Living Heritage Toolkit
An inter-regional project between Venø Gård KUNST, Javier Rodriguez from Cultural Paths and Rovaniemi Heritage Museum Finland, inspired from the traditional clothing and textiles collection the museum holds. A reinterpretation of traditional working garments, knitted patterns and the nordic landscape
Exploring the potential for circular design, applied arts and digital technologies, the collaboration has developed a heartfelt working process between fashion designer Julia Kröner Venø, local wool producer Inger Falkevik from Nordfjordull, local knitters and creative practitioners such as Karina Siegmund.
The project aims to reflect the value of rural culture, with its roots in applied crafts, and ethical maker-ship culminating in an exhibition to coincide with our next Symposium Merging - Converging.
Materials include conceptualization of ideas, textile samples, designs, moodboards, drawings, and a garment prototype.
Instalation shoot at Rovaniemi Heritage Museum
Accessory: Karina Siegmund
Garment Prototype: Julia Kröner Venø, Living Heritage Toolkit and Inger Falkevik,
Video: Inger Falkevik from Nordfjordull
Video introducing Inger Falkevik by Bjørn Venø, Interview by Julia Kröner Venø
Javier Rodriguez
Visual Artist and cultural facilitator leading Cultural Paths. A project bringing together a number of rural organisations and creative communities operating across the nordic and Barents region to explore the value of traditional practices, knowledge and skills and how these can be repurposed to support more sustainable programmes of creative and cultural practice that benefit local communities
Inger Oline Falkevik
Nordfjordull, ei lita bedrift på garden Falkevik i ytre Nordfjord. Garden er liten, men med historie heilt tilbake til 1609. Nordfjordull har salg av ull og skinnprodukt av eigne sauer. Sauene er av rasen gammalnorsk spælsau, som har historie tilbake til vikingtida. Vi har 40 dyr om vinteren. Dei er fargerike: kvite, brune, grå og svarte i ulike variantar. Ulla er todelt: kort underull, lang overull. Dyra er godt tilpassa naturen: lette på foten, sterkt flokkinstinkt, nøysomme, gode mordyr. Produksjonen er kortreist: Heimeavla vinterfor på gammal natureng, beiting ute heile året. Vasking, karding og spinning av ulla på Selbu Spinneri. Garving av skinna på Granberg garveri. Også saueklipparen er frå Nordfjord! Ullgarnet vi har for salg er enten naturfarga eller plantefarga her på garden.
Julia Kröner Venø
Julia is a fashion educator, fashion designer, pattern cutter and ladies’ tailor. In 2003 she was chosen as Germany’s Best Junior Ladies’ Tailor. Straight after her tailor’s apprenticeship she worked for the Bavarian State Opera before taking up her studies in Düsseldorf to become a professional pattern maker. She decided to move to London to commence her fashion studies; first at the Italian fashion school ‘Istituto Marangoni’, then at the ‘London College of Fashion’ for her Master studies. She graduated as Master of Arts -Fashion Design and Technology, Pathway Womenswear in 2007. Julia had the opportunity to work as a costume maker for the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre before entering the professional fashion industry. Julia worked for celebrity designer Giles Deacon right after graduation and Hardy Amies in Savile Row, royal warrant holder as designer to the queen. Many more fashion brands followed such as Mary Katrantzou and Victoria Beckham as well as high street brands such as Topshop and Karen Millen; all based in London. Julia was offered a full time position as Professor of Fashion at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 2015.
Julia returned to Europe in July 2020 with her husband and 2 small children to the beautiful island Venøya, on the west coast of Norway. Julia’s intention is to use her international experience and strong clothing expertise to create meaningful work that will benefit the region and beyond. Julia and her artist husband Bjørn Venø are working on various projects that have the potential to question the current value system to encourage alternative perspectives and exploration.
Karina Siegmund
Karina Siegmund (1979) lives and works in Stadlandet, Sogn og Fjordane. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design, and an education in textile design from Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee. The artist has garnered great praise for her work and has participated in exhibits at home and abroad. In 2012 she exhibited at the Talente 2012 art fair in München and was awarded «The Talente Award for Best International Textile Art for emerging artists under the age of 33». Here at home, she has exhibited at the National Museum of Art in Oslo, Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum, and Vevringutstillinga, among others.
Siegmund gathers impressions from nature, via photography, video, and sound and light studies, and uses them as pattern-making elements in the tapestry through digital weaving technology.
Siegmund’s goal is to explore a new idiom in which the materials’ form-giving and functional qualities, combined with electronic elements like light and sound, give the observer a sense of being embraced by a tapestry installation: a woven landscape that speaks to our senses. // by: 2020 Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum https://sfkm.no/en/home/
