Jonas Bohlin

Life itself is the starting point of Jonas Bohlin's work as a designer, interior designer and artist. He avoids trends and forbids himself to slouch backwards and sideways. He strives towards building his own alphabet of forms, honest and touching. What he creates — furniture, lighting, textiles, utility objects, interiors or art — is born out of personal experiences and experiences.

In 1981, Sven Lundh (Källemo) saw Jonas Bohlin's thesis — a remarkable chair in concrete and iron — at the Furniture Fair in Stockholm. The chair sparked a national debate about the function of furniture. Does the quality of an object lie primarily in its physical durability, or is visual expression even more important so that the object should not be disposed of prematurely? Concrete was put into production in numbered edition, just like a graphic sheet. Today it is a collector's item with a special status in Swedish design history.

This exhibition is Bohlin's first solo presentation in 14 years. A wonder at the stages of life runs like a common thread through the works, which are mostly new. Hard and soft materials come together and create dissonance. Bohlin himself describes the process as follows:

"Over the past few months, I've intuitively shaped something I wear. My keys, steps and words give way to steel, wood, glass and textiles, and the ability to tame materials into things. Various episodes in the universe, in me and in the process of creation shine like a wild horse across my paper. The vulnerability of humanity and the Earth in our dark ages obscures the love of life with its shadow. Things become expressions of hope and despair, love and fear. Something that the child in me challenges in our play, in the swing, by the camp-fire. Shapes, colors and constructions exist endlessly. The objects in the exhibition bear traces of form, which can be found in the borderland where everything meets. Then and then, dark and light, here and there, me and you.”

Jonas Bohlin (b. 1953, based in Stockholm) is an Arkitekt Sir/MSA with a degree from Konstfack in 1981. He was a professor at the Faculty of Arts in 2004-09. Bohlin has received, among others, the Georg Jensen Prize, the Bruno Mathsson Prize and the Prince Eugen Medal.

^{Photo: John Nelander}