Nordic Craft and Design at Manchester Art Gallery

This July, ‘Nordic Craft and Design’ opens at Manchester Art Gallery. This year-long display of important and influential 20th and 21st century craft and design from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden will showcase furniture, fashion, lighting, ceramics, glass, metalwork and jewellery, highlighting the superb quality and creativity inherent in design from the region.

Along with Manchester Art Gallery’s own collection, this exhibition will be complimented with national and international loans, including a loan of 39 pieces from Tamares Real Estate Holdings, Inc. in collaboration with Zabludowicz Collection. These works are from the prominent Finnish designers Aino Aalto, Alvar Aalto, Rut Bryk, Kaj Franck, Birger Kaipiainen, Yrjö Kukkapuro, Toini Muona, Vuokko Nurmesniemi, Gunnel Nyman, Aimo Okkolin, Timo Sarpaneva , Nanny Still, Oiva Toikka, Helena Tynell, Paavo Tynell and Tapio Wirkkala. Loaned works include an original chair by Alvar Aalto as part of his 1930s scheme for the revolutionary Paimio Sanatorium in Finland, a very rare Hole In Ice art object model carved by Tapio Wirkala and commissioned by the City of Helsinki in 1970 as a 70th anniversary present to Urho Kekkonen and a series of utility pieces from Kaj Franck’s Kilta Tableware collection.

An events programme will include designer-maker talks and workshops, festive and mid-Summer events, as well as family activities. The gallery shop also will be featuring a stunning selection of pieces inspired by the exhibition, from Nordic design classics through to up-and-coming young designers work.

This exhibition has been extended and will run until Sunday 9th November 2019. Further information can be found on the Manchester Art Gallery here.