New images – Kustaa Saksi: Borderlands

We are now publishing a large selection of images from Kustaa Saksi's exhibition at Vandalorum, his first solo exhibition at a museum in Sweden. The photos, taken by photographer Patrik Lindell, are available for press use. Saksi is doubly relevant in Sweden, having recently been named Guest Creative for Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025, where he has designed the visual identity for the event.

The exhibition will be on view at Vandalorum until May 11, 2025. ______________________________________________________________________________________

The exhibition Borderlands offers an extensive overview by the prominent Amsterdam-based artist and designer Kustaa Saksi's textile work from the past decade. The exhibition featuring over 20 large-scale jacquard-woven pieces displayed in an installation created specifically for Vandalorum. The scenography is designed by Lauri Johansson, with an accompanying soundscape by Marko Nyberg and a film by David Verbeek.

Saksi's work delves into the moments between reality and the surreal, dreams and wakefulness, sanity and madness. His pieces draw from personal experiences of migraine, general hallucinatory visions, and mythical narratives, reflecting his fascination with the human brain and its unique ability to process sensory information in innovative and unexpected ways.

The versatility of yarn as a medium is central to Saksi’s work. He starts with a sketch that he then brings to TextielLab in Tilburg. Using software, every shape and color in the sketch is assigned a specific texture (from materials like mohair, wool, cotton, silk, and viscose to rubber, copper, and polyester) before weaving begins. The result is a blend of intricate woven layers.

The jacquard loom, invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in early 19th-century France, enabled the automatic production of complex patterns. Originally controlled by punched cards, the historic loom was an early model for modern computers. Today’s digital jacquard weaving allows for rapid changes, and Saksi has likened his process to "action painting with warp and weft."

Kustaa Saksi (b. 1975 in Kouvola, Finland, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) trained as a graphic designer at the Lahti Design Institute. He has exhibited at venues including the Design Museum Helsinki, V&A in London, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and has completed commissions for fashion houses such as Hermès, Ferragamo, Issey Miyake, Nike, and Marimekko. Recently, Saksi was named Guest Creative for the 2025 Stockholm Furniture Fair, for which he has designed the fair’s visual identity.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Design Museum Helsinki.