See Me Make, Make Me See

Mending a 2005 Volvo, knitting a sweater, fixing a pair of skis, ornamental fruit carving, giving a manicure, ice-fishing, weaving a reed-mat, building a kite, making a knife, setting the table, building a kiln or running a 3D-printer... Craft is everywhere.

A year ago, Aalto University welcomed editors, writers and artists Åsa Dybwad Norman and Ben Lignel for a workshop that would become part of a larger collaboration between three Nordic art schools: Aalto University, Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), and HDK-Valand. The workshops investigated a deceptively simple question: 

What do we truly see when we watch someone make?

Through “durational observation” exercises and guided writing sessions, participants explored how skilled gestures, embodied knowledge, and material intelligence might be translated into words. 

The result is a collection of short-form texts, in which design and craft students take a step back from making themselves and instead have chosen someone else’s making practice, to study it with attention and empathy. It focuses on their eye for detail, a skill they already have, but seldom articulate.

Four texts from each school were already published in The Vessel’ s 9th edition, the online magazine by Norwegian Craft. 

This issue was edited by Dybwad Norman and Lignel in partnership with student editors Sofie Alm Nordsveen (HDK), Carla Rotenberg (Aalto), and Iliana Papadimitriou (KHiO). It also featured essays by Evelina Hedin and Sara Clugage, accompanied by illustrations from artist Fanny Schwarz.

Now a collection of all texts resulting from these Making-Observation-Workshops of all three schools has been physically published. It includes texts by Aalto students Seoyoung Kim, Hailey Robinson, Daniel Schiechl, Zoë Robertson, Hana Rehorčíková, Maike Panz and Carla Rotenberg. The publication, See Me Make, Make Me See, was celebrated in Gothenburg in a warm gathering that brought together students, alumni, and colleagues from across the Nordic region.