My work centers around the fact that I am a glassblower working with glass objects within a glasstradition. My BFA project from 2009 entitled ”the bastards have landed” was my first attempt atmapping out what that ultimately meant to me as a practitioner in a contemporary craft context. Theresult of that project was a discovery of my making as a way of using tradition to tell stories aboutitself. My conclusion was that by using the traditional objects as symbols I had a channel throughwhich I could communicate. Glass is a material who´s domains are closely connected to a domesticand consumeristic environment. It is put in a position where we react to its appearance with ourbody memory while also carries different social and material values depending on its appearance.When entering the master program at Konstfack University of Art Craft and Design, my idea wasthat over the next coming two years my focus would lie in the exploration and research of thesemechanisms as well as my own position as a maker and practitioner within these mechanisms.Craft, design and making are subjects that are constantly being talked about and analyzed from anumber of perspectives. There are philosophers, sociologists, historians and art historians constantlynegotiating what the field of craft is dealing with. This is something that I over the years have foundas something quite disturbing in some cases. This leaves me in a situation where I am no longerdefining my own practice. And when I am to define my practice I always do it through the ideas ofpeople from ”outside” my own position. There are many good writers from variousdisciplines writing about craft and making that I have had great use of and input from but I feel thatthere is a big lack of craft practitioners who are defining their discipline from their own standpoint.This situation is to me a bit outdated.So as mentioned above I have entered the master program with an idea to find out how to deal withveiled subjects such as tacit knowledge and material culture in order to try to transform them into acommunicative body of knowledge. My work during the past three semesters have been spread outover a number of different projects dealing with these subjects both based on objects as well asforming a discussion together with my master group.The main cause in this thesis is as always in my case to shed light on and to formulate questionsand hopefully answers around my own practice and its related subjects.The main reason for this is that craft and making as a tool for knowledge production is a cloudedsubject but according to me it holds a lot of potential. Not only for understanding questions outsidethe field but also to unveil and strengthen the practice itself.

I projektet Naturen, jag och det potentiellt gemensamma undersöks den materiella kultur jag omger mig av och mitt förhållande till naturen genom denna. Jag befinner mig i staden, det offentliga rummet – vår andra natur, och blickar även mot det privata. Jag plockar ut delar och skapar en samling av objekt. Dessa objekt ställs i relation till varandra med förhoppningen att vi ska finna någonting gemensamt. Vad är naturen? Vad är naturligt och vad är konstruerat? Är det ens ett motsatspar? Hur ser vi på vår omvärld? Hur ser den tillbaka på oss? Hur förhåller vi oss till den? I denna uppsats förs ett resoneras kring relationen mellan människan och omvärlden och mellan plats, kropp och tanke. Här tas begrepp upp som natur, materiell kultur, offentlig miljö och konsten som förmedlare mellan människan och naturen. Det tycks som att vi vill separera och dela in det mesta i vår omgivning som kulturen och naturen, tanken och kroppen, subjekt och objekt, konsten och hantverket och platsen och materialet. Ofta står det ena underordnat det andra istället för att se det som delar av varandra. Kroppen som en del av tanken, hantverket som del av konsten och människan som en del av naturen och tvärtom. / The project Nature, me and the potentially common examines the material culture I am surrounded of and my relationshipto nature through this. I'm in the city, our public space – our second nature, and looks toward the private. I pick out some parts and create a collection of objects. These items are placed in relation to each other with the hope that we'll find something in common. What is nature? What is natural and what is constructed? Is that even a pair of opposites? How do we view our world? How does it look back at us? How do we relate to it? This essay discuss the relationship between human and the world, and between location, body and mind. Concepts like nature, material culture, public spaces and art as intermediaries between human and nature is discussed here. It seems that we want to separate and divide most of our surroundings like culture and nature, mind and body, subject and object, art and craft, and the location and material. Often is one inferior to the other instead of seeing both aspart of each other. The body as part of the intellect, the craftsmanship as part of the art and the human being a part of nature and vice versa.

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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the production of flemish weaving done by the handicraft association Malmöhus läns hemslöjdsförening between the years 1960 - 1975. The thesis examines a group of flemish weaves to answer questions about how they were made, which material were used and how they were designed during the period. This study is supplemented ny a study of annual reports, which describes the associations work during the period. This is to put the flemish weaves into a wide context where the purpose and function of the flemish weave are analysed. The study also aims to discuss the development and ideas in the association, and how thoes thoughts changes shaped the use of the flemish weaves in the association.  The result of this thesis shows how the production of flemish weaves during the period was influenced by variation and renewal. This is shown in the technical variation and a modernisation with abstract designs. The study has also shown the purpose of the weaves as products for mediation. In relation with the study of annual reports, the reports put the flemish weaves in a wider context as a popular technic for weaving courses in the association. In conclusion the results show a development, where new conditions and competition made the association strive for new products where "hemslöjd" was made into an important trademark.

This study analyzes objects of Chinese porcelain found at Kina slott located on Drottningholm just outside Stockholm from a material culture (Material Culture Studies MCS) perspective. The aim is to examine how the materiality of porcelain can generate knowledge within MCS and to shed light on how it influenced the image of the Far East in Sweden during the mid-1700s. The study also wants to open up ways for further analyses of Chinese porcelain at the royal palaces in Sweden. Theory is drawn from various interdisciplinary fields of research and activates the concepts of transculturalism and agency to problematize how the porcelain objects was displayed at the castle and how they interact with the environment. The analyses also raise questions about the objects' age and stylistic development. The gaze of the Art historian and the knowledge of connoisseurship are discussed in a reflective section. The result of the study places the material culture and agency of porcelain as an actor with an important impact on the imagination of the utopian Far East in the 1700s but also as a transformer for cultural exchange between East and West. The objects are believed to have been of great importance as authentic props from a distant world and the discussion also takes into consideration the porcelain objects political influence as a status object and commodity.

The purpose of this study was to create a deeper understanding of the identity and self-image of female Swedish emigrants of the 1880s-1920s with the help of preserved personal objects by answering the following questions with a microhistory approach: What significance did material objects have for the identity formulation of female Swedish emigrants in healthcare in America? And, What do the material objects tell us about the identity, self-image and experience of these unmarried female Swedish-American emigrants? To answer the questions material sources have been examined with the use of Wilhelm Dilthey's hermeneutic method of interpretation. A method where historical understanding is viewed as essential for our ability to interpret historical meaning. And with the use of material culture theory, grounded in the theoretical concepts of objectification, consumption and performativity resulted in the following conclusions: The material objects had meaning in the identity formulation in such a way that they helped the women in this study to create and interpret their identities in relation to their material surroundings, the ideals of the time, their professional status and professional role. With clothes, personal items and documents, they created their identities according to the ideals of the time in relation to their professional status and professional role. The material objects have a lot to tell about the identities, self-images and experiences of the female Swedish American emigrants and about how they created a sense of belonging and a place for themselves in their new life. Through the material objects they use to portray their identity, they demonstrate their disposable income and legitimize and confirm their social, personal and professional success and status. Above all, the source material tells about the importance of their professional identity in shaping their identity and self-image, something that is reinforced in their expression over the years. Based on how they stage and create the image of themselves as successful, independent and with high professional status, we can also understand that this was a large part of their self-image.

Sámi culture and resources have long been exploited by the Swedish state, church and government. The material culture that was collected during the late 19th and early 20th century, has many times lost their original meaning and context later on in museum collections. This is problematic and needs to change in order to prevent further damage to the Sámi material and immaterial culture. This study aims to analyse the Sámi silver brooches with Marian-symbols, that were found together with other types of silver artefacts at Passekårsa, Gällivare parish. By doing this type of analysis it allows for further and mor difficult discussions to be adressed and it also allows for the silver find in question to be further contextualized. We non-Sámi archaeologists, scientists and staff at museums need to talk about how we are interpreting, examining and portraying Sámi cultural heritage whether it concerns human remains, places of sacrifice or small silver brooches.

The foundation for a museum is the collection. To collect, preserve and display is what constitutes a museum. But the process of deciding which object´s should be saved, and which objects should not, are based on values. It is also values that make people inclined to donate objects to museums. How and why we value a museum determine if and why we donate. Objects themselves could be said to have a biography just like people. Depending on the objects biography and the context, the value of the object differs. My aim is to try and give an explanation to how we value the material heritage we collect, and to explain why people want to donate to museums; despite the fact they don’t get paid. I will also try and explain how value theory is used in economics and in philosophy, and how those value theories might differ from a museological theory of value.

In the western world, Islam has been interpreted based on stereotypes of muslims. The stereotype image leads to the fact that many Muslims in Sweden today are forced to face Islamophobia and preconceptions about Islam's meaning. To enhance the image of Islam, lived religion as field of research is useful as it opens the opportunity to study people's lived experiences of religious traditions beyond religious institutions and doctrines. The field can show how religious traditions are expressed in people's everyday lives by lifting the voices of individuals which are not otherwise noted. Lived Islam is thus an area that highlights Muslims' living experiences of Islam in their daily lives. In this essay, lived Islam is studied as it may occur among individuals who define themselves as women and Muslims in Karlstad, Sweden. The aim is to enhance the image of Islam and raise female experiences of Islam. This will broaden the already existing research spectra that usually takes an androcentric perspective. The women's experiences are investigated through life stories interviews. Based on a material perspective on religion, the paper examines how Islam is manifested and expressed through material practices, objects, and different phenomena in the women’s everyday life. The result shows that Islam is described as a framework of how life is interpreted and expected to be lived. Islam is expressed in form of material practices like for example regular prayers, but also as an approach to the outside world. Lived Islam in Karlstad, as it can be expressed among individuals who define themselves as women and Muslims can be said to mean a perspective that encompasses all content in life. The Muslim women in the paper are positive about their life’s in Karlstad, but some elements can also complicate everyday life, such as meetings with preconceptions about Islam and the Muslim woman.

Living as a human being in the 21st century is a more or less constant three-dimensional textile experience. Textiles have a continuous proximity to our bodies as clothing but also as an essential material in our dwellings, both with practical and emotional functions. The Everyday Performing Textiles derives from my deep interest in the qualities and embedded connotations of textiles, the stuff that affectively shapes our material reality. These soft things play different roles in our lives, as parts of a web of function and meaning.  In this thesis I focus on the unobtrusive position of everyday textiles, searching to reflect upon the significance and substance they have within our homes. I predicate that our wellbeing is deeply dependent and connected to the comfort of textiles – it being an emotional material as much as a physical. I use the expectations of materiality as a method, balancing between the familiar and the strange, to challenge and expand our perception of cloth, both as a statement and a query of its value in modern society. I depict everyday textiles in a skewed way, mixing the realistic and the unrealistic, to create an expanded perception of them – playing with their immanent, possibly unspoken, expectations. The Everyday Performing Textiles is an acknowledgement of our textile reality – the existence of this interactive, interdependent relationship in our everyday practice of living.