Ignorance is Bliss took a separate form! Explore the very new project website.

The foundations of Ignorance is Bliss date back to 2016. Agne Kucerenkaite began by analysing industrial metal waste from diverse sources and reclaiming it as a pigment for ceramics, glass and textiles, with a limited-edition homeware collection as an outcome. Over time, the project's complexity grew into in-depth theoretical and material research of diverse waste, leading to small and large-scale design applications. Ignorance is Bliss is an umbrella term for ongoing experimentation and disruptive cross-disciplinary thinking, which gradually develops into techniques and products that can be applied as architectural building materials and interior surfaces.

Lille Metropole has been awarded "World Design Capital 2020", succeeding Mexico City, Taipei, Cape Town, Helsinki, Seoul and Turin. Lille Metropole is the first French metropole to obtain this title from the World Design Organization (WDO)™, for its innovative project of mobilizing design around the challenges of economic, ecological and social transformation.

This exhibition, created by world-renowned trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort, explores the way a new generation of designers is experimenting with materials and manufacturing processes.

The past decade has seen a turning point in our relationship with materials, from design to manufacturing, with materials gradually reclaiming their central role in the creative process and beginning to dictate form rather than simply adapt to it.

The exhibition explores the power of materials, which use the sense of touch to convey emotion and energy. It draws on the so-called ​“neo-materialist” movement, which reasserts the centuries-old beliefs that materials have their own force and exude an energy that people can genuinely feel.

It is possible to visit the exhibition starting September 9th until November 8th.

Gare Saint Sauveur Lille, 17 Boulevard Jean-Baptiste Lebas, 59800 Lille. For more information please follow the link.

My porcelain tableware collection is part of the exhibition /Race With Nature/ curated by Audrone Drungilaite for /Virtual Design Destination/ presented by Adorno.

Preparations for “The New Reality” were initiated during the surge of COVID-19 in Europe. The curators of the fifteen participating countries have been asked to reflect on specific experiences, thoughts, and themes from the time of lockdown in the curation and art direction of each of their country collections. They have been working with their local designers at the intersection of craft and design to develop sub-narratives to the overarching theme, including gender, urbanisation, climate, isolation, and healing, among others. Using design as a tool for change, “The New Reality” pursues effective and innovative solutions, bringing different knowledges and experiences together through design to investigate what our new reality is.

Race with Nature reflects the never-ending competition between humans and nature; the chosen scenography of the exhibit reveals the history of the landscape as four villages and two cemeteries were swallowed by the shifting sands at Curonian Spit (Dead Dunes, Lithuania) in 1675-1854. The result of human activity and dominating western winds encouraged dunes to travel from 0,5 to 15 meters per year reaching a height of up to 53 meters.

The surrounding landscape of dunes continuously transforms and accommodates design pieces that symbolize the urbanized world; an aesthetic juxtaposition allows the audience to bear witness to the social complications of how the material object may enter the organic environment. This unique place encourages communal memory – underscoring how the landscape contains integral embodied knowledge. Highlights include the ‘Naïve Chair,’ reflective of simplicity and the fast pace of urban life – it can be easily “flat” packed and sent in a pizza size box while ‘Envisioned Comfort Armchair’ repeats human body lines and associates with commodious life elements – luxury, sophistication, and neatness. Such life is totally opposite to the natural environment which is beautiful because of all imperfections, roughness, and dirt. ‘Raitūzai Mirror’ combines industrial precision with nature-inspired gypsum ornaments from historical buildings.

The curated collection should help to remember how fragile the line is between life and death – how impossible it is to fight against nature – a phenomenon that never ceases to produce itself in the image of victory.

Featured designers: AGNĖ KUČERENKAITĖ / BARBORA ŽILINSKAITĖ / EVELINA KUDABAITE / ETC. ETC. STUDIO / MARIJA PUIPAITĖ & VYTAUTAS GEČAS / MONIKA GEDRIMAITĖ / SEVERIJA INČIRAUSKAITĖ-KRIAUNEVIČIENĖ

More information here and here.

For its September/October 2020 issue, Crafts magazine has been refreshed and re-energised for a new era. To mark its transformation, it is celebrating those it calls ‘change makers’: the artists, designers, thinkers and organisations using craft skills and processes to make a positive impact, whether socially, ecologically or politically.

Interview with me in one of the largest Lithuanian news website. The /15min/ reflects the main trends of Lithuanian political, economic, and cultural life. Please, follow the link to read the article.

My /Ignorance is Bliss/ Ceramic Tiles project is awarded for the Red Dot Design Award 2020, Best of the Best Product Design.

Statement by the jury:
These tiles acquire their special quality through the use of metal waste for their glaze. Following an innovative process, previously non-recyclable metal residues are thus given a new life. As part of the “Ignorance Is Bliss” project, the tiles truly exemplify environmental sustainability. Each of the tiles is unique thanks to the special raw material, which lends the surfaces their vivid appearance and special feel.

Being Future-Proof today rests on materials that are HEALTHY, for the environment and humankind, materials which ADAPT to their surroundings, materials that CLOSE THE LOOP and become valuable resources at the end of their life, as well as materials that are RESILIENT, recovering quickly from challenges. /Futuro Sostenible/ responds to this theme, by bringing together the most cutting-edge materials and products, both speculative and commercially viable, which can pave the way for a better tomorrow. Materials in the exhibition span from new vegan leathers to tiles cast from air pollution to biodegradable packaging and sensory wallcoverings–inspiring professionals to design, and build better for the future.

The exhibition will take place on the 11-12th of March. On show /Ignorance is Bliss/ latest ceramic tiles edition, colored with industrial metal waste. Please follow the link for more info.

January 28 – March 8 Lithuanian design exhibition “A House Full of Creativity” opens at designforum Wien. This exhibition presents more than 25 Lithuanian designers and design studios works – concept, furniture, lighting design, ceramics, fashion accessories, interior elements, and other objects while giving a complex overview of contemporary design in Lithuania. Also, inter-war Lithuanian advertising posters are exhibited.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware collection is the part of the exhibition.

Photos © Lietuvos dizaino forumas

Pleased to be one of the founding members of /Masters of Good/.

/The choices we make as business leaders have a tangible impact that we can no longer ignore. Now more than ever before, we need common sense and a change of perspective./

/The world is changing faster than we can keep pace with. From the climate to clothing manufacturing, worker’s rights to women’s rights, refugees to policies, the Information Age has made us more aware than ever about our individual and collective impact. So, what are we going to do about it?/

Please, follow the link to find out more.

Interview with me in Lithuanian /Namas ir Aš/ interior and design magazine, January issue, 2020.

During Dutch Design Week 2019 Club Polenta and Good Tea Stories are hosting creative and interactive dinner experiences. /Ignorance is Bliss/ ceramic tiles are used to serve one of the delicious meals.

Photos © Club Polenta and Good Tea Stories

The International Dutch Design Week takes place every October in Eindhoven. The largest design event in Northern Europe presents the work and concepts of designers to visitors from the Netherlands and abroad. Scattered around a hundred locations throughout the city, exhibitions, lectures, awards, networking meetings, debates and festivities are organized. DDW distinguishes itself from other design events by focusing on designs for the future. Although all conceivable disciplines and aspects of design are covered during the event, the emphasis is on experiment, renewal and cross-overs. Special attention is paid annually to the work and development of young talent.

During the Dutch Design Week 2019, EMBRACING EXCHANGE presents fifteen selected design talents from the regions of Cologne, Eindhoven and Maastricht. The work of these designers is on display from 19 to 27 October 2019 in gallery 'Yksi Expo', Torenallee 22-04 in Eindhoven.

The three regions share a rich industrial past. The regional DNA is rediscovered by the exhibitors from the fields of art, design and architecture and inspires them in 2019 to create new contemporary pos-industrial design. The exhibition ' REFINE by EMBRACING EXHCANGE ' shows a range of designers who operate internationally and are inspired by local sources and examines the relationship between them. Circularity is an important theme in this.

During this exhibition I will present a collection of tiles, colored with 100% industrial metal waste, which are produced in the factory. I managed to upscale the tile production, which is an important step towards circularity.

/Studio Agne/ is longlisted for Dezeen Awards 2019, Emerging Designer of the Year category. 25 studios were selected for this category. Dezeen Awards received more than 4500 entries from 87 countries. Follow the link to read more!

Previous year /Ignorance is Bliss/ was shortlisted for the Dezeen Awards 2018, Homeware Design category as top 5 project of the year!

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project is a finalist of New Material Award 2018. The exhibition will be shown at Vitra Schaudepot till October 12.

Since the first New Material Award in 2009, this annual prize has been rewarding artists and designers for their contributions to material innovation in the service of ecological and social sustainability. Over the past decade, the prize has proved an important catalyst for innovative design research. Moreover, the New Material Award offers a platform to a generation of designers who dare to ask fundamental questions about industrial production processes and natural growth, waste flows and residual materials. Increasingly often, they do this in collaboration with scientific partners.

These can be confrontational questions, in which the ethics of industrial society and the politics behind environmental policy come under discussion. In the nominated projects, critical research leads to stimulating counter-proposals. With their speculative projects, the designers visualize an alternative, optimistic view of natural resources and the materials of the future.

Material innovation encompasses much more than just the development of completely new materials. Generally, it revolves around a revaluation of raw materials, techniques, or residual products that are currently overlooked by industry as unsuitable for the intended purposes. It is always possible to stretch the valuation – by exploring new possibilities through research, and most importantly without prejudice. From a loaded substance like animal blood, to the bamboo that has been used for centuries; and from the hair that we leave behind at the hairdresser, to the waste glass that, according to established industries, would be impossible to reuse.

Effort is one of our most powerful catalysts for change. The HOPE exhibition suggests that tackling small problems can lead to systemic change. Each of the exhibited projects – created by Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) students, past and present –is hopeful. In some cases, the hope they offer arises from tackling specific aspects of local and perhaps personal concern within small steps. In others, hope comes from proof that a good idea can infect a system at an industrial, and even global scale. Importantly, the projects did not set out to change the world top down. They started with ideas and effort to address issues immediately at hand. They offer glimmers of inspired thinking about how we might look at ourselves, our lives and our practices through a different lens, in a different light. Showing how small changes can make big differences.

Crawford and Peña: “It is too easy today to feel hopeless. Our many crises and failures are well-documented and weigh heavy. Many of us feel there is nothing we can do to help improve our various self-inflicted predicaments. This is not the case. A hopeless attitude only self-perpetuates our feeling of inertia. In reality, effort is one of our most powerful catalysts for change. If hopelessness is a state of mind, then hope is a state of action. We are almost deaf to the cry that small changes can make big differences, but we would be wise not to write this statement off as an empty cliché just yet. A powerful aspect of life today is how fast good – not just bad – ideas can spread. Consider how far our attitudes towards plastic, meat and gender have shifted in just a couple of years. It is a radical notion that we do not need to fix everything to fix something. We can be in control of the new realities we face – whether on a personal, community or global level – if we choose to be. Let’s hope we do.”

April-September 2019 / Kazerne Eindhoven

For more information, please follow the link.

My project /Ignorance is Bliss/ is featured in /Elle Decoration Belgium/, summer edition 2019, Sustainable Design section.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware collection joined Canadian based Goodee platform. You can visit the Goodee Pop-Up Studio in Phi Centre, Montreal till August 25th.

Goodee is a leading curated marketplace where the conscious-minded consumer can find an array of beautiful, essential, and timeless items for the home. Each item on the platform is carefully vetted by in-house sustainability team to ensure that they are ethically made and transparently sourced. That means all of Goodee’s partner brands and makers must report on their materials, supply chain, labour standards, ecological footprint, and business practices. 

Photos © Goodee

The exhibition ‘What a waste!’ showcases work by designers from the Dutch Design Foundation network who want to readjust our position towards the materials that we consider waste by using the by-products of our society as valuable resources for their work. Curated by Dutch Design Foundation as part of the programme of Future Design by Potato Head. The exhibition is on display from May 17 until May 23 at Potato Head, Jl. Petitenget No. 51 Seminyak, Bali.

Waste has become a normal aspect of modern society, but if you think about it, it is something quite out of the ordinary. Before the industrial revolution, the process of recycling came naturally and was embedded in our system; the extensive human effort that was necessary to craft and produce new products made it essential for them to be used to their fullest potential and therefore, recycled. With the rise of new inventions enabling mass production the balance between input in labour and the final output in products dramatically shifted. With this shift the line between the value and burden of industrial byproducts and waste became very thin and was mostly calculated from a purely economic viewpoint. What was once a by-product in the aim for profit now has become a cost to society. The designers in this exhibition want to readjust our position towards materials that we consider waste using the by-products of our society as valuable resources for their work. To them, waste equals potential instead of being disregarded as useless or undesirable. This is an attitude that we will all have to embrace and adopt if we want to safeguard an equal world for future generations. Hopefully the products and materials displayed in this exhibition will open up the conversation on what we consider waste.

Future Design brings together local and international creatives for a week-long series of exhibitions, installations, talks and workshops which highlight how design can be a driving force in building a better tomorrow. Transitioning into a circular economy is one of the biggest challenges of our time; it requires asking the right questions, keeping an open mind and global collaboration across multiple industries. Our aim is to show the incredible scope and ingenuity of forward-thinking designers, studios and brands whose innovative approach is pushing towards a more sustainable future.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project joined matériO Paris materials library.

MatériO material library: a selection of thousands of specific and/or innovative materials and technologies, an international online database and several showrooms in the world (Paris, Brussels, Prague, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Casablanca, Abidjan). It is dedicated to architects, designers and any creative professionals.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware collection is now available in Kazerne Design Shop, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

New Material Award 2018 during Salone del Mobile, April 9-14, showing works of 15 designers including /Ignorance is Bliss/ project. The New Material Award focuses on innovative material research at the interface of science, design, art, and technology. Across the boundaries of their own field of expertise, nominated visual artists, designers and architects contribute to the development of new materials. Ceramics, building materials, metals and textiles are developed based on existing and unusual raw materials such as cow's blood, algae, waste metal, and borrowed material.

ALCOVA / Via Popoli Uniti 11-13 / Milan / Public opening hours: 9-14 April 2019, 11 am - 7 pm / Alcova opening event: 11 April 2019, 6 - 8:30 pm

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain collection will be available to get at Milan Design Market. The fourth edition of Milan Design Market will be one of the main events of the Isola Design District, on the occasion of the Milan Design Week , from 9 to 14 April 2019. 45 emerging designers and design studios from all over the world who will showcase design objects and furnishing accessories with a focus on experimental materials and innovation.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware joined the shop of MO Museum.

MO Museum is a modern art museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. As a private initiative of Lithuanian scientists and philanthropists Danguolė Butkienė and Viktoras Butkus, it functioned as an art museum without a building for about ten years. The collection of 5,000 modern and contemporary pieces contains major Lithuanian artworks from the 1950s to this day.

The museum was opened for the public on 18 October 2018 in the building designed by Studio Libeskind and the team of Lithuanian architects Do Architects.

Museum building photos © Norbert Tukaj

On February 22 I will be giving a presentation about my /Ignorance is Bliss/ project during symposium /The Other Way: Designing A Sustainable Tomorrow/, which will be held at the Design Museum in London.

This symposium celebrates how creative practices across disciplines can stimulate new approaches to sustainable innovation.

Whilst socio-environmental issues are being acknowledged as key challenges for the 21st-century, there is an expectation that science and technology can, and will, resolve them. Beyond better technologies and legislation, this symposium argues that design and architecture can take centre stage in shaping a more sustainable and resilient world. By developing hybrid practices, interacting with other disciplines, or re-framing our understanding of raw materials, designers and architects can be at the forefront of sustainable innovation.

Chaired by Professor Carole Collet, CSM LVMH Director of Sustainable Innovation, this symposium will showcase cross-disciplinary creative practitioners who are exploring new, unexpected and other ways of designing and imagining our sustainable future.

Speakers include: Arne Hendricks; Guillian Graves (Big Bang Projects); Agne Kucerenkaite; Thomas Vailly; Fernando Laposse; Anouk Legendre (XTU Architecture); Phil Ayres (CITA, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts); Christina Stadlbauer; Yesenia Thibault-Picazo; Sanne Visser; Kevin Germanier and Prof. Alison Clarke (Papanek Foundation).

Follow the link for more information.

Thank you, Contemporary Lynx for featuring my work! Follow the link for the publication.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ tiles colored with industrial metal waste are part of the materials exhibition /Future-Proof/ by MaterialDriven during Architect @ Work 2019 in the Old Truman Brewery, January 30-31.

Future Proofing, across industries and cultures, is the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing negative effects or countering shocks and stresses due to future events. From architecture to infrastructure, to design, to tackling climate change–there is an interest in producing and consuming in ways today that will ensure a better tomorrow. Material development and innovation are key elements in Future Proofing, providing the toolkit for better architecture, urban environments, long-lasting products, and more sustainable industries.

MaterialDriven is a design consultancy and materials library in London. With an exciting range of materials in their collection they pay special attention to innovative materials, their applications, impact, and the creators behind them. MaterialDriven consults for architects, designers and brands who are looking for materials that address some of the key issues of our time- sustainability, performance, energy efficiency, waste, health and wellbeing and much more. Working with both established manufacturers and individual material makers, they help bring technically advanced and specialized materials to the design industry, and support emerging materials evolve from prototype to product.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project joined matériO Prague materials library.

MatériO Prague: Our library matériO Prague, opened in 2011, wishes to provide professionals (and the lay public) with information as well as physical contact with new materials. We want to offer a creative and inspirational environment. Our library of materials cuts across many creative disciplines – architecture, design, applied arts, science and research. It also reaches out to producers of various materials and their users. The library makes it easier to orientate in the complex and fast developing world of materials and technology. We offer Mo to Fri consulting services, organise exhibitions, seminars, and workshops related to materials and their use.

Photos © matériO Prague and Insidecor.cz

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project, where industrial metal waste is used as a pigment to replace stains in ceramics, is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2018, Homeware design category. Just 5 projects were selected for this category out of 3689 applications.

The Award ceremony will take place at Tate Modern in London November 27. For more information follow the link.

Photos © Dezeen

After five years, Lithuanian design exhibition DESIGN LITHUANIA comes back to Nordic Countries Festival “Les Boréales” in Caen, France. This year the exhibition presents more than 40 recent Lithuanian designers and design studios works – ceramics, fashion accessories, interior elements, furniture, lighting and other objects. /Ignorance is Bliss/ ceramic collection is included in the exhibition. It is open November 16 - December 22, Tuesday to Sunday at Artothèque de Caen.

The exhibition cycle DESIGN LITHUANIA each year showcases the finest of Lithuanian design worldwide. Exhibitions have been showcased abroad on 18 occasions already, including such cities as Berlin, London, Budapest, Jerusalem or Paris. The aim of the project is to present Lithuanian design and represent our country at Europe’s most important design events.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project is a finalist of New Material Award 2018 and the exhibition of all 15 nominees after Dutch Design Week is moved to Hôtel Droog in Amsterdam for the period of November 3 - December 2. The official opening is during Museumnacht Amsterdam 2018 on Saturday 3 November between 19:00-02:00.

Since the first New Material Award in 2009, this annual prize has been rewarding artists and designers for their contributions to material innovation in the service of ecological and social sustainability. Over the past decade, the prize has proved an important catalyst for innovative design research. Moreover, the New Material Award offers a platform to a generation of designers who dare to ask fundamental questions about industrial production processes and natural growth, waste flows and residual materials. Increasingly often, they do this in collaboration with scientific partners.

These can be confrontational questions, in which the ethics of industrial society and the politics behind environmental policy come under discussion. In the nominated projects, critical research leads to stimulating counter-proposals. With their speculative projects, the designers visualize an alternative, optimistic view of natural resources and the materials of the future.

Material innovation encompasses much more than just the development of completely new materials. Generally, it revolves around a revaluation of raw materials, techniques, or residual products that are currently overlooked by industry as unsuitable for the intended purposes. It is always possible to stretch the valuation – by exploring new possibilities through research, and most importantly without prejudice. From a loaded substance like animal blood, to the bamboo that has been used for centuries; and from the hair that we leave behind at the hairdresser, to the waste glass that, according to established industries, would be impossible to reuse.

Photos © Agne Kucerenkaite and Nieuwe Beelden Makers

Exhibition /Redesign/ will take place in Peronas building, Vilnius, Lithuania November 23 - December 2. More than 20 design projects discussing sustainability topics including my ongoing /Ignorance is Bliss/ project. This time I will show material research with my new partners /Vilniaus Vandenys/, who provide me with the iron waste remaining after drinking water filtration and color research applied on ceramic tiles.

The official opening is November 23 including a weekend conference and workshops. November 24 I will give a presentation about my project.

New publication about /Ignorance is Bliss/ project at Qolour Quotent. Follow the link to read the article.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ tiles colored entirely using industrial metal waste became a part of Material District library in Rotterdam. More information here.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project is a finalist of New Material Award 2018 and the exhibition of all 15 nominees will be shown during Dutch Design Week, Veem building, 3rd floor.

Since the first New Material Award in 2009, this annual prize has been rewarding artists and designers for their contributions to material innovation in the service of ecological and social sustainability. Over the past decade, the prize has proved an important catalyst for innovative design research. Moreover, the New Material Award offers a platform to a generation of designers who dare to ask fundamental questions about industrial production processes and natural growth, waste flows and residual materials. Increasingly often, they do this in collaboration with scientific partners.

These can be confrontational questions, in which the ethics of industrial society and the politics behind environmental policy come under discussion. In the nominated projects, critical research leads to stimulating counter-proposals. With their speculative projects, the designers visualize an alternative, optimistic view of natural resources and the materials of the future.

Material innovation encompasses much more than just the development of completely new materials. Generally, it revolves around a revaluation of raw materials, techniques, or residual products that are currently overlooked by industry as unsuitable for the intended purposes. It is always possible to stretch the valuation – by exploring new possibilities through research, and most importantly without prejudice. From a loaded substance like animal blood, to the bamboo that has been used for centuries; and from the hair that we leave behind at the hairdresser, to the waste glass that, according to established industries, would be impossible to reuse.

Photos © Agne Kucerenkaite and Gert-Jan van Rooij

On September 13-14 the exhibition ‘Clean Revolution/Dutch design for a better world’ was on show Under the Dome at Westfield San Francisco Centre. About forty designers from The Netherlands were presenting interesting and innovative products, projects and concepts that contribute to a circular economy, including my ongoing project /Ignorance is Bliss/ about reusing industrial metal waste as a pigment. The exhibition was a part of the Global Climate Action Summit. As it got a lot of attention and success, it will also be shown during Dutch Design Week 2018, October 20-28 at Veem building, 3rd floor.

During Dutch Design Week 2018, October 20-28 there will be a pop-up design store at Temporary Art Center Eindhoven. You can get my porcelain tableware early editions with a big discount!

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware collection is presented during Designart Tokyo 2018 in the venue of Lithuania: Creative & Contemporary. October 19-28 at broadbean Showroom, 〒106-0032 Tōkyō-to, Minato-ku, Roppongi, 6 Chome−5, 6 丁目 5−5−24 号

There is more to Lithuania than linen and folk crafts. Lithuania: Creative & Contemporary presents contemporary minds, young designers and creative prodigies. Let’s refresh the image of Lithuania via exhibitions, workshops, Pink Soup Party, networking evenings and conference. 10-day project in Japan introduces Lithuanian creative professionals, artists, culture operators to Tokyonites. Theme of 2018 is 100 / 百 / Hyaku Lithuania, serving as a word-play for both the marking of the 100th anniversary of Lithuania’s Restoration, as well as representing the diversity of products and ideas which Lithuanian creative industries provide. Organized by Non-profit organization “Cultural and organizational ideas” (KOI for short). Set in Lithuania, KOI works with cultural and creative industries of the Baltic States and East Asian countries. Other projects are Japanese cultural festival nowJapan (nowjapan.lt) in Vilnius and Creative Industries exchange platform Asia-Batic Creative Days (abcdays.lt).
Project is implemented in partnership with DESIGNART (designart.jp) - one of the largest revolutionary design and art festivals in Tokyo, taking place in its most chic locations and venues. Follow the link for more information.

My work is featured at Dutch Design Daily. Follow the link.

Dutch Design Daily is an online platform featuring every day a new topical subject from the broad field of Dutch Design.

COLOUR VIA: is an exploration of next generation material colouring processes. Featuring eight pioneering designers and companies who are responding thoughtfully to the complex questions posed by waste and toxicity, this exhibition looks forward to vibrant and sustainable material futures.

In an exciting collaboration between Surface Matter, a leading authority on materials innovation and application and Colour of Saying, a London-based consultancy specialising in experiential colour and materials design - Colour Via: opens up discussion around new opportunities and directions for sustainable design and will be a space to experience new colour processes as they emerge.

This exhibition will bring together the fresh and important voices of designers who are challenging mass colour manufacture and crossing industry boundaries in pursuit of more considered practices and cleaner applications.

The exhibition will feature: Jessica de Hartdog, Charlotte Kidger Agne Kucerenkaite, Liga Studio, Living Colour, Llot Llov, Martens & Visser, Mirrl.

A group show featuring Ilse Crawford (Studioilse), Farah Ebrahimi (e15), Nani Marquina, Nina Maso (Santa & Cole) and Fien Muller (Muller Van Severen). My /Ignorance is Bliss/ project will be a part of Studio Ilse exhibition exploring design process and materials.

The Common Senses exhibition will transform Viaduct's showroom into a series of installations in which each designer will explore the building blocks of their design processes revealing their take on the functional, cultural and sociological significance of life’s everyday objects. Common Senses will run for the duration of LDF. 

Ilse Crawford, known for her sensual and responsive interior design projects, will curate a series of vignettes in conjunction with graduates of Design Academy Eindhoven, where she is Head of the Department of Man and Wellbeing. The investigative study of materials range from innovative uses of metal waste and nettle fibres, to Lino leather and the recycling of construction materials for a more circular world. According to Ilse Crawford “Materials matter. We connect to our environment through materials and our values are literally embodied in the way that they are produced designed, used and disposed of.”  

For more information follow the link.

Exhibition runs 13th - 22nd September at the Viaduct showroom, London.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ tiles colored with industrial metal waste is now a part of MaterialDriven material library collection in London.

MaterialDriven is a design consultancy and materials library in London. With an exciting range of materials in their collection they pay special attention to innovative materials, their applications, impact, and the creators behind them. MaterialDriven consults for architects, designers and brands who are looking for materials that address some of the key issues of our time- sustainability, performance, energy efficiency, waste, health and wellbeing and much more. Working with both established manufacturers and individual material makers, they help bring technically advanced and specialized materials to the design industry, and support emerging materials evolve from prototype to product.

On September 13-14 the exhibition ‘Clean Revolution/Dutch design for a better world’ will be on show Under the Dome at Westfield San Francisco Centre. About forty designers from The Netherlands present interesting and innovative products, projects and concepts that contribute to a circular economy, including my ongoing project /Ignorance is Bliss/ about reusing industrial metal waste as a pigment. The exhibition is a part of the Global Climate Action Summit.

‘Take Ambition to the Next Level’ is the slogan of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. Designers can and must play an active role in guiding us on the road to a better future. By creating products, built environment, services and concepts that are not only functional and useful, aesthetic and user-oriented, but above all sustainable and contributing to a circular economy.

The exhibition ‘Clean Revolution’ shows intriguing examples of designers from The Netherlands who take up the challenge to minimize the use of non-renewable resources, create sustainable products and reduce the amount of waste - when possible down to zero. For example by closing the cycle and transforming trash into new products. They do this with the typical characteristics of Dutch Design: minimalistic, experimental, innovative, unconventional and with a sense of humour.

Thank you Yksi Connect, Heidi Alletzhauser & Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in San Francisco for the photos.

Ignorance is Bliss project including ceramic tiles and tableware will be a part of Paris Design Week Le Off together with Design Lithuania September 6-9. The selection of 20 Lithuanian design projects will be shown at Ground Control Paris.

Photos © Lietuvos Dizaino Forumas

New publication about /Ignorance is Bliss/ project in MaterialDistrict. Follow the link to read the article.

MaterialDistrict is the world’s leading match-making platform in the field of innovative materials. As the world’s leading network in the field of innovative materials, MaterialDistrict empowers global innovation by match-making material needs with material solutions. The MaterialDistrict network encourages joint innovation towards a better, more sustainable and higher quality society. 

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project, where industrial metal waste is used as a pigment to replace stains in ceramics, is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2018, Homeware category. Just 5 projects were selected for this category out of 3689 applications. Thanks to the judges: Benjamin Hubert, Paul Priestman, Mette Hay, Lee Broom and Bec Brittain. The winner will be announced during a special ceremony November 27. Follow the link to read more!

/Ignorance is Bliss/ project got selected for the Dezeen Awards 2018, Homeware Design Category. Just 21 project was longlisted for this category and there were 3689 entries from 91 countries worldwide. Very proud to be among such names as Nendo, Barber and Osgerby, Marc Newson, Patricia Urquiola, Formafantasma and others!

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware is now being sold at Grimsel gallery and shop in Basel, Switzerland.

Photo © Grimsel

I am nominated for Dutch New Material Award 2018. My Ignorance is Bliss collection including porcelain tableware, tiles and textiles will be part of the special New Material Award exhibition during Dutch Design Week and Milan Design Week!

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The New Material Award introduces the designs of the future. The biennial award challenges visual artists, designers and architects to use new materials and innovative techniques. The resulting designs will contribute to a better and more sustainable society.

From all the submissions a committee of experts selected fifteen designs. The selected designs will be exhibited from 20 to 28 October during Dutch Design Week 2018 in Eindhoven. The jury will announce the two winners at the opening of the exhibition on 20 October in Eindhoven.

In April 2019 the selected designs will be exhibited during Salone del Mobile 2019 in Milan.

/Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware joined Locals LT design store in Vilnius, Lithuania. You can find it Gedimino pr. 9, 3rd floor.

Photo © Locals LT

Ignorance is Bliss is featured in Amsterdam Luxury magazine, issue 13, 2018. My porcelain tableware collection will be sold at Memento pop-up design concept store starting 3rd of July in Amsterdam, Prinsengracht 234.

Ignorance is Bliss porcelain tableware collection is now sold in Tokyo, Japan! Till 22nd of July there will be a special introduction to my work. Adress: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tōkyō-to, Shibuya-ku, 渋谷区Jingūmae, 3 Chome−38−11, LT shop.

July 14-15 I participated in Circular Design Forum and Helcom Interreg workshop about the marine litter and ecodesign, which took place in Berlin, Germany.

Circular Design Forum was an international conference on Circular Economy and Ecodesign, organized by the International Design Center Berlin (IDZ). The forum supported the exchange of know-how and expertise, especially aiming at initiating innovation processes in small and middle-sized companies. 

Helcom and Interreg Project “EcoDesign Circle”  teamed up in order to organise a common workshop on ecodesign and marine litter. In the Baltic Sea Area, the Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (HELCOM) has set out a Plan of Action to prevent marine litter. One of the actions is to understand the role that ecodesign can play in reducing or preferably prevent marine litter. The results of the workshop will directly be used to develop measures and to create solutions for the issue. It is also aimed to create a network of interested stakeholders that facilitates future cooperation between designers, industry representatives, researchers and other interested stakeholders.

Ignorance is Bliss porcelain tableware collection became a part of Mint Gallery annual Spring Show. Exhibition 'Rock Paper Salt Air' 18th May-30th June, London. Moments from the private view, 17th May.

Exhibition /Embracing Exchange/ moves to Maastricht, Sphinxkwartier, June 1-10.

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The project EMBRACING EXCHANGE aims to connect Dutch and German designers, makers and cultural institutions. The multi-year program is an initiative of Dutch Design Exchange Maastricht (DDX) and Passagen Interior Design Week Cologne. Funded by Stadt Köln, Municipality of Maastricht and the Province of Limburg, EMBRACING EXCHANGE focuses on the design hotspots Eindhoven (Dutch Design Week), Cologne (Passagen Interior Design Week) and Maastricht, where each year a travelling, growing exhibition of selected designers is shown. This year, the presentation of EMBRACING EXCHANGE will take place in the so-called 'Eiffelgebouw', located on the Boschstraat in the Maastricht post-industrial Sphinx area that is currently under development. The 'Eiffelgebouw’ is a recently renovated, iconic factory complex of sanitary ware manufacturer Royal Sphinx.

Curators: Maurer United Architects, Sabine Voggenreiter, Chequita Nahar, Leonne Cuppen.

PROGRAMME:

June 1: Silent opening exhibition

June 2: Station at ‘Day of Architecture’ Grand opening with deputy Ger Koopmans and alderman Bert Jongen

June 7: Symposium on the Cultural Innovation Agenda Maastricht

June 8: Debate on contemporary design organized by Bureau Europa

My Ignorance is Bliss porcelain tableware collection was a part of the Design Weekend event in Vilnius, Lithuania. Design Weekend is a series of events with design pop-up, exhibitions, workshops, music and other activities.

My Ignorance is Bliss collection is exhibited during Design Week Lithuania 2018, May 7-12, REdesign exhibition, presenting sustainable and responsible design projects, organised by Ekoda - Ecological Design Association. It will take place at church in Saviciaus street, 15, Vilnius. Official opening 8th of May, 7pm.

From Toxicity to Artistry: Agne Kucerenkaite addresses unacknowledged industrial waste. An interview with me about /Ignorance is Bliss/ project, views and goals under the Anthropocene series. Use the link to read the article here. 

Work by Eindhoven and Maastricht designers were part of the exhibition Embracing Exchange in Cologne during the IMM furniture fair (15-21 January, 2018). The exhibition was part of a program to strengthen cultural relations between German and Dutch designers, policy makers and cultural institutions. Leonne Cuppen of Yksi Connect, ambassador of this program, has provided the selection of the Eindhoven designers. Their work can also be seen at Yksi Expo Eindhoven from January 22 through March 18, 2018. Material designers show work by Dutch designers who focus heavily on materials. EMBRACING EXCHANGE is an initiative of DDX (Maastricht), Gemeente Maastricht, Provincie Limburg, Maastricht Academy for Fine Arts and Design, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Yksi Connect Eindhoven. MATERIAL DESIGNERS presents Dutch designers: Curator Maurer United Architects en Yksi Connect Eindhoven. Participating designers are: Grivec Bros, René Holten, Paul Koenen, José Maase & Mireille Meijs, Dirk Ploos van Amstel, Tanja Schell, Christoph Seyferth, Fabian von Spreckelsen, Daria Biryukova, Anastasia Eggers, Agne Kucerenkaite, Woodjai Lee and Pao Hui Kao.

Lithuanian Design Forum released a catalog of the winners Good Design Award 2017 Lithuania. I won the first place in interior elements category with my /Ignorance is Bliss/ project. 

My ongoing /Ignorance is Bliss/ project was selected to represent Dutch design during Interior Design Week in Cologne. The project is including porcelain, glass and textile objects and is shown at Galerie Ampersand.

Passagen Interior Design Week will take place on January 15-21, 2018 together with IMM Cologne. An exhibition event focusing on current trends in design – particularly interior design. The exhibitors are international manufacturers, furniture stores, initiatives, galleries, showrooms, networks, design offices, institutes, and universities.

Since December 2017 you can buy my /Ignorance is Bliss/ porcelain tableware collection at House of Naive concept store in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Photo © House of Naive

Article about my /Ignorance is Bliss/ project in Lithuanian /Namas ir Aš/ interior and design magazine, December issue, 2017.

Now you can order Ignorance Is Bliss porcelain tableware via Creative Food Studio design webshop. My project was a part of a collaboration with Creative Food Studio and AnoukxVera during Dutch Design Week 2017 in Eindhoven. You can view the event here. 

Photos © Creative Food Studio

My tableware and tiles, glazed using waste from the water industries this time is a part of the Aquatech exhibition in Amsterdam together with Aquaminerals. With over 850 exhibitors, a visitor attendance of 21,000 from 140 countries and 1,100 Amsterdam International Water Week (AIWW) conference delegates, Aquatech underlines its position as the world’s leading platform for process, drinking and waste water.  During 4 days filled with inspiration and innovation, Aquatech Amsterdam 2017 will provide the perfect platform to network, exchange ideas and business.

Three exclusive lunches will take place during the Dutch Design Week where you are able to take part in an innovative and fantastical experience that transcends the boundaries of traditional dining and in which food, fashion, ceramic, sound and interior designers color the story.

The Design Shop will be open everyday.

This experience has been curated by Anouk van de Sande, Naresh Ramdjas and Vera de Pont. The exclusive designed elements of this lunch are created in collaboration with Agne Kucerenkaite, Darc Matter, Ekaterina Semenova, Gerner Jahncke, Kratos Himself, Lieke Maas, Marin Jansen, OWOW, Quinda Verheul, Sarah-Linda Forrer, Shai Langen, Studio Nienke Helder, Studio Selvedge. 

More info www.creativefoodstudio.com

My Ignorance Is Bliss collection will be a part of Furniture, Interior and Design Exhibition 2017 in Vilnius which is the largest in the Baltic region. International exhibition FURNITURE has been successfully establishing relations between furniture design, production and business for the third decade. It is the only specialised exhibition in Lithuania that promotes co-operation between furniture designers and manufacturers, design employment, spreads the word about the Lithuanian design and its creators. Every year, the exhibition gathers together manufacturers and retailers from Lithuania and abroad, demonstrates the latest trends in furniture production and interior design to specialists and final users interested in the novelties on the furniture market.

Article about me and my "Ignorance Is Bliss" project in Dutch FD Persoonlijk magazine, September issue, 2017.

Collaboration with Dion Soethoudt during the Vilnius Action Workshop resulted in a project about Vilnius Jewish Boxing Community. Many champions and Olympic contenders were Jewish, and so is the current vice-president of the Lithuanian Professional Boxing Federation. As elsewhere in the world, boxing was (and is) a way for young men to escape from the ghettoes of the big cities. Boxing was (and is) a way to struggle against prejudice, deprivation, and poverty, and prevail. In the synagogue on Geliu street (exhibition space), which is still under reconstruction, the boxing ring was built. Besides, there was shown a video interview with Romas Gudziauskas, a president of Lithuanian Professional Boxing Federation.

More about the workshop:

The synagogue on Gėlių street is one of only eight such buildings to survive in Vilnius. It is currently undergoing extensive restoration works.
A team of young designers was brought to address some important questions concerning the re-emergence of the building into the life of 21st-century Vilnius. It will likely play a role in the continuity of Jewish life in the city, but its future function is as yet undetermined.
The presentation will consist of ideas, associations, and suggestions, not of definitive projects. They are all in some way connected to the long history of the building and of Jewish presence in Lithuania, but they are not intended as memorials. 
Instead, the presentations intend to serve as starting points for future projects, concerning questions that occupy many communities in the globalized world: how to weave strands of culture, tradition, heritage, religion, identity, and history into the fabric of contemporary life? 

Project management:
Vytautas Gečas (Performative Design Association, Vilnius)
Koen Kleijn (Design Academy Eindhoven)

Supported by:
Lithuanian Council for Culture
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Performative design association
Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum
Vilnius Academy of Arts, design department

"Ignorance is Bliss" porcelain tableware is now also sold in the design concept store  Hutspot Rotterdam. You can find the collection in  Hutspot Amsterdam, Van Woustraat and Hutspot Eindhoven too.

Photo © Hutspot

MADE LABS is the new educational initiative conceived by MADE Program (www.madeprogram.it), the brand new project of the “Rosario Gagliardi” Academy of Fine Arts, Syracuse (Sicily). This first edition of MADE LABS, curated by Studio Formafantasma and Moncada Rangel Architects, includes eight days of 4-day workshops and lectures, led by world-renowned creative Professionals and addressed to designers, architects and artists who are curious about new developments in their fields.

I was participating in the workshops from Guillermo Santoma and Arabeschi di Latte. With Guillermo Santoma we were working within the topic of Vernacular tourism with terra cruda local clay, which is usually used for construction. We built barbecue and objects around it. With Arabeschi di Latte workshop I collaborated with Sarah Pelletier and together we created two projects. 

Article about Good Design Award Lithuania winners including my project IGNORANCE IS BLISS, which won the 1st place in Interior Elements category. Summer issue, 2017.

June 20 - August 31 design pop-up store in Nida, Lithuania. Proud to be a part of it this year! Second edition of IGNORANCE IS BLISS porcelain pieces will be for sale :) Check 5 Summer Stories!

10th-11th of June design exhibition around food was held in historical Bartimeus Gardens in Doorn. I presented my porcelain collection of IGNORANCE IS BLISS project. 

20th of May Jordy's Bakery and restaurant was officially opened in Rotterdam. I was asked to create a series of tiles, using the material research, I developed for the IGNORANCE IS BLISS project. Industrial metal waste was used as a pigment in the ceramic glaze to decorate the main tables. All tiles are handmade and every tile is unique. 

I won the 1st place Good Design Award Lithuania 2017, Interior Elements category. My project "Ignorance Is Bliss" can be seen in Museum of Applied Arts and Design in Vilnius till 20th of June. 

Photos © Dizaino Forumas

My waste project "Ignorance Is Bliss" is recently published in the Green Trend Report 2017/2018 book, created by Floramedia. Launch of the book was held in Amsterdam, Hortus Botanicus, April 25, 2017.

Photos © Floramedia

My project "Ignorance Is Bliss" is published in the article about designers working with waste in the British Mix Magazine Issue 47 A/W 2018/19 about colour, trends and design. 

Article about me and my project in Dutch KLEI Ceramic magazine, March issue, 2017.

You can visit Brainport Eindhoven and check out my "Ignorance Is Bliss" porcelain collection till 8th of June, 2017. 

My glass and porcelain pieces are in Elle Decoration Netherlands December-January issue, 2016/2017.

November 24, 2016, Conference day and exhibition in Utrecht, Aquaminerals head office. Aquaminerals helps and supports me with the iron sludge, a leftover material after cleaning the drinking water.

After five years of hard work finally graduated and presenting my project during Dutch Design Week, Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show. October 22-30, 2016.

Photo © Sjoerd Eickmans and Cleo Goossens

Check out my exhibitions during Dutch Design Week at Yksi Expo and Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show!
More information:
www.ddw.nl
www.designacademy.nl
www.yksi.nl

Duo exhibition of Agne Kucerenkaite and Daria Biryukova. Two ceramic research projects made in Japan and Uzbekistan with local craftsmen.

For Lithuanian Design Week 2014 I was asked by Kaunas College Design Department to run a food design workshop for the students. We focused on coloring and at the end our results were presented according to the color wheel.