Christina Zetterlund

I am a craft and design historian focused on grassroots histories that challenge deep-rooted power structures, highlighting narratives that institutional perspectives on design, craft, and history have often overshadowed. It is a practice-based history that I write together with different people, groups, organisations and contexts. I do this through academic research and teaching as well as curatorial investigations and long-term collaborations.

I am interested in place-based perspectives on design, craft, and history and have focused on writing histories rooted in Småland. In the exhibition and publication During the Lunch Break: Conversations on Friggers and the Conditions of Making at The Glassfactory in Boda, I collaborated with current and former glassworkers to document the history of frigger-making practices alongside presenting perspectives of class in design history. For this work, I was awarded the 2020 Cultural Award for the Kronoberg region. From 2020 to 2022, I collaborated with Anna Westman Kuhmunen, curator at the Ájtte Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum, on the research project Design History from Other Geographies. Using Småland and the Swedish region of Sápmi as our point of departure, we investigated alternatives to the design history traditionally formulated and institutionalised by universities and museums in the Global North. We published the anthology Småland & Sápmi Sápmi & Småland. Design history from different geographies. Alongside the research project, I conducted the speculative curatorial project (Re-)learning the Archive (2021-2023) at the Design Archive in Nybro. In collaboration with Småland’s civil society, we explored how a future place-based design museum could take shape—one that embraces multiple perspectives and diverse practices. In the Småland module, we collectively explore, through design practice, how students, in collaboration with local communities, can contribute to shaping sustainable development in rural Småland. Together with the first year's masters, I investigate the relationship between present, future and past – how change, creating futures, always relates to the past and what our references are for creating change.

My engagement extends beyond Småland. As the artistic director, alongside Onkar Kular, professor at HDK/Valand, I curated Luleå Biennale 2022 – Crafts & Art. For many years, I have researched the unique jewellery artist Rosa Taikon, which has deepened my involvement in articulating Nordic Romani history. Currently, I serve as a curator in residence at Norwegian Crafts, and in collaboration with Magnus Ericsson from Iaspis/Konstnärsnämnden, I am developing the seminar series (Re-)Thinking Curating Design and Craft. In this series, we investigate alternative approaches to curating design and craftsmanship alongside Swedish and international curators and other cultural creators.