Robotic craft: A touch of glass in Stockholm

In partnership with ABB Robotics, Stockholm International Fairs presented the installation, which was hidden in an underground cavern in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities on Skeppsholmen Island.

Delicate glassware collections by twelve Swedish designers were each paired with an individual robot, which are usually used behind the scenes in manufacturing. The robots at the show each interacted with the hand-blown glassware to perform duties such as dusting them or turning switches on.

‘In Sweden, many of the old artisanal glass companies are suffering due to new technology,’ curator Aia Jüdes tells LS:N Global. ‘This exhibition raises interesting questions about production and manufacturing. It is a meeting point – showing that it is great to be progressive and to optimise production, but the intelligence of the hand should never be underestimated.’

We previously explored this meeting of robotics and handicraft in our previous Seed on Royal College of Art graduate Alexander du Preez’s project Machine Craft.

For more news from Stockholm Design Week, keep an eye on our Seed section and look out for our show review and Inspire feature.