“Together" – Nordic Design Exhibition in New York
In 2018, Snøhetta hosted and curated the exhibition “Together = Nordic Design” during New York Design Week. In addition to developing the concept and exhibition design, Snøhetta also designed the exhibition’s graphic profile. Inspired by the concept “together”, the event allowed 26 brands from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark to showcase their interior design pieces and jointly promote the talents of the entire Nordic region for the very first time during Design Week.
The concept “together” was visible throughout the exhibition and graphic design, among other things through the choice of colors.
The exhibition’s color palette playfully represented each of the Nordic countries by mixing the distinctive colors of each country’s flag and thus creating a completely new Nordic color palette. By consequence, the Swedish flag’s iconic and bright blue and yellow colors merged into a darker forest green, and Denmark’s red and white flag turned salmon pink. The result was a completely new color scheme representing the Nordics.
Echoing the concept of “together” the exhibition design combined smaller elements to create a larger whole. Full-scale MDF panels were carefully carved out to fit perfectly together, making reinforcement by glue or screws superfluous.
Due to the limited space of the showroom, each brand showcased only one design piece. The final selection of artifacts was curated by Snøhetta and each country’s podium was custom built to fit the designs.
To promote reuse, Snøhetta strived to design elements that could be used multiple times. Masterfully crafted by Japanese wood workers based in New York, the MDF panels allow the podiums to be taken down and assembled easily. The exhibition was designed and built to travel flat-packed, be assembled on site, disassembled, and then flat-packed again before the next show.
The exhibition was held in the Snøhetta New York office and was opened by the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Torbjørn Røe Isaksen.
