Sensual and sensible shapes by silversmith Lars Håkansson

Lars Håkansson is one of the most famous silversmiths in Sweden today and his works have been exhibited worldwide, including the USA, Brazil and Japan. The exhibition Sensual and sensible, which opens at Kulturen on April 21, is his first exhibition in Lund where he started his long career. The exhibition features both new and old objects. You can also see models and sketches, which give an insight into his working methods.

Lars Håkansson’s design idiom has emerged from the twentieth century and modernism. It is often austere and geometrical and the inspiration can come from architecture, industry and functional design. Still, the expression of the ethereal silver always remains. The forms are nicely balanced and well thought out, always beautiful, sometimes playful and often surprising in construction.

Lars Håkansson has a solid craft training, having served his apprenticeship in a workshop geared to large objects and church silver. After obtaining his journeyman certificate, Håkansson continued to study industrial design at HDK, the college of art and design in Gothenburg. He has had his own workshop since 1978. He has also worked with the design of utility objects.

Lars Håkansson is both a craftsman and a designer, which means that he has a freer relationship to the tradition of silversmithing. He has the versatility of the industrial designer and the ability to find new solutions to problems, and simultaneously the thorough know-how of the craftsman. He spends a long time reworking his ideas, testing forms and making many sketches. The natural sensuality of the silver and the requirement of functionality in the design guides Håkansson in his work.

In Kulturen’s exhibition we meet both completely new objects and older ones. We also gain insight into his way of working through models and sketches in other materials than silver.

Today Håkansson is one of the most famous silversmiths in Sweden, where he is represented in many museums, and his objects have been exhibited all over the world, in countries such as Brazil, Japan and the USA.

Sensual and Sensible, Lars Håkansson - silversmith
Kulturen - Museum of Cultural History in Lund, Sweden
21 April - 15 September 2013

For more information:
Karin Schönberg, curator, tel +46 46 35 04 21, karin.schonberg@kulturen.com
Erik Roman, press officer, tel +46 46 35 04 47, erik.roman@kulturen.com

Kulturen is the biggest museum in Skåne, the southernmost province of Sweden, and the second oldest open-air museum in the world. The museum was founded in 1892 by Georg Karlin. He realized that the old peasant society was slowly disappearing and resolved to rescue buildings, tools, furniture, clothes and other things.

There are now more than thirty buildings, moved and re-erected here in Kulturen to fill two blocks of the city of Lund. The buildings show how people have lived and worked in Sweden through the ages.

You will also find some fifteen exhibitions about everything from peasants in Skåne to arts and crafts from all over the world.