Please touch!

Formargruppen is an artist cooperative with a shop and a gallery in downtown Malmö. The 20 members are professional crafts artists working in different materials. All the artists are regional and most of them can be visited in their studios as well as in the shop. The gallery shows a new exhibition every month, where the audience can meet new, conceptual and crossover expressions within the contemporary crafts scene.

formargruppen.se

I make my crafts in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. 
All produced in Sweden in my carpentry on the countryside.

The ceramicist and creator who loves pastel colors. I find my inspiration mainly in different color combi- nations, but also in shapes that are put together or turned upside down. I want to add a little more color to life, because it is always needed, to think outside the box and find new areas of use.

I mainly create utility goods in stoneware. Often decorated with dots, ruffles, wavy edges or with stripes. The potter´s wheel is my main tool when creating products that will hopefully brighten someone´s day!

I mainly create beautiful, simple and functional tableware made of stoneware and porcelain with the occasional rattan handle or grip. Working as a designer, I am used to constantly developing ideas and objects, keeping the functional side to the design in mind. Functional might sound boring but a practical product is always beautiful to me.
 

I design and manufacture machineknitted garments and accessories especially in merino wool. From thinnest thin, transparent, to thick, dense, felted. I mix colors when I knit and in this way bring out my own colors. Often I think these colorblends, perhaps in combination with a texture is enough as a “pattern”. Simple cuts without complicated details appeal to me and to let the knitted material speak. The colors are often gray and black which I combine or mix with strong colors like pink, turquoise, lime and orange.

My craft reflects how nature and life speak thru me and become tactile, wearable little pieces of art. Working with my hands make my soul sing. It is my great joy to be able to express myself with the help of precious metals, gems and pearls.

Forms and colours of the nature inspires me, and grow in my work into jewels to wear. Precious stones give life to the metal, which together become timeless.

I’ve worked as a goldsmith and a jewelry designer since -96. Through the attempt to stick to the genuine handicraft knowledge and bringing it into our time, I have developed my own style, which is simple but rich. I enjoy bringing clean-cut surfaces together with the opposite – stones and ornaments. Matt against glossy, gold against silver.

I work with knitting and organic materials which I dye in a color scale of my own. I enjoy mixing different materials, like wool and cotton, which form exciting new structures when felted in the washing machine. In shadow knitting, I often combine organic patterns with strict stripes in black and white, or strong colours with complementary colours as effect.

”Colour your world” is my motto. Create shapes, colours, textures in silver and enamel and then play, combine and piece them together into jewellery in infinite variations, where one combination leads to another. The enameling process offers constant surprises, which adds to the puzzle . The shapes and colours found in nature is my main source of inspiration.

I often use stoneware and porcelain clay in my work. My domestic objects are cast in plaster moulds and later decorated in different ways, often with decals. I also throw pieces and finish off the shape with a latticed edge, which is made out of casting clay. The numerous possibilities of the materials guide me onwards – patterns and pictures inspire me.

I am a graphic designer and my patterns often consists of plants that are graphic in their expression as thistles and artichokes. My collections range from many different materials, besides textiles also patterns on ceramics, print on paper and interior products such as trays and tray tables.

I want to keep it simple. Clean lines, calm colors. I like when you see the colors and textures of the different clays, and love the contrast between raw clay and glossy glaze. You should see that it is not perfect. The glaze may have run or splattered a bit when glazing, but that makes it vibrant. It is handmade, perhaps with a slight unevenness or skew. Just a little, so that it doesn’t disturb the overall impression.

Silversmith, designer and interior designer.. My objects in silver are characterized by simplicity and austerity. I am inspired by the seemingly endless possibilities of the metal and is constantly trying out new material combinations that can create interesting contrasts. The dynamics that arise in the encounter between different materials often leads to other untried paths. All production is done by hand in my studio. The object can be unique or in smaller series where everyone, despite their similarity, has their own character.

I create everyday items which are made of earthenware on potter’s wheel. The decor is painted on unfired white glaze. The technique is old and known as faience. Fishes, birds, flowers and leaves is frequently occurring objects in my world of patterns. A constant labour with designs and search for new decors further develops my work with earthenware.

I design and make knitted clothes in wool, often with a touch of sensuality and traces of Swedish dress and handicraft tradition. Meetings are the inspiration. With the customer, the body, the yarn, or the space. I live in Stockholm but my origins and studio are in Skåne.

Who knew pottery could have a sense of humor? Peek inside my studio and you’ll see how. Lining the shelves are everyday objects such as coffee mugs, plates, flower pots and bowls painted with quirky figures that are bound to make you smile. I use a white stoneware clay with a transparent glaze on my wares and then paint them by hand.