Beyond local

01 Oct 2016 – 06 Nov 2016

Exhibition

Locally produced is a widely known concept in the world of food but it is not so common in the product and design industry. It is often impossible to know where, how and by whom the products we fill our homes with are made.

This exhibition presents a collection called Beyond Local. It consists of everyday objects for the home that have been created in cooperation with local manufacturers. These manufacturers are all listed on the Skåne local production platform SPOK (Samtida produktion och konsumtion). The objects are what is called “backward designed”. Unlike normal practice, in which an object is designed and then taken as a blueprint to the manufacturer, the design process behind these objects began at the manufacturers.

Using visits and discussions to explore which processes and materials the manufacturers work with, Anna has designed these products based on what they know and do best. By investigating the manufacturers’ knowledge and skills it is possible to utilise the manufacturing process to produce more efficiently. The goal is to explore whether the potential exists to product sustainable products on a small scale and with high quality. Small scale but also industrial.

The Beyond Local collection consists of seemingly everyday objects, and is an example of what people often automatically buy as disposable items. This is also a product category that designers often overlook. Anna’s collection is not designed solely for function but also for decoration. Unlike their mass-produced counterparts, these objects, which are intended for small-scale production, have both character and provenance.

The collection is a master’s degree project by Anna Gudmundsdottir, a graduate of the five-year Master’s Programme in Industrial Design at Lund University. The work as a whole is based on SPOK, which was initiated by designer Jenny Nordberg, who was also a mentor and supervisor for the work. The project takes as a starting point the insights that have been acquired during the time SPOK has been operating. It is part of the ongoing development work that aims to explore how designers can work with local and small-scale manufacturing to foster more sustainable production.

Participating manufacturers: Helsingborgs Gummifabrik, ML Borstteknik, Pressmekano, Stålmannen, Herman Andersons plåt, R1 svarvare, AC snickeri