"Textile Vessels" - an art installation at Drammen Museum
When? 5 months, spring 2026
What? As a part of my masters degree in product design, I spent one semester in work practice with designer Kristine Five Melvær. This was one of two projects we worked on that spring. The project ended up as an art installation at Drammen Museum summer 2026.
Who? This was a collaborative project with Kristine Five Melvær and Hanna Emilie Sand Eilertsen.
An explorative approach to design and textiles
This was a continuation of Kristines previous work with textile vessels, where she has explored how to use textile to give new life to old ceramic vessels, which can be read more about here.
The shift from my previous experience to this one was noticeable from the start. My background is
largely in structured organizational contexts: collaborative design processes, user involvement,
digital tools, and clearly articulated methodologies. The practice I entered at Kristine's studio is
quite different. Work often begins with materials rather than methods. Exploration seem to precede
definition.
One of the most concrete examples of this was exploring different tying or braiding techniques for a vessel, something which I had very little prior experience with. It was not just a technical skill to be acquired; it was an encounter with a different kind of design logic altogether. Decisions about color, pattern, and material could not be fully determined in advance. They had to be tried. The material gave feedback that shaped what came next.
Authenticity matters to me in design, and this is also something I observed strongly in Kristine's
practice. Her work, and the way she speaks about it, does not feel like it is performing a style or
meeting an external brief; it feels like an honest expression of enthusiasm for materials, form, and
craft. Seeing what that looks like in practice, how it is built over years, through countless decisions
and experiments, has given me so much inspiration but also a much more realistic view on what it
takes to build a design business by yourself.
Photo: Kristine Five Melvær
Photo: Kristine Five Melvær
This project was centered on completing the last pieces for the exhibition. I found this to be one of the most enjoyable and motivating tasks of the whole placement, partly because the work itself is so tactile and process-driven, and partly because knowing the pieces will be part of a real exhibition gives the work a satisfying sense of purpose.
The final vessel I made in collaboration with another practice student from KHIO, Hanna, and this vessel emerged from extensive testing of different tying and braiding techniques, guided entirely by what the materials allowed and suggested, where we both worked simultaneously on the same vessel and connected our skills and creativity to form the final result. A result that was not planned in advance but found through the process.
Photo: Benjamin Fjerdingstad