The New Map, 9/4–29/5 2016

How can we find a new pathway for local production and consumption? 24 designers and 24 manufacturers are investigating a new model of collaboration.

Shown at Vandalorum, Värnamo

The New Map exhibition is intended as a contribution to the debate on how local, small-scale manufacturing can form part of a strategy for long-term, sustainable economic and social development. Redrawing of the global consumption and production map is already under way. Just like the food we eat, the products of the future will, to a greater extent, be produced locally, pass through fewer intermediaries, be manufactured on a smaller scale and be fairer for everyone involved. And especially for the environment. To highlight existing production potential and accelerate the redrawing of the map, The New Map project set up 24 partnerships between designers and manufacturers in Skåne, a region of southern Sweden. The partnerships featured in the exhibition include Mats Theselius and Pearl Microphones, who produced a comfort-grip handheld microphone, Liv Andersson and Blommiga Gredelina, who created a knitted unisex kimono-kaftan, Maria E. Harrysson and Skillinge Emalj, who produced an enameled lamp, and Studiotrojka and Jonas Larsen, who developed a new technique for blowing glass using moulds made from fresh willow.

The exhibition project is a testing ground for a new collaborative model that involves taking collective responsibility for maintaining existing manufacturing and creating the conditions for it to continue. The model also aims to arrive at a fairer financial split between designer and manufacturer, tailored to today’s manufacturing. All the featured pieces will be available to purchase through The New Map online shop. A catalogue describing all the partnerships has been produced to accompany the exhibition. The catalogue also includes articles by four freelance writers, Ingrid Sommar, Katja Pettersson, Stefan Fölster and Eva Engquist, offering their views on some of the issues and perspectives concerning present and future manufacturing.

The New Map is a co-production with the Form/Design Center in Malmö, with financial support from Region Skåne and the City of Malmö. The exhibition appeared at the Form/Design Center.

Curator and exhibition designer is industrial designer Jenny Nordberg.