Bruno Mathsson Prize 2024 awarded to Fredrik Paulsen, Jenny Nordberg and Finn Ahlgren

The Bruno Mathsson Prize 2024 is awarded to Fredrik Paulsen, Jenny Nordberg and Finn Ahlgren.

The prize is the largest design award in the Nordic countries and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The purpose of the prize is to promote development in the areas of objects and interior and exterior environments. The prize sum for 2024 is 100,000 SEK per recipient. The award ceremony will take place at Vandalorum on October 26, in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition Bruno Mathsson Prize 40 Years.

The Bruno Mathsson Prize is awarded by the board of the Karin and Bruno Mathsson Fund with the following justifications:

Photo: Märta Thisner

Fredrik Paulsen

“With craftsmanship as a foundation, mixed with a subjective interest in both modernist and postmodernist pioneers, Fredrik Paulsen develops a contemporary design language that bubbles with joy. His design is characterized by social engagement and an invitation to dialogues about the importance of craftsmanship in giving artistic expression space.”

Photo: Petra Bindel

Jenny Nordberg

“Combining local production with local materials is the driving force in Jenny Nordberg’s artistry. The goal is short distances between manufacturer and user. By skillfully challenging the rules of mass production, she transcends boundaries between serially manufactured items and the 21st century’s ready-mades. Her tools are artistic sharpness, courage, and humor.”

Photo: Ylva Sundgren

Finn Ahlgren

“Finn Ahlgren sees potential in discarded materials and encourages everyone to become recycling ‘raw carpenters’. His practice includes utilizing all conceivable materials that can find new use and restoring the hand’s importance for artistic and mental development. With his eye for form and the beauty in the worn, he creates a symbiosis between function and art.”

About the Bruno Mathsson Prize winners 2024: The 2024 Bruno Mathsson Prize winners work independently and experimentally in unique furrows they have plowed themselves. A common driving force is to change how we value and produce the objects we surround ourselves with. Sustainability is a cornerstone, not only in terms of materials but also socially, economically, and aesthetically. The knowledge of the hand and the value of craftsmanship are made visible in their practices in ways that surprise, challenge, and amaze.

Fredrik Paulsen (b. 1980, based in Stockholm) is a designer educated at the Royal College of Art in London and Beckmans School of Design in Stockholm. In his historically responsive, process-based practice, he creates furniture and environments handmade from low-valued materials or standard components, which he enhances through vibrant color combinations and unexpected textures. Paulsen is the founder of JOY Objects and was co-founder of the Örnsberg Auction. His works can be found at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, the Public Art Agency Sweden, and Stockholm Art, among others.

Jenny Nordberg (b. 1978, based in Malmö) is an industrial designer educated at Lund University of Technology. She works with site-specific projects and the production of limited edition objects, in her own studio or in collaboration with craft-based industry. She is the founder of the award-winning production platform SPOK, which brings together local designers and manufacturers, a pioneering activity now established in 11 regions. Nordberg’s works are in the collections of the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, Malmö Art Museum, and Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, among others.

Finn Ahlgren (b. 1977, based in Stockholm) is a designer and craftsman, educated at Konstfack in Stockholm. He handcrafts furniture from discarded materials, aiming to reevaluate ugliness, wear and tear, and flaws. In innovative workshops and in the book “Raw Carpentry: Everyone Can Do Carpentry” (Natur och Kultur, 2024), he presents his pedagogy based on the important connection between hand and brain. Ahlgren’s works can be found at Stockholm Public Library, Tureberg Church in Sollentuna, and Södersjukhuset in Stockholm, among others.

Portrait of Fredrik Paulsen, photo: Märta Thisner
Portrait of Jenny Nordberg, photo: Petra Bindel
Portrait of Finn Ahlgren, photo: Ylva Sundgren
Spiral Table and Road Block Chair by Fredrik Paulsen, photo: Sanna Lindström
Mirror by Jenny Nordberg, photo: Korta ben
Cabinet by Finn Ahlgren, photo: Mathilda Werngren

Bruno Mathsson © Bruno Mathsson International

STIFTELSEN KARIN OCH BRUNO MATHSSONS FOND
16 februari 1983 bildades Mathsson-fonden genom donation från Karin och Bruno Mathsson. Fondens ändamål är att främja forskning, utveckling, undervisning och utbildning inom områdena föremål samt inre och yttre miljö. Varje år utdelar fonden Bruno Mathsson-priset på för närvarande 250.000 kronor.

Den ursprungliga styrelsen:
Karin och Bruno Mathsson
Arkitekt Erik Berglund, Möbelinstitutet, Stockholm
Direktör Alf Böe, Munchmuseet, Oslo
Professor Erik Herløw, Köpenhamn
Fil. dr. Ulf Hård af Segerstad, Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm
Direktör Tapio Periäinen, Konstflitföreningen, Helsingfors
Advokat Håkan Sjöman, Värnamo
Överintendent Dag Widman, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Direktör Per Berg, Stockholm, adjungerad som sekreterare

Dagens styrelse:
Formgivare och scenograf Gunilla Allard, Grödinge
Designskribent Hedvig Hedqvist, Stockholm
f.d. Kulturchef Monica Lembke, Värnamo, fondens sekreterare
Museichef vid Vandalorum Elna Svenle
Direktör Dan Thelander, Värnamo

Stiftelsen Karin och Bruno Mathssons Fond,
Box 703, SE-331 27 VÄRNAMO

www.mathssonfonden.se.