What’s it like being unique in the field of design and arts and crafts? What challenges do you face, and what values lie behind the choice not to join the crowd in the mass production and wasting of resources that characterise the clothing industry, for example? And does nature have a clear role to play in choosing an artistic approach that is consciously sustainable?
In this evening’s The Forest is Calling-conversation, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen and Jenny Holmlund discuss their artistic processes with Annika Bergvik-Forsander, visual artist, art critic, and lead programme producer at Nordic Culture Point.
Laila Susanna Kuhmunen grew up in Jokkmokk in a reindeer herding family. Although she is essentially a traditional Sami craftswoman, during her studies at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, she carved a new path and sought new angles and ways of producing duodji/Sami crafts. In her work, she depicts contemporary Sami themes based on duodji/Sami crafts mixed with other textile materials and techniques. Through her project role as a scientific assistant/trainee at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, she is continuing to develop her creative work.
Jenny Holmlund is a conceptual designer and visual artist, blending art and design in her work. Despite an urban and contemporary expression, the meticulous craftsmanship and utilisation of traditions serve as an important foundation in Holmlund’s creations. Her small-scale and personal production is characterised by innovative thinking and conscious efforts in respect of ecological and social sustainability. Holmlund was born in Vexala in Ostrobothnia. After studying at the Nordic Art School, she studied design at the School of Design and Crafts at University of Gothenburg, the city where she was based for more than 20 years. Last autumn she moved back to Finland and now lives in Helsinki.
