Vandalorum and Region Jönköpings county are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2025 Bruno Mathsson Design Residency is furniture designer Maria Bruun.
The award-winning Danish designer Maria Bruun will participate in the residency from May 15 to June 15, 2025, residing and working in a house from 1955 in Värnamo designed by architect and furniture designer Bruno Mathsson (1907-88), commissioned by Vandalorum’s founder Sven Lundh. The residency offers Bruun the opportunity to explore the extensive furniture and manufacturing industry in the Jönköping region, studying Bruno Mathsson’s work and delivering a public lecture at the Vandalorum Museum of Art and Design.
Statement of the jury
“Maria Bruun shows great versatility in working with wood, both as a structural material and using its specific tactile qualities. These are strengths that also characterized Bruno Mathsson’s work. Bruun’s ability to merge functional design with poetic expressions resonates strongly with the legacy of Mathsson. Like her predecessor, Bruun has a design philosophy rooted in a profound respect and interest for materials and craftsmanship. Offering Bruun the opportunity of the Bruno Mathsson Design Residency allows her to further explore the experimental potential of wood. To continue the great tradition of Nordic design, it is very important to connect it with innovative younger designers and allow them to project it into the future. We are certain that Bruun will do this as part of her residency.”
Stool Pioneer for Fredericia, photo: © Fredericia
Barrel Chair, Photo: Jacob Friis-Holm Nielsen
About Maria Bruun
The Danish furniture designer Maria Bruun (b. 1984, based in Copenhagen) earned her master’s degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2012. In recent years, she has received Denmark’s two most prestigious design awards: the Wegner Prize (2022) and the Finn Juhl Prize (2021). She has gained international recognition for her innovative and sculptural designs, showcasing a deep understanding of the natural properties of wood, exemplified by the acclaimed Pioneer stool and the Islets table for Fredericia.
Bruun says about the residency: “Mathsson’s dedication to functionality, Scandinavian design principles, and the organic potential of wood aligns closely with my own vision of creating furniture and objects that are both functional and meaningful. I hope to further my skills and deepen my understanding of design traditions through this residency, integrating traditional craftsmanship into contemporary industrial production—a central challenge in today’s design world.”
The house at Backegårdsgatan in Värnamo, Sweden. Designed by Bruno Mathsson in 1955, Photo: Peo Olsson
About Bruno Mathsson Design Residency
The Bruno Mathsson Design Residency is run by Region Jönköping County and Vandalorum Museum of Art and Design, with support by IASPIS/The Swedish Arts Grants Committee International Programme for Visual and Applied Art, Region Jönköping County and Värnamo Municipality, in collaboration with the entrepreneur and collector Johan Sjöberg, Bruno Mathsson International, and the Karin and Bruno Mathsson Foundation.
The 2025 jury consists of: Dr. Mateo Kries, Director of the Vitra Design Museum; Jenny Nordberg, Designer; Lennart Alves Gernes, Visual Arts and Design Developer at Region Jönköpings län; and Elna Svenle, Museum Director of Vandalorum.
Portrait of Maria Bruun, photo: Benita Marcussen
VANDALORUM Skulpturvägen 2, 33144 Värnamo. Tel. 0370-30 22 00
info@vandalorum.se • www.vandalorum.se