“A Dialogue with Birch” expresses the intersection of birch bark when going from material to artefacts. Through this collection I want to show how the material is interpreted and crafted by the society, highlighting how it goes from tree, it is reinterpreted as material and finally transformed by craftspeople into artefacts. The canvases or artefacts of the collection have an evolutive development, which goes from being close to the craft’s technique and material manipulation to distancing from those, moving towards a more appreciative and critical process. Through this dialogue, I want to express what I have learnt from craft and bring it into design as craft brings into its artefacts what it learns from nature.

The artefacts of “A Dialogue with Birch” show the tension that exists between the unprocessed material canvases and the weaved ones. The bark struggles, tries to communicate and interact, showcasing the existence of an unbalanced relationship between humans and nonhumans within the craft and design practices today.

Woven birch bark on birch bark canvases

Master thesis project