Konstfack at International Milan Furniture Fair 2007: Out of the Woods - new materials, new design

Can a plastic bag be made of shrimp shells? Can plastic be made of wood? Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design announces the opening of Out of the Woods, an exhibition of 12 promising students at the International Milan Furniture Fair 2007. The exhibition is a collaboration with STFI-Packforsk AB, a leading Research & Development company in the field of pulp, paper, print and packaging. In the near future it certainly can, and probably it has to, to meet the demands from a sustainable society. The world is facing massive changes due to global warming and an increased awareness of the limited supply of oil and oil-based products. Materials have to be sustainable and renewable. The development of new materials is fast and often designers are unaware of the possibilities that a new material can offer. Scientists are often equally unaware of what designers wish and dream of when it comes to new materials. To initiate and explore the communication between designers and scientists, Konstfack and STFI Packforsk have started the joint project, “Out of the woods”. One aim is that designers will be involved in the development of materials at an early stage. This exhibition is a result of the first workshop on the communication between designers and scientists: - Wheat gluten is a rest product of the food industry that Johan Amborn has turned into a lamp. - The same material is used with a completely different expression in Anna-Karin Malmsten’s amorphous lamps. - Patric Sahlén presents a stool reminiscent to Art Deco styled furniture, made in wheat gluten as well. - The tree shapes are filled with lightening birds of bulb and paper by Chen Hung-Ming, who also made the thrash can that emphasises the recycling of materials. - Hana Park enhances the impression of the forest through a growing weave hanging from the “trees”. - The growth and constant metamorphose in nature is mimicked in Farvash Razavi’s design, where the matter is penetrated by embedded seeds leaving the design process in the hands of nature. - Serena Tonus makes an investigation of tactile qualities in which the visitors are asked to write down their feelings of different tactile sensations related to a given material. - Asako Yamashita has made a prototype of writing board for an office chair, using both the soft and hard quality of the cellulose fibre composite. - The complex structure of the alphabet has inspired Nandi Nobell in his work with the paper bead game, in which a number of small building blocks can be used to build textile like structures. - Ylva Sundin has made three suggestions for a plastic-paper bag made out of cellulose fibre and chitosan (that origins from shrimp shell). The whole exhibition is based on a modular system in cardboard designed by Karl Råman, and a folding fan shaped brochure designed by Helena Ohlsson. Time: 18-23 April 2007, 10am – 10pm (20 April until midnight). Place: Superstudio 13, Via Forcella 13, Zona Tortona Press preview, April 17th, 3 – 5 pm. Reception, April 19th, 6 pm in the presence of Konstfack’s president Ivar Björkman, professors, Research manager Mikael Lindström from STFI-Packforsk and students. Curator: Jonas Nobel Scientific advisor: Mikael Lindström, STFI- Packforsk Projects manager: Ikko Yokoyama, Konstfack For more information and press images: www.konstfack.se/milano Contacts: Ikko Yokoyama, Konstfack ikko.yokoyama@konstfack.se +46 70 191 1009 Mikael Lindström, STFI- Packforsk mikael.lindstrom@stfi.se +46 8 676 74 33