In a world where big brands are killing the idea of "creation" and "art",
In a world where designers are mass-produced in art schools,
In a world where we invent concepts like "planned obsolescence",
In a world where people are fed false ideals,
This exhibition explores the full range of my current creative work, following influences from the craftsmanship I have studied in Germany, to the works I’ve seen here, in South Korea. Integrity, quality, and the process of creating by hand, with traditional methods rather than mass production are the principals that these works are based upon.

Minimal, contemporary design, meets traditional Korean designs, in a way that makes space for both styles, highlighting the best of each world through careful blueprinting.

It was from the early sketches that my furniture pieces were born, giving the viewer a glimpse into the process of creating, and the conscious/subconscious journey that one might start, when surrendering to intuition and emotion while doing art-work.

The digital prints series "Parallel Universes" originated from fragments of photos taken all over Korea. With these works I express my fascination with textures, patterns and colour contrasts, as well the concept of "seeing the bigger picture". Today’s society has become infinitely complex and extremely fast paced. We all function as specialized individuals, almost like little parts of a big machine. Little parts that often don't see or understand what the whole is working on, or walking towards. Together with the falsecolour photography, the themes explored in the series demonstrate how different each of our perceptions is. This is further accentuated by the Korean traditional patterns in the prints, which focuses the viewer’s eyes on the overall composition of the prints, symbolizing the beauty and simplicity of life as it was, and still can be.

Korean traditional patterns set this further into perspective, and symbolize, by showing not only fragments, the larger beauty and simplicity of life as it was, and still can be.

CONTEMPORARY TRADITIONS
- Sven Schelwach