A new layer @ Form/Design Center

Historically, China and Japan have been the leading regions for the development of lacquer as an art form. The craftspeople have not only mastered a single method, but developed numerous ways in which the surface treatment is used, both as a functional and decorative material. Despite the craft’s long history, it is not bound to tradition but is in constant change. Taiwan is a geographical and cultural meeting place for the Chinese and Japanese but also a region with influences from Indonesia, Vietnam and Polynesia. This varied culture is visible in its own craft traditions and has significantly colored the material shown in A New Layer.

The project was initiated by the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute (NTCRI) when they in 2012 invited the Swedish designers Gabriella Gustafson, Matti Klenell, Stina Löfgren, Carina Seth Andersson and Mattias Ståhlbom to work with lacquer as a starting point. Together with craftspeople in Taiwan, they have studied the art form’s possibilities and created works adapted to their own expressions. This has involved a total of 22 trips crisscrossing the country and countless meetings with people connected to small-scale manufacturing within a variety of different materials. The exhibition therefore contains objects in ceramics, wood, metal, woven bamboo, textile, mother-of-pearl and stone, all united through lacquerwork that has been applied to the objects in various ways.

The approximately 35 objects displayed are all prototypes or unique pieces developed specifically for the project. They range from the invaluably exclusive to the everyday simple and are executed in collaboration with about twenty craftspeople selected by NTCRI. In the exhibition, the Scandinavian clashes with the Asian and the result is a multifaceted, playful and very diverse collection of works from some of Sweden’s foremost designers. The experimental and investigative process on location in Taiwan has provided conditions to go outside the everyday framework. The discovery of an ancient technique in combination with new materials and an Asian context has resulted in an unusually free collection, and the project has in several ways come to influence the participants’ other work during the two and a half years it has been ongoing.

The host institution NTCRI was founded in its current form in 1999 but has roots back to the 1950s. It is an organization that aims to support Taiwanese design, arts and crafts. Its center is located in Caotun Township, Nantau. Part of their activities consists of conducting collaborative projects with foreign individuals and organizations. Among previous collaborations are projects with Nendo, Konstantin Grcic and Design Academy Eindhoven. NTCRI was also responsible from 2008-2011 for the exhibition project Yii Project which was curated by Gijs Bakker and was shown at I Salone Del Mobile in Milan and Art Basel Miami, among other places.

The exhibition is produced by the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities and the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute.

Thanks to Centre Culturel de Taiwan à Paris, Ministry of Culture Republic of China (Taiwan), Taipei Mission in Sweden and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.