The Design Museum Nuutajärvi presents three separate bodies of work during the summer of 2023. They are connected by traces of glass found in the soil of the Nuutajärvi glass village, dating from a period when the outskirts of the factory area were used as dumping grounds. The works on display bring together Nuutajärvi’s history and present day in a way that opens up discussion around the timely topic of sustainable development in the fields of art, design, and craft.

Un/Making Soil Communities at Nuutajärvi Glass Village is a project by Un/making studio (Kristina Lindström & Åsa Ståhl) and Maalaboratorio (Riikka Latva-Somppi, Maarit Mäkelä and Tzuyu Chen), in which the heavy metal content of the soil in the glass village area, as well as that of plants grown in it, was analysed. 

Aura Latva-Somppi’s Pintti explores the tension between history and the present, while Amedeo Martines’s A Matter of Time reflects on the concepts of foreignness and locality through glass culture. The works by Latva-Somppi and Martines were completed in autumn 2020 during the Glass Summer School course organised by Aalto University’s Contemporary Design major. The course was led by Kirsti Taiviola and Gianluca Giabardo and organised in collaboration with the glass programme at Ammattiopisto Tavastia in Nuutajärvi.

Curation and Exhibition Design by Amedeo Martines and Sara Hulkkonen

Design Museum Nuutajärvi, also known as Prykäri, is a total work of art designed by artist professor Kaj Franck in 1977. Franck designated one of the museum’s display cases for temporary exhibitions. The exhibitions in the display case continue Nuutajärvi’s rich history through contemporary themes.

The summer 2023 display case exhibition, Traces of Glass, also celebrates the 230-year history of the Nuutajärvi glass village, as well as 30 years of glass education organised by Ammattiopisto Tavastia.