Hæ/Hello exhibition celebrates "love affair" between Reykjavík and Seattle
Eighteen studios from Iceland and USA have collaborated to create items for the Hæ/Hello Designing Friendship exhibition in Reykjavík as a part of the DesignMarch pageant.
Going down on the Asmundarsalur artwork gallery, the exhibition aimed to have fun the connection between the cities of Reykjavík and Seattle, house to the biggest Icelandic inhabitants in the US, by pairing designers from the 2 cities.
In whole, eight teams of studios created items for the exhibition.
“Throughout Reykjavík’s bicentennial anniversary in 1986, Reykjavík and Seattle signed a sister metropolis pact that charted the course for 34 years of cultural and academic trade,” stated curator Darin Montgomery.
“The KEXP public radio station in Seattle has been broadcasting Iceland Airwaves for a variety of years and are champions of the Icelandic music scene,” he continued.
“In consequence, Seattle has developed a love affair of kinds with Iceland and we thought it might be fascinating to introduce people from the design communities with the hope it may become the identical kind of relationship now we have with the music scene.”
The idea for the exhibition stemmed from a dialog between Montgomery and Halla Helgadottir, director of the government-funded organisation Iceland Design and Structure, in 2018.
“We have been discussing the similarities, but additionally the variations our cities share within the design group,” defined Montgomery.
“Though digital communication and social media have helped take away a number of the boundaries from geographic isolation, there isn’t a substitute for the private connections we make when now we have a chance to satisfy head to head.”
The exhibition follows on from final 12 months’s inaugural occasion, which centered on preliminary conferences to problem designers to interpret the phrase saman, that means collectively.
“Every venture is a collaboration between Icelandic and Seattle-based studios, making each the method and outcomes an expression of saman/collectively,” added Montgomery.
Items within the exhibition embody a number of vessels that may very well be used for sharing or amassing. Icelandic designer Theodora Alfredsdottir collaborated with graphic designer Gabriel Stromberg, who additionally designed the graphics for the exhibition, to create a collection of vessels for sharing meals that have been based mostly on varieties from a tablecloth.
Designer pairings Agustav and design studio Grain created sharing plates, whereas Icelandic studio Hugdetta and multidisciplinary observe WKND Studio made trays to “put your discoveries on show”.
Different items within the exhibition included a espresso desk designed by Jon Helgi Holmgeirsson and Stevie Shao and a group of items comprised of hand-cast wax and blown glass by Reykjavík studio Thorunn Arnadottir and Seattle-based John Hogan.
Whereas a number of of the items had outlined makes use of, Icelandic artist Hanna Dis Whitehead, photographer Amanda Ringstad and US designer Sidona Bradley collaborated to create a bit from ash wooden, glass, clay, straw and metal that aimed to as an alternative characterize their completely different viewpoints.
Icelandic designer Ragna Ragnarsdottir and Seattle studio Fruitsuper teamed as much as create a collection of items that have been designed to seize the sense of sunshine in Reykjavík and Seattle.
The exhibition was accomplished by a two-person sensory expertise designed by consultancy Bizarre Pickle, Seattle design store Fin and graphic design studio Hann Elias.
With the pairings, Montgomery aimed to push the designers to keep away from widespread troupes of friendship, resembling pairs of glasses.
“Every of the pairings pushed in numerous instructions and regarded different alternatives,” he defined.
“For instance: a platform for beginning conversations and sharing discoveries, the standard of sunshine the Pacific Northwest and Iceland have in widespread, an expertise that encourages you to get bodily nearer to somebody than you would possibly usually be.”
Hæ/Hello came about in the course of the annual DesignMarch pageant and was included in Dezeen’s decide of the highlights from the occasion.
The occasion additionally embody a day of talks, which was live-streamed on Dezeen.
The images is by Liefur Wilberg.
DesignMarch came about in Iceland throughout 3 to 7 Could. For extra occasions, exhibitions and talks in structure and design go to Dezeen Occasions Information.
