERKSPRIS Lauritz.com står bakom detta pris och vinnaren får en S-utmärkelse och en prischeck på 20 000 SEK.
What’s up? What’s up är en samling djurfigurer i glas och samtidigt en hyllning till svensk glaskonst. Projektet är en fortsättning på Hommage, där konstnärer hyllar en tidigare betydande konstnär i Kosta Bodas historia. Tekniken är en applikation som sedan har blåsts upp, tillvägagångssättet gör att det förutbestämda blandas med det slumpmässiga. Figurerna verkar ha varsitt eget svar på frågan what’s up? som deras individuella uttryck visar. De kan även användas som vas, med en växt i får de också en slags frisyr, deras uttryck tar då ytterligare en annan form och ger dem ytterligare liv och en fabelaktig dimension.
Motivering En kollektion som andas både lekfullhet och allvar, dess överraskande storlek gör att objektet tar plats i rummet och inte försvinner. Den visar på en formgivare som tagit konsthantverket till en ny nivå, som har spänt sin pilbåge och visar att gränsen mellan konst och konsthantverk suddas ut. Vaserna är vackra och humoristiska men även funktionella. De utstrålar livsglädje och prestigelöshet, som inte lämnar något åt slumpen. Frida Fjellman är en pionjär som ligger före sin tid vilket gör henne till en trendsättare. En kollektion där formgiva- ren tar hjälp av skickliga hantverkare som lyfter glaset som material till en ny dimension.
Thankful for this nomination from the Swedish government
Nomineringar till exportpriset för kreativa och kulturella näringar 2017
”…
Frida Fjellman
Frida Fjellman hör till den lilla men exklusiva skara svenska konsthantverkare som hyllats på såväl Art Basel som Design Miami. Att bli uppmärksammad på dessa två internationellt erkända ledande plattformar för samtida konst respektive design under 2017, visar att Frida Fjellman skapat ett eget utrymme inom den samtida bild- och formkonsten. Hennes nyskapande tolkning av den klassiska kristallkronan har fått strålande recensioner i global media och förärades en separatutställning på Hostler Burrows Gallery i New York.
Frida Fjellman besitter en unik och djärv talang som hon utan rädsla använder till att förflytta gränserna för svenskt handblåst glas och glaskonst på en global scen. Frida Fjellmans mod för henne – och betraktaren – långt från typisk svensk, lågmäld minimalism och visar på en modig personlig tolkning av framtida svensk estetik som släppt in världen. Utan att någonsin förlora sin svenska historiska kontext. Frida Fjellman finns representerad på ledande institutioner som Nationalmuseum, Ebeltoft Glass Museum i Danmark, Röhsska Museum i Göteborg, The American Museum of Glass i New Jersey med flera. Hon har designat för Kosta Boda sedan 2016 och hennes verk säljs via Kosta Bodas butiker och internationella samarbetspartners…”
In english…
Frida Fjellman
Frida Fjellman belongs to the small but exclusive group of Swedish craftsmen who have been fêted by both Art Basel and Design Miami. To be noticed by these two internationally renowned leading platforms for contemporary art and design in 2017 shows that Frida Fjellman has created her own space in contemporary visual and design arts. Her innovative interpretation of the classic chandelier has received wonderful reviews in global media and was honoured with a solo exhibition at Hostler Burrows Gallery in New York. Frida Fjellman possesses a unique and bold talent that she fearlessly uses to shift the boundaries for Swedish handblown glass and glass arts on a global stage. Frida Fjellmans courage transports her – and the beholder – far away from typically Swedish, unobtrusive minimalism and shows a brave personal interpretation of a future Swedish aesthetic which has welcomed the outside world. Without ever having lost her Swedish historical context. Frida Fjellman’s work is represented at leading institutions including the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Ebeltoft Glass Museum in Danmark, Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, and the American Museum of Glass in New Jersey. She has been designing products for Kosta Boda since 2016 and her work is sold by Kosta Boda stores and its international partners.
Foto: Joachim Belaieff
— 2018-05-06 —
TEFAF New York
Come and visit Hostler Burrows both 12, upstairs at the Park Avenue Armory until tuesday 8/5.
The Moose room.
Marie-Antoinette, No 2, was shown at C/O Stockholm, Stockholm Art Week, Stockholmmodern
— 2018-04-16 —
Thank You, The Swedish Art Grants Commitee, for supporting the Crystal Atmosphere at Hostler Burrows, New York
— 2018-04-06 —
FRIDA FJELLMAN
CRYSTAL ATMOSPHERE
Opening Reception: Friday, March 9, 6-8pm
Photos Credit: Nathan Gallagher / NetJets
Hostler Burrows is pleased to announce an exhibition of work by contemporary Swedish artist and designer Frida Fjellman. This is the artist’s first solo presentation at the gallery and in New York. Fjellman’s ”Crystal Atmosphere” is the reimagining of an installation originally commissioned for the NetJets private lounge at Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach in 2017.
In this cohesive and immersive installation, Fjellman succeeds in engaging the viewer as they pass through a veritable “crystal forest,” where enchantment is cast by suspended glass prisms laced dreamily to one another by drooping chain. Designed, in Fjellman’s words, to “impart a sense of calm as well as to intrigue and fascinate,” the experience is at once unabashedly romantic and quietly poetic. Fjellman’s keen use of color and the decadent beauty of the hand-blown crystals transfix the viewer with an energy that is direct and pure.
— 2018-02-26 —
— 2017-12-26 —
Photo: Camilla Lindqvist
— 2017-11-27 —
”What’s Up?”
New work on it’s way for Kosta Boda
— 2017-11-09 —
The Swedish Institute, Paris
Exhibition ”Next Level Craft” 21/10 2017 (reopening after big renovation)
— 2017-10-10 —
Institut Suédois:
”Frida Fjellman, one of the artists of our next exhibition, entered the grand court: for the 48th edition of Art Basel in Switzerland last June, she was commissioned for NetJets, an aviation company Private and great partner of the art fair. The young designer has been able to immerse visitors from the VIP lounge in the world of myths and fables as she alone knows how to do it, with a suspended glass installation that inspired tranquility and dream. Follow this designer closely and discover his work at the next level craft exhibition. Opening October 21 at 14 pm.”
— 2017-08-21 —
Have a look at my new limited collection Who was it? for Kosta Boda at Nordiska Kompaniet, NK. One month from now. This is a part of the exhibition Homage, Kosta Boda 275th anniversary. 5 designers makes their own homage to an earlier designer at Kosta Boda. I chosed to work with Erik Höglund.
Young designers interpret older legends. We’ve invited five of the country’s most exciting artists to team up with famous names from the glassworks’ rich history. Frida Fjellman has joined forces with Erik Höglund. Hannah Hansdotter with Monica Backström. Åsa Jungnelius chimes in with Ulrika Hydman-Vallien and Sven X:et Erixson. Mattias Stenberg embraces the elegant heritage of Vicke Lindstrand.
The result is a gracious homage to our most beloved Swedish glass art. Renewal has always been a part of our DNA at Kosta Boda, but without our historical roots, we would never have survived when the winds blew cold.
— 2017-05-15 —
Soon at ArtBasel: Frida Fjellman Installation at Netjets private lounge
SVT:s konstkritiker Dennis Dahlqvist gillar Frida Fjellmans kristallkronor. Foto: SVT/ Don Titelman
Frida Fjellmans nyskapande tolkning av kristallkronan hyllas av SVT:s Dennis Dahlqvist. Kronorna ställs ut under Stockholm Design Week – ett evenemang där såväl inhemska som internationella designer ställer ut. Stockholm Design Week är i full gång och på flera platser i huvudstaden ställs design och arkitektur ut.
Och enligt Kulturnyheternas konstkritiker Dennis Dahlqvist, som besökt evenemanget, har möbelmässan gjort en rejäl uppryckning – speciellt gillar han Jaime Hayóns alster.
– Årets hedersgäst, den lekfulle spanjoren Jaime Hayón, har till exempel betydligt mer självdistans och humor än de senaste fem årens gästartister tillsammans. I sin färgstarka paviljong jonglerar han med en mängd stilar: art noveau, art deco, tidig modernism och postmodernism.
”Magiska kristaller” SVT:s konstkritiker hylllar även designveckans specialutställning, som tar avstamp i den amerikanska shakerrörelsen från 1800-talet.
Däremot har de samtida konstnärer som fått i uppdrag att tolka de avskalade föremålen lyckats mindre bra, enligt Dennis Dahlqvist.
Men allra bäst på designveckan är Frida Fjellman, vars kristallkronor ställs ut på Sotheby’s, säger SVT:s konstkritiker.
– Kronorna slog faktiskt knockout på hela världseliten i december under Art Basel i Miami och inte undra på. De här magiska kristallerna förflyttar ju folk till ett förstrollat land där juvelerna hänger i stora klasar från träden. Helt överväldigande, faktiskt.
— 2017-02-13 —
Une touche postmoderniste på Sotheby’s förlängt!
Pågår tom tisdag 14/2. Kom dit!
— 2017-02-10 —
Stockholmmodern presenterar
Frida Fjellman
Une touche postmoderniste
Vernissage i konstnärens närvaro
onsdagen den 8e februari kl 17-19
Sotheby’s
Sturegatan 24. 7/2-10/2, kl 10-17
(lunchstängt kl 12.30-13.30)
Photo: Patrick Miller / Manocamera
— 2017-02-05 —
The Örnsbergs Auktion 2017
#ornsbergsauktionen#öa17 all! Exhibition opens on monday February 6 and the auction is on the following friday (10/2 19:00)
Catalogue will be up on the site end of this week. Stay tuned for more info. Happy bidding!
— 2017-01-30 —
The Crystal Forest at Galleri Splace, Mariestad.
– 11/9
— 2016-09-10 —
The Troubled Bear is one of 12 nominated for Formex Formidable 2016 (Through SAK, Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening)
— 2016-08-25 —
Done!
Wishes.
Public installation at Skaraborgs Sjukhus 2015 – 2016, Maternity, neonatal and womens ward
— 2016-08-23 —
Smaller chandeliers are coming up
— 2016-07-01 —
Lemmings are coming back home. For sale for 3700 SEK each.
— 2016-05-26 —
Design Basel 2016
14 – 19 Juni, Hostler Burrows Gallery
Photo: Anders Johansson
New chandelier at Hostler Burrows, New York
SPRING ON10 WEDNESDAY, MAY 18TH, 6 – 9 PM
51 E. 10th Street, New York
— 2016-05-11 —
RELEASE AV SAK EDITION
NR 2 2016 AV FRIDA FJELLMAN
THE TROUBLED BEAR
Tisdag 17 maj klockan 13.00
Teknik: Glaserat stengods
Mått: Höjd ca 35 cm
Pris: 4900 kr
Upplaga: 25 exemplar
se mer på www.konstforeningen.se
foto: Björn Mattisson
— 2016-05-05 —
The Ghost went c r a z y at Örnsbergsauktionen 2016
www.ornsbergsauktionen.se
Photo: Viktor Sjödin
Photo: Connie Hüsser
— 2016-02-16 —
Artist Interview by Vimala Söderqvist
www.vsoderqvist.com
Photo: Björn Mattisson
— 2016-02-15 —
The catalogue is here! Contact me if you are interested at frida@fridafjellman.com
Graphic design: Josefin Janson
One of the texts, by Inger Molin
(Opening speech September 11th 2015)
Frida! Over the course of the years you seem to have gone around with a natural entourage of hares, lemmings, owls, foxes, dogs and now, even a bear, exploring a wide field in which you have linked together culture and nature, shifting the very boundary between art and crafts. You have expressed this in a succession of exhibitions at private and public galleries and museums in Sweden and abroad, and with veritably brilliant works for display in the public domain.
So what is it that moves around inside Frida Fjellman’s head? One gains a good impression of this by checking fridafjellman.com. Up comes a page full of images in the most striking colours.
And then there are the headings:
Lustre aux Couleur de la Forêt Crystal Clear Oväntat Nocturnal Dreams Other Place Gulkorvar Dripping Light Happy Clouds Dark Chandelier and Red Fox Beavers Adrift Volcanoes Windowlicker Atelier Glint Cloud Cukoo Sky Hubba Bubba Heaven Borderline Top Show Blood Lines Residence Bubbelcosmos Ensemble Gas Cloud Lamps Hello Skogens djur
All this information on your website fills me with a bubbling sense of delight. It is as though I was looking towards the horizon for a lost balloon, not with a sense of loss but with a growing feeling of light being shed on a fragment of memory – something from childhood, an encounter with people, an encounter with animals – and, at the same time, an insight into the transience of life.
Like Alice in Wonderland, you lift up and reflect things close at hand that are often hidden and neglected in a scale of shifting proportions without your works ever becoming trivial or approaching pastiche. You make us see what you see.
Our professional contacts – yours and mine – started with Lockbon och en koja at the memorable Agata gallery on Södermalm in Stockholm; a forest hut made of glittering glass branches which would have been big enough for
you to hide in them. This was an extraordinarily beautiful exhibition. When the exhibition ended, you, together with Maj Sandell and Agnes Lidman, who ran the gallery for several successful years, were positive towards the proposal to move the hut to my own gallery on Kommendörsgatan in Stockholm. It remained there during the cold and snowy winter of 2001 in front of a backdrop onto which
a forest image was projected. The gallery was closed for the Christmas break. Mounds of snow outside the windows were trampled down by windowshoppers while icicles rained down from the roof. All the while your hut stood firm providing an extraordinarily popular Christmas present to passersby. Judging by the notes people thrust through the letterbox there were a lot of them.
Frida, your art moves us. You lead us into a magical world with your clear gaze and, in the best sense, you see things with a child’s vision, with the profound seriousness that is the source of all serious creative work. With a fixed purposefulness and with absolute precision you continue to develop your art. You do not romanticize but, on the contrary, you show us what you regard as selfevident connections.
You are a warrior in your field. And it is a great delight for me to be able to formally open your exhibition: Being Frida Fjellman.
En helt annan bok är den skimrande vackra volym med glaskonstnären Frida Fjellmans produktion och som Patric Leo formgivit åt henne. Detta är en bok av ögongodis, guld och glitter, glas och glasyrer, allt sådant som långt in på strama 1990-talet kategoriskt klassades som billigt och ”dålig smak”.
Oftast har jag, handen på hjärtat, svårt för den här sortens glossiga album som konstnärer gärna giver ut på egen hand eller med galleristens hjälp. Pralinernas sockerhalt gör en lätt övermätt kvickt.
Men Fjellmans värld platsar väldigt bra på stora glassiga bildytor! Bokens är precis lika glittrig som allt annat hon lämnat ifrån sig, ett litet konstverk i sig alltså.
Det är tjugofem år sedan hon lämnade Konstfack. Hennes genuina faiblesse för tingens dekorativa sidor och deras självklarhet i rummet, gör henne tämligen enastående som konstnär. Hennes keramiska björnar och rävar, glasbitarna som blivit rökmoln, kristallkronorna som dinglar som jättelika halssmycken från taket, replikerna till Erik Höglund… Allt finns med. Det blixtrar av smashing objects och den höga skulpturen From where I stand för Ersta sjukhus 2023 har fått ett eget kapitel med dokumentationsbilder och text av Frida själv. Introduktionen I fablernas värld på fyra sidor har författats av Bo Madestrand.
Boken som skådespel (Fjellman figurerar här och var själv) och konstkatalog på samma gång. Från en kvinnlig konstnär som jag tror värdesätter vitrinskåpet lika högt som Nationalmuseum.
— 2024-10-16 —
Beautiful reportage in FORM Magazine by Malin Ebbing. Foto: Patrick Miller
by Jennifer Detlefsen in GAS news, Glass Art Association
Scandinavian design has long been prized for its sleek aesthetic, bold primary colors and no-nonsense utilitarianism. The glassmaking traditions in Sweden, Norway and Denmark were no exception; centralized craft schools such as Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Sweden and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art Design School in Bornholm produced makers whose legendary precision was a testament to the rigors of their technical training. As the dominance of the 1950’s modernist movement waned, this region experienced the birth of a studio movement that decentralized glassmaking. New expressions in glass were able to emerge – but were still in large part fettered by a common, almost morally-based aversion to embellishment. It is only relatively recently that Scandinavian glassmakers have begun to step away from the canonical purity of design that so characterizes their region and embrace the intentional eccentricity of mixed media, kitsch and performance-based work in their product offerings. The Scandinavian women profiled here are finding ways to synthesize their hard-won technical skills with unique methods of personal expression. The results are smashing stereotypes and redefining the very idea of “product” in our changing world.
Frida Fjellman’s work straddles a glorious line between traditional fine glasscraft and Lynchian absurdity. Fjellman is best known for her works involving light, and was featured in 2019’s New Glass Now exhibition. Raised surrounded by Scandinavian values of sparse design and dogmatic rejection of decoration, Fjellman actively seeks subversion in her attention to adornment. Her iconic design takes the archetypal decoration of a chandelier, the crystal, and enlarges it to the point of absurdity. Her clusters of oversized gems in luscious candy colors evoke a range of emotions and styles. “I find the chandelier fascinating because depending on how it’s presented, how you use the colors, it can be vulgar, or cute, or pop art; really beautiful or completely tasteless.”
She likens this design process to painting, and delights in tweaking her display choices in her Stockholm studio, where she has freedom to experiment. This solitary arrangement suits her much better than the school environment that she chafed against at Konstfack – which she describes as having been excessively competitive. She still relies on some of the technical knowledge she gained there; specifically, the moldmaking skills she uses for her blown glass components were developed in school. Fjellman’s education at Konstfack has been supplemented over the years by courses at Pilchuck Glass School and the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass. At Pilchuck, she studied plasma and neon, both electrifying components in a mixed media arsenal that translates as well to public art as it does in her solo exhibition spaces.
In all of her works, Fjellman pulls from a long list of macabre and surreal references, starting with the hypnotic visual psychology of David Lynch. Fjellman credits her time abroad as a fellow at Wheaton Village with her discovery of ornamental Victorian glass, and was equally seduced by a trip to the Metropolitain Museum of Art’s Tiffany Collection. The reverence for décor, color and intricacy overwhelmed her visual palette. “We don’t have any of these things in Sweden –you just wouldn’t see it. So when I came across this style, I went crazy for it.” Other detectable notes in her ominous installation artworks are the original versions of fairy tales which she read in her youth – stories she revisited with her own children, only to be shocked at their violence and misogyny. She is also fascinated by the constructed environments of old museums, specifically natural history museums, and the taxidermied creatures that haunt their halls.
Despite such unnerving references lurking in her reservoir, Fjellman is regularly awarded public art projects to round out her practice, and is currently waiting on travel restrictions to subside so that she can complete a project for a school in Norway. A large-scale cast-aluminum tree branch suspended from the ceiling, intertwined with her twinkling emblematic mega-gems, will hover above a “pond” of polished black stone in this installation. Fjellman considers public art projects like this one to be a way for artists to stay relevant in our disposable culture. She is categorically uninterested in competing with mass-market produced wares, instead hoping that the stakeholders in public art derive a feeling of ownership when they see her artwork in their place of business, in their park or on their commute. “That is a different kind of product,” she explains – one that builds community through a sense of shared experience.
Fjellman has a long list of similar projects she’s excited to explore in the near future. Her firm belief in the futility of multitasking drove her to turn down opportunities for the last several years as she focused on raising her daughters – but she has recently started saying yes again, and the opportunities on the horizon, including a show in Los Angeles in 2021, are thrilling for her. Her momentum now bears an interesting parallel to her feelings on modernism. “It’s not that I don’t like modernism. I do – there are many wonderful things about it. But it’s never good to try to control what someone else should think – the pendulum is going to come back and hit you.” She’s swinging back into action with a vengeance, and at this point in her career she feels fully empowered to bringing the weird right along with her.
Meanwhile, the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) had taken over the Park Avenue Armory, bringing many of the galleries who typically show at Frieze along with it. Some of the most exciting works could be found above the fair, like an amorphous pink sculpture by the artist Aljiosha hanging over the booths, and a custom neon installation by Frida Fjellman in the Moose Room, on the Armory’s upper level. Of course, there was plenty to take in downstairs, too, including a sizable terracotta and raffia sculpture by Simone Leigh….
The creative endeavors of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish designers go on display this month
TEXT BY
Brook Mason
Posted August 6, 2018
When it comes to Nordic design, there’s no shortage of talent: The likes of Alvar Alto, Verner Panton, and Hans Wegner established the region as a hotbed of creativity decades ago. But it’s not all about midcentury modern. A new generation of Nordic creatives will be on full display at this year’s Chart Art Fair, running August 31 through September 2 in Copenhagen. Since launching the offshoot Chart Design in 2016, the fair has become an oasis of fresh talent. This year, Chart Design will welcome 12 galleries from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway showing a slew of new projects in glass, textiles, and more.
”Scandinavia’s iconic 20th-century design has long been celebrated but the latest crop of designers are already receiving international acclaim,” design director Nanna Balslev Strøjer tells AD PRO. Although it only launched six years ago, Chart has quickly become a magnet for influential figures in the worlds of art and architecture on these shores. Recent attendees include Lee Mindel, Scott Campbell, and Kyle DeWoody. So what makes the design on view so distinctive? “Blurring the boundaries between the art, sculpture, and design as well as concept and craft is characteristic of so many examples on view,” Strøjer points out. Here, AD PRO rounded up some of the designers to watch….
Frida Fjellman’s Crystal Atmosphere chandelier.
Photo: Joachim Belaieff
Frida Fjellman
At Stockholmmodern, Swedish designer Frida Fjellman’s captivating glass Crystal Atmosphere chandelier, which references chunky shards of glittering emeralds and diamonds, will hold center stage. Although Fjellman only opened her own studio in 2000, she has already created site-specific installations for the Four Seasons Surf Club and NetJets VIP Lounge during Art Basel in Miami Beach last year….”
This year’s big Design S Gala 2018 took place at Kulturhuset/Stadsteatern in Stockholm. Design S is run by Svensk Form and represents Sweden’s most prestigious design awards in the realm of architecture, furniture and craft etc. During the gala, the winner of, among others, Lauritz Konsthantverkspris is named – an award of outstanding craft and design. Mette Rode Sundström, co-owner of Lauritz.com, presented the award to the designer Frida Fjellman for her spectacular and beautiful glass work, developed visually and playfully at the intersection between art and craft. Frida Fjellman creates contemporary products with the potential to become the auction classics of the future, latest the series What’s up for Kosta Boda.
Lauritz Konsthantverkspris recognizes Frida Fjellman for her glasswork over time, most recently reflected in her new collection What’s up for Kosta Boda. Here follows the jury’s motivations:
A collection that is both playful and serious, its surprising size making the object occupy space so it doesn’t disappear in the room. It shows a designer who takes craft to a new level, who has drawn her bow, takes action and shows how the boundary between arts and craft is being wiped out. The vases are beautiful and humorous, but also functional. They radiate joy and are unpretentious, nothing is left to chance. Frida Fjellman is a pioneer ahead of her time, which makes her a trendsetter. And What’s up is a collection where the designer accepts the help of skilled craftsmen and raises glass as material to a new dimension.
Mette Rode Sundström, co-owner of Lauritz.com, explains the purpose of the Lauritz Konsthantverkspris:
The purpose of the Lauritz Konsthantverkspris is to award one spectacular designer who stands out with his/her unique vision, keen sense of genuine craftsmanship and conscious choice of materials. The designer is contributing in an innovative and sustainable way to Swedish design through creations that have the potential to draw future consumers to auctions in 25+ years, spreading joy in the lives and homes of more generations to come.
— 2018-06-14 —
Damn Magazine No. 67
FRIDA FJELLMAN designer
Frida Fjellman is a Swedish designer who has recently created impressive light installations in both private residential commissions and for be- spoke large interventions.
‘Marie-Antoinette is a site-specific installa- tion at the Swedish Institute in Paris. I made a custom-designed chandelier for its fantastic stairway and the result was stunning. The crush between time and aesthetics just became one…I did some fantastic interventions during Art Basel in Miami, and this came after a presence at Design Miami/2016, having had my solo show La Crypte de Velours Bleu for Hostler Burrows gal- lery. In December 2017, I was asked by the airline NetJets, the main sponsor for Art Basel, to turn its VIP Collectors lounge into an installation. With Crystal Atmosphere I tried to turn a strict and a bit claustrophobic environment into something alive and mystical. Crystal Atmosphere is the result of around 100 crystals, all hand-blown in Småland – the kingdom of glass in the Swedish forest – at the Boda Glass Factory. The programmed puls- ing LED light has a calming effect and the same rhythm as human breathing.’
fridafjellman.com
— 2018-06-05 —
The best design exhibitions to see in March from around the globe
We’ve scoured the globe to find the most captivating, uncanny and memorable design shows to see in 2018; from retrospectives and major blockbusters to thematic exhibitions and solo shows. So here’s our list of must-see design events this month…
DESIGN/2 MAR 2018
Marking her New York debut, contemporary artist and designer Frida Fjellman has developed a new version of her Netjets private lounge installation which showed at Art Basel Miami Beach last year. Visitors are invited to wander through the Swedish designer’s ‘crystal forest’ that is composed of hanging hand-blown crystal lanterns, which gently pulsate, gracefully attached via a chain to create a mesmerising experience. The installation Fjellman says is intended to ‘impart a sense of calm as well as to intrigue and fascinate.’
9 March – 20 April; Hostler Burrows, 35 E 10th Street, 10003, NYC
Crystal clear: Frida Fjellman collaborates with NetJets for Art Basel Miami Beach
Frida Fjellman in her studio with pieces from her Crystal Atmosphere, commissioned by NetJets for Art Basel 2017CREDIT: NATHAN GALLAGHER
by Bethan Ryder
Crystal sceptic or not, visitors to the NetJets VIP lounge at Art Basel, Miami Beach can’t fail to have been soothed by the Crystal Atmosphere installation by Swedish craft artist Frida Fjellman.
This year was the 16th time the private aviation company has partnered with Art Basel and its lounge – screened off from the general Collector’s Lounge – was dominated by a series of giant prism-shaped glass lights in a variety of shades, strung from the ceiling like jewels on pretty brass chains.
Frida Fjellman in the NetJets loungeCREDIT: CHARLES ROUSSEL
These lanterns, glass-blown in both opaque and clear glass with the light source programmed to slowly pulsate, generated a calming dreamlike ambience – which was the artist’s intention.
”I was interested in exploring the magical sense of tranquility that you experience when cruising above the clouds,” the pink-haired Fjellman explains. ”Flying is perhaps one of the few oasis of calm in our hyper-connected digital society. The idea is that people come in, relax, sink down in their seats and rest a bit.”
Fjellman’s installation follows Rebecca Louise Law’s meditative carpet of meadow flowers that hovered above heads in last year’s lounge. It seems NetJets is only too aware that even the most ardent art collectors require some respite when confronted with the supermarket-like aisles of visual stimuli at Art Basel.
Crystal Atmosphere at the NetJets lounge, Art Basel, South Miami
This collaboration came about after NetJets’ representatives spotted Fjellman’s enchanting oversized chandeliers at the booth of her New York gallery Hostler Burrows, during last year’s smaller sister fair,Design Miami. Fjellman was inundated with a flurry of emails following the fair, so much so that it took three email approaches from NetJets before she recognised it as a serious commission.
Frida Fjellman installing her Crystal Atmosphere in the NetJet’s lounge at Art BaselCREDIT: NATHAN GALLAGHER
Fjellman headed to the Kingdom of Crystal and the recently revived Boda Glass factory in Småland, southern Sweden, to create the 100 prisms that comprise the installation. It was a two-month process.
”This is not a natural shape for glass, they’re formed using iron molds. The larger prisms take around one hour with three people working intensely on them, they then have to cool for 24 hours. The smallest take around half an hour. Clear glass is fastest, but opaque colour takes extra time because it can crack more easily.”
Frida Fjellman working on her crystal lights in the Boda Glass FactoryCREDIT: NATHAN GALLAGHER
A fine art graduate of Konstfack, Stockholm’s art, crafts and design university, clay was Fjellman’s first love, her father taking her to local ceramics classes when she was a child. Later studies at The Corning Studio in New York and Washington’s Pilchuck School of Glass saw her move into working with neon, lighting and glass.
Known for her mythical Scandinavian art pieces that incorporate life-size ceramic animals, she conceived her first prismatic chandelier to complete a tableau of woodland creatures as part of her 2008 exhibition Nocturnal Dreams.
”I needed something exaggerated as a centrepiece,” she told us, ”a reinterpretation of the chandelier – something a little magical.”
Movie link:
Fjellman’s collaboration with NetJets also included the installation of several large chandeliers for the outdoor terrace of the Four Seasons at the Surf Club.
Art Basel may be over, but admirers of her work can look forward to a solo show next spring with Hostler Burrows at New York’s The Armory Show, otherwise you can invest in her ceramic or glass treasures via private commission.
”…Art Basel Miami Beach is the art world’s hedonistic winter break, where most networking is done besides the pool at Soho Beach House before the fair itself (the final opportunity of the year to reel in five-figure sales) has actually opened. The world’s eyes are usually on the parties where rappers rub shoulders with collectors and the fashion crowd dress to the nines, rather than the art, and the electric atmosphere is largely triggered by temperatures that won’t dip below 21 degrees Celsius in the shade (day or night). For the no-holds-barred partygoers, this might be the last opportunity to wear a swimsuit before Christmas, or pull off a lightweight full-designer look (Gucci, Prada or Dior preferably) to rival any Texan oil heiress popping into town to pick up a William Eggleston for the spare room.
Here are the 10 things you need to know about Art Basel Miami Beach 2017:…”
”…The art will be in unexpected places
From set designer Es Devlin’s twisted hotel room maze that awaits behind a velvet rope at the back lobby of The Edition, to Studio Drift’s 300-strong flock of drone birds that illuminated the night skies above South Beach, or Swedish glass artist Frida Fjellman’s suspended crystals hidden inside the ABMB’s exclusive NetJets lounge, it pays to enter the realm of the unexpected. “When I do public installations it’s about messing things up a bit. You’re working with a space that has other uses, but you want to alter the experience of being in that place,” Fjellman explained from underneath a chain of her ambient octahedrons (the lighting changes to create a wave of coloured light through the crystals similar to the Northern Lights). “You need to be here to experience their mood-altering effects and the heaviness of the glass, but you might have come for another purpose.” Only one in two of her larger crystals, which look like the glass stopper of an Art Deco perfume bottle, will survive the high temperatures during fabrication. The rest explode under their own weight. Is this an antidote to the dark Scandinavian winters or the fair’s harsh booth lighting? “Definitely.”
”…Pour s’en assurer, il suffit d’entrer dans l’atelier de l’artiste Frida Fjellman, à Hägersten. Présente au dernier Art Basel de Miami avec son installation Crystal Atmosphere, la jeune femme incarne la fine fleur de la création artistique locale. Son objectif ? Dynamiter les codes en proposant des suspensions oniriques aux formes souvent arrondies, globuleuses et colorées, là où le design suédois a toujours affiché un goût prononcé pour les figures géométriques strictes. Elle raconte : “En arrivant à l’école d’art, j’ai vite compris qu’il y avait un tas de règles non écrites qui brimaient la créativité et installaient, de fait, une certaine esthétique de la rigueur. On me freinait sans cesse dans mes élans. Cet état d’esprit n’a plus cours aujourd’hui. On préfère repérer les talents et les laisse vivre !” Cet automne, Frida Fjellman et ses œuvres voyageront vers Paris pour célébrer la réouverture de l’Institut suédois de la capitale. Pour l’occasion, elle a travaillé tout l’été à l’élaboration d’une mystérieuse et spectaculairePink Marie-Antoinette de six mètres de haut. Autoproclamé “naïf”, “pas prétentieux” et “désarmé”, l’art de cette jeune créatrice s’exporte désormais aux quatre coins de la planète. Si l’élite locale se démène pour changer notre regard sur le design suédois, que l’on se rassure, les fondamentaux ne sont jamais loin !…”
Flying flicker: this year’s Netjets lounge at Art Basel casts a mesmerising glow
ART/21 JUN 2017 /BY ROSA BERTOLI
On the occasion of its 16-year partnership with Art Basel private jet airline Netjets unveils yet another project in collaboration with the fair. This year, the Netjets collectors lounge featured a bespoke installation by Swedish artist Frida Fjellman, who gave her signature blown glass lanterns a new spatial interpretation.
The lanterns first appeared as part of a solo exhibition of the artist’s work in 2015, and since been developed in a variety of colours and sizes, keeping their distinctive mouth blown glass and metal features, and presented both as single pieces or as chandelier-like clusters. Fjellman has been working with Sweden’s The Glass Factory, an art glass producer based in Boda – a small village in the country’s forests – to develop the project over the last two years.
‘When I first created these lamps, my intention was not to make something beautiful, or useful,’ says Fjellman. ‘I wanted something that looked like exaggerated jewellery, that looked beautiful but also a bit weird; it’s interesting and a bit surprising that people want them.’
The lamps were shown at Design Miami in 2016, as part of a large installation by Hostler Burrows (this year’s Design Miami/Basel also had a smaller selection on display at the gallery’s booth), and that’s where they caught Netjets’ attention. The artist was given free reign on the lounge space, and over four months developed an installation of 100 lanterns (her largest installation of these pieces to date) in different shades and sizes, also producing a new large-scale piece that pushes the limits of production.
The lanterns hang on the ceiling in colour clusters, and the lights are discreetly turned on and off with a slow breathing pulse. ‘My intention was to create a calming environment to de-stress from the fair,’ says the artist. Titled ‘Crystal Atmosphere,’ the lounge installation affirms the private aviation company’s commitment to the arts, with previous projects featuring collaborations with art/design duo Snarkitectureand British artist Rebecca Louise Law.
‘I was interested in exploring the almost magical sense of tranquility that you experience when cruising above the clouds,’ concludes Fjellman. ‘Flying is perhaps one of the few oasis of calm in our increasingly interconnected digital society.’
Netjets enlisted Swedish artist Frida Fjellman, pictured, to create an installation for their collectors’ lounge at Art Basel
Frida Fjellman’s “Crystal Atmosphere” for NetJets at Art Basel
By Eliza Jordan
Since 2002, NetJets has been an associate partner of the Art Basel fair. This week in Basel, the leading Berkshire Hathaway private aviation company debuts its collaboration with Swedish artist Frida Fjellman, who created the “Crystal Atmosphere” installation for the NetJets VIP Lounge.
“Art Basel in Basel is an annual highlight for our owners, both in Europe and across the globe, many of whom are avid art collectors and enthusiasts. NetJets has supported Art Basel in Basel since 2002 and our long-running involvement is testament to the show’s continued position as the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art. This year we wanted to take our partnership with Art Basel one step further and through our collaboration with Frida. NetJets continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing innovative and exceptional experiences for our customers,” said Philip Baer, Regional Vice President, NetJets Europe.
Fjellman’s ceramic and glass works are finely crafted, exuding emotional and dreamy characteristics. To complement the brand’s place in the field of aviation, she used 100 glass prisms to represent NetJet’s community engagement with design and art. The “Crystal Atmosphere” theme was executed by the BodaGlass factory in Boda Glasbruk—a town in Southern Sweden—and took over two months to create by hand by master glassblowers with over 15 years of experience.
“I was interested in exploring the almost magical sense of tranquility that you experience when cruising above the clouds,” said Frida Fjellman. “Flying is perhaps one of the few oasis of calm in our increasingly interconnected digital society. ‘Crystal Atmosphere’ was designed to impart a sense of calm to the viewer as well as to intrigue and fascinate, making the visitor reflect and take a step back from their everyday lives. I hope that this will be a memorable and unexpected experience for the guests.”
Frida Fjellman’s piece ”Crystal Atmosphere” commissioned by NetJets for Art Basel 2017. Courtesy of NetJets.
The Collector’s VIP Lounge is a by-invitation-only area welcoming First Choice VIP and VIP-Preview card holders throughout the fair and is luxuriously represented by Art Basel’s sponsoring partners.
Frida Fjellman for NetJets
It’s the 16th year of partnership for NetJets and Art Basel. For this year’s artistic entertainment, the private aviation firm chose to work with Frida Fjellman, a critically acclaimed Swedish Craft Artist, in creating an innovative installation on display at the NetJets VIP lounge in the Art Basel Collectors Lounge. Celebrated and known for her artistic craft works and installations, Frida Fjellman lets the viewer of her works dive into the world of myths and fables. The eye-catching hanging installation “Crystal Atmosphere“ made of glass prisms in different sizes, colors and heights creates a dreamy atmosphere inside the by-invitaiton only VIP Lounge of NetJets. „I was interested in exploring the almost magical sense of tranquility that you experience when cruising above the clouds – flying is perhaps one of the few oasis of calm in our increasingly interconnected digital society. Crystal Atmosphere was designed to impart a sense of calm to the viewer as well as to intrigue and fascinate, making the visitor reflect and take a step back from their everyday lives. I hope that this will be a memorable and unexpected experience for the guests.“ said Frida Fjellman
Frida Fjellman’s piece ‘Crystal Atmosphere’ commissioned by NetJets for Art Basel 2017
Dagens Industri 26/5
— 2017-05-29 —
Short TV4 interview at NK at the opening of Kosta Boda Homage
Throughout the year, Architectural Digest’s market department scours showrooms, stores, fairs, and design centers for the best new products on the market and then brings its favorites to AD PRO. From rugs to wallpaper to furniture and lighting, these are the items our editors are eyeing. This week, Associate Market Editor Kathryn Given shares her favorites, sourced from New York Design Week.
Photo: Courtesy of Hostler Burrows
Frida Fjellman at Hostler Burrows
The opening of TEFAF at the Park Avenue Armory drew those hoping to see the best in art and antiques, and the exhibitors certainly didn’t disappoint. A standout piece from Hostler Burrows was Frida Fjellman’s Lustre En Cristal Topaze Enfumée, a stunning hanging glass and brass object.
The Swedish artist’s jewel-like lighting has the design world captivated Fjellman’s dazzling exhibition at Design Miami 2016. Courtesy of Hostler Burrows and the artist
Fjellman at her Crystal Forest installation at Galleri Splace in Sweden. Photo: Jon Dreierbakken One of the head-turning booths at the Design Miami fair in December was a velvet-curtained lair where prismatic glass pendant lights hung in twinkling clusters like oversize jewels. Presented by New York gallery Hostler Burrows, the installation was the work of Swedish artist Frida Fjellman, who says her aim is “to intrigue and fascinate, to take viewers away from their everyday lives.” Based in Stockholm, Fjellman has caught the attention of the art and design worlds with her hyperreal ceramic and glass creatures and abstract swirling glass sculptures—which she often puts into enchanting tableaux. Juliet Burrows, co-owner of Hostler Burrows, says that Fjellman’s complex work “elicits a range of emotions, from joy to terror to wonder.” Currently Fjellman is working on a new series of lighting in hues inspired by the Art Deco era. “I love the power and positive outlook that period conveys,” the artist says. “My work is no joke, but I want to have fun.”
La Crypte de Velours Blue exhibition at Design Miami 2016.Photo: Courtesy of Hostler Burrows and the artist
SVT:s konstkritiker Dennis Dahlqvist gillar Frida Fjellmans kristallkronor. Foto: SVT/ Don Titelman
Frida Fjellmans nyskapande tolkning av kristallkronan hyllas av SVT:s Dennis Dahlqvist. Kronorna ställs ut under Stockholm Design Week – ett evenemang där såväl inhemska som internationella designer ställer ut. Stockholm Design Week är i full gång och på flera platser i huvudstaden ställs design och arkitektur ut.
Och enligt Kulturnyheternas konstkritiker Dennis Dahlqvist, som besökt evenemanget, har möbelmässan gjort en rejäl uppryckning – speciellt gillar han Jaime Hayóns alster.
– Årets hedersgäst, den lekfulle spanjoren Jaime Hayón, har till exempel betydligt mer självdistans och humor än de senaste fem årens gästartister tillsammans. I sin färgstarka paviljong jonglerar han med en mängd stilar: art noveau, art deco, tidig modernism och postmodernism.
”Magiska kristaller” SVT:s konstkritiker hylllar även designveckans specialutställning, som tar avstamp i den amerikanska shakerrörelsen från 1800-talet.
Däremot har de samtida konstnärer som fått i uppdrag att tolka de avskalade föremålen lyckats mindre bra, enligt Dennis Dahlqvist.
Men allra bäst på designveckan är Frida Fjellman, vars kristallkronor ställs ut på Sotheby’s, säger SVT:s konstkritiker.
– Kronorna slog faktiskt knockout på hela världseliten i december under Art Basel i Miami och inte undra på. De här magiska kristallerna förflyttar ju folk till ett förstrollat land där juvelerna hänger i stora klasar från träden. Helt överväldigande, faktiskt.
— 2017-02-13 —
Form Magazine
Magazine for Nordic Architecture and Design
Form’s top ten Nordic projects from 2016 – the complete list
Happy new year, friends! On Facebook we’ve been presenting a top ten list of Nordic projects from 2016. See the complete list below:
#8 Craftist Frida Fjellman’s gorgeous chandeliers, featured in Wallpaper!
Under the loupe: our latest watch and jewellery finds
WATCHES & JEWELLERY/16 DEC 2016
Precious light forms 16 December
We couldn’t help but love Swedish artist Frida Fjellman’s Design Miami installation for New York gallery Hostler Burrows. For her ‘La Crypte de Velours Bleu’ series at the fair, the artist presented a series of her glass and brass chandeliers. Formed of giant point-cut glass gems dangling from a clutch of loose brass chains, their scale delights with a comic sensibility. On closer inspection, however, that humorous mood and muted colour tones emanate a slightly darker, Victorian feel.
…The booths and fair tents have now been vacated, and life in Miami restored to normal traffic woes. But the female voices present at Miami Art Week – an annual flurry of fairs that descend upon the city each December – have resonated far beyond these temporary events…
Design Miami
…Hostler Burrows (New York) presented an installation by Frida Fjellman (Sweden), entitled La Crypte de Velours Bleu. The prismatic glass chandeliers invoke wonderment, and Fjellman felt that if she increased the size of the emerald-shaped ‘gems,’ she would also increase the spectacle of the treasures. Her work diverges from traditional Swedish art and design minimalism, rather exemplifying her mastery of a traditional craft and deep-rooted love for the Northern Swedish landscape…
…Although part of the Hostler Burrows booth, Fjellman displayed her work in a room of her own, intensifying the surrealistic nature of the pendants. Hung within their blue velvet chamber, the lights transport us into some enchanted fairy tale where giants drape themselves in gargantuan baubles, making us feel as small as Alice.
In La Crypte de Velours Bleu, which translates as The Blue Velvet Crypt, Fjellman hung the chandeliers “in clusters to create an immersive environment.” That environment revives our sense of childhood wonder because, in walking through the space, we feel miniaturized—increasing our awe exponentially.
But the whole of the installation should not diminish the charm of its individual parts. “Inspired by precious gems,” the faceted pieces of Fjellman’s lights are each captivating. From ruby to sapphire, translucent to opaque, the suspended polygons are each baroque
”Swedish designer Frida Fjellman started out in ceramics. She’s since diversified but her work still blurs the line between craft and fine art. Her giant glass chandeliers suspended like clusters of gargantuan jewels were given their own curtain-clad chamber by Hostler Burrows. Inspired by the prisms found in a traditional crystal chandelier these illuminated pieces were some of the most arresting pieces at this year’s fair. hostlerburrows.com”
Calm modernism is out and anarchic forms are in at this year’s Design Miamicollectors’ fair, as designers respond to tumultuous political times.
The fair, which for the last few years has been dominated by mid-century French and vintage furniture, is this time stuffed with more experimental pieces.
”Times are crazy,” said Juan Garcia Mosqueda of New York gallery Chamber. ”No-one wants to play it safe any more… ”
…
”Meanwhile Swedish designer Frida Fjellman is presenting a spectacular installation of gaudy, oversized crystal-shaped pendant lights for Hostler Burrows gallery.”
I en häpnadsväckande realistisk modellering ligger han och vaktar badkaret. Keramik har följt människan sedan urtiden, men alltför länge setts över axeln som material för konst. Idag har konstnärerna brutit med denna slentrianmässiga syn. Malte utstrålar värdighet och en sorgsen visdom…
Frida Fjellman är baserad i Stocholm och arbetar växelvis med egna utställningar, separata verk och offentliga gestaltningar.
Hur speglar det du gör samtiden? Om det gör det. – Jag påverkas som alla andra av det jag ser, upplever och det som sker omkring mig. Utifrån det speglar jag och förhåller mig till samtiden varje dag. I förlängningen visar det sig mer eller mindre direkt i mina verk. Det kan vara allt från motivval till teknik. Trots det har jag alltid strävat efter att det jag gör ska vara ”odaterat”.
Vilka är dina ledord när det kommer till design? – Jag ser mig själv som konsthantverkare och inte designer. Det är utifrån den kontexten jag har min kunskap och mitt arbetssätt. Jag skriver ledord för varje nytt projekt så de är olika beroende på projektet. Men återkommande är att aldrig vara feg. Att inte backa när något känns svårt eller läskigt. Sen är det viktigt att ha kul också. Att ibland låta lusten styra. Det jag gör innefattar ofta hårt arbete och då måste vissa delar vara luststyrda, annars blir det för tungt. Jag brukar också påminna mig själv om att inte ta mig själv i arbetet på för stort allvar. Livet är så allvarligt ändå.
Om du tänker på hur vårt samhälle ser ut idag, vad fyller design och formgivning för viktiga funktioner? – Det kan ju vara så mycket – allt från det rent funktionella i samhället, att hjälpa ett samhälle att fungera rent praktiskt, till mer visionära funktioner. Det är ett stort och komplext område. Konsthantverket är tyvärr undanskymt och syns inte så mycket i vårt samhälle men jag tror att det är på väg tillbaka. Vi behöver det gamla hantverkskunnandet i det moderna samhället. Det behövs för vad det är i sig och för att appliceras på och kombineras med ny kunskap. Om man ser på det lite mer i det lilla tror jag verkligen på objekt som är tillverkade med omsorg oavsett vad det är. Det sprider sig. Ut från objektet till människan.
Vad inspireras du av? – Jag inspireras av att arbeta och att vara i naturen.
”Djuren har huvudrollen i Frida Fjellmans (f 1971) skulpturala värld när hon arbetar i glas eller stengods. En stadig björn står på bakbenen och vädrar möjligheter trots en alltigenom tvivlande blick. Det är med oerhörd detaljrikedom och taktilitet som konsthantverkaren Frida Fjellman skildrar djur och natur som verkliga avbildningar men också som symboler för det vi människor kallar kultur. Om funktionalismens minimalistiska inverkan på konsthantverket i Sverige, om att gestalta det vi tycker om utan att det blir vulgärt och om hur motiv ofta blir bedömda innan de verkligen betraktas samtalar vi om innan det tidskrävande arbetet med att bränna och glasera brunbjörnarna tar vid….”
— 2016-05-31 —
Have a look in FORM Magazine #6, 2015
Text: Bo Madestrand
Photo: Patrick Miller
— 2015-12-16 —
Recension,
Lotta Jonson, Dagens Nyheter
5/11 2015
Maktlösa djur som förmedlar ångest mer än gullegull
Säg ”porslinshund” och en kitschig liten figurin poppar upp i tankarna. Men nej, Frida Fjellmans murmeldjur, björnar eller hundar leder betraktaren in på helt andra banor även om gränsen är hårfin. Just nu kan man se ”I huvudet på Frida Fjellman” på Gustavsbergs konsthall (t o m 3/1) och där lyckas hela raden djur snarare förmedla existentiell ångest än gullegull.
Utställningen har tidigare visats på Eskilstuna konstmuseum i en större sal. Det krympta formatet här förtätar känslan av fångenskap och förstärker budskapet om maktlöshet. Utmed rummets ena långsida hänger dovt röda sammetsdraperier. Från dessa liksom väller en blodröd matta ut över hela golvet.
Utplacerade på mattan finns, förutom de tidigare nämnda djuren, också en räv och en mullvad medan en uggla på väggen övervakar det hela. Ett träsk av glas speglar sig i taket och diverse glasobjekt (nedfallna från yttre rymden?) befinner sig i periferin.
I Frida Fjellmans offentliga uppdrag syns ofta lekfulla moln, bollar eller geometriska figurer i glas eller plexi i klara färger. De är lättsamt dekorativa medan djurvärlden allt sedan debuten återkommit i hennes utställningar – djuren blir ett slags inre alter egon.
På Gustavsbergs konsthall lurar ond bråd död, det handlar om hot och ovisshet. Säg den som inte blir berörd. Hjärtat fylls av medkänsla. Djuren är inte bara Frida Fjellman, de blir vi. Det är mycket teatralt och riktigt otäckt.
1. Veckans topplista krönes av Frida Fjellman. Det svenska konsthantverkets Bruno Liljefors! Skogens drottning, de små livens Nightingale! Ni hör. Jag blir SÅ FÖRTJUST när jag går runt i den lilla röda salongen på Gustavsbergs Konsthall och smyger bland Fjellmans keramiska fauna. Kanske trodde jag att hon redan toppat sin karriär. Att djuren, de innerliga små liven, inte kunde skildras bättre. Men nu leker hon med skalorna (BJÖRNEN är ju för tusan nästan 1:1) och allt blir så betagande och gripande och glansigt sentimentalt att man bara vill lägga sig ned och somna intill rävens och mullvadens sista kroppsvärme. För det är också allvar! Planeten har kapsejsat, radioaktiva moln driver in, blod fläckar våra väggar. Men Frida Fjellman vet hur man får hjärtan att slå på nytt. Ni som driver skolor, sjukhus, bibliotek – köp in!!
2021
