The Norwegian Design Exhibition That’s On Our Must-Visit List

The annual Salone del Mobile is coming up sooner than we can believe, and one of the exhibitions we’re most excited for this year is Norwegian Presence. (Have you heard we love Norway?) The fourth in a series of annual exhibitions put forth by Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA), Klubben (the Norwegian designers’ union), and Norwegian Crafts, this year’s show is divided into three, with each part celebrating the country’s designers, craft artists, and manufacturers, respectively — essentially, every element of the country’s making community. The combination of ancient processes with new technologies and materials yields something really interesting in this show, with objects typical of young, independent designers — candleholders, watering cans — shown alongside more industrially produced items like task chairs as well as sculptural wood clay shelving units and unfired ceramic vessels. Norwegian Presence seems to represent a conscious broadening of what we typically think of when we think of Norwegian design, and it somehow works to bring together a lumpy chair and an acoustic sound panel in the same exhibition.

Showing in Zona Tortona, April 17–22, go for the copper and cotton woven installations inspired by the theremin; stay for the multi-purpose wooden bowls that look like they were made with ice cream scoops.