THOUGHTS FROM METTE
“A while back I was sent an article, based on scientific studies, that flipped my world of skincare upside down. Recent scientific studies have discovered why healthy skin is an essential part of longevity.”
THOUGHTS FROM METTE
A Conversation with Mette Skjærbæk at 3daysofdesign
SUMMARY
For her first exhibition at 3daysofdesign, Karmameju founder Mette Skjærbæk presents a new body of herbarium works. In this interview, she reflects on the journey from childhood memories of her parents’ garden and years of pressing plants to the creative dialogue between nature, craft, and composition that defines her work today. A conversation about inspiration, collaboration, and finding a new artistic outlet.
You are exhibiting at 3daysofdesign with your herbarium work for the first time, tell us more.
As 3daysofdesign describes it themselves; 3daysofdesign is a platform to showcase and celebrate great design; a festival for dreamers, doers and the design-curious.
I am very proud, and humble, to be part of this annual design festival in Copenhagen, open for everybody to visit.
Represented by Galleri Sonja, in a space designed by Norm Architects, and in the iconic Kvindernes bygning (The Women’s Building) – it is almost surreal for me that my herbarium works will be shown in such spectacular company.
The exhibition A Dialogue between Nature and Craft brings together artists and designers whose practices are guided by material sensitivity, the slow processes of handcraft and a shared approach to making, where form takes shape through attention, place and time.
You are exhibiting at 3daysofdesign with your herbarium work for the first time, tell us more.
As 3daysofdesign describes it themselves; 3daysofdesign is a platform to showcase and celebrate great design; a festival for dreamers, doers and the design-curious.
I am very proud, and humble, to be part of this annual design festival in Copenhagen, open for everybody to visit.
Represented by Galleri Sonja, in a space designed by Norm Architects, and in the iconic Kvindernes bygning (The Women’s Building) – it is almost surreal for me that my herbarium works will be shown in such spectacular company.
The exhibition A Dialogue between Nature and Craft brings together artists and designers whose practices are guided by material sensitivity, the slow processes of handcraft and a shared approach to making, where form takes shape through attention, place and time.
”A Dialogue between Nature and Craft” – how do you interpret this?
It sums up how I feel when I am working with pressed plants quite perfectly. My work feels like a dialogue between me and the plants – a meticulous, patient process of finding the motive and then perfecting it. I have always loved jigsaw puzzles, and I feel like I now do it in free form with plants. I really appreciate graphic design, and composition is everything to my eye.
Many of my works represent “people” to me. Families, couples etc., The composition is often the “dialogue” they seem to have.
Having a dialogue with nature is important to me. I believe that city people need to connect with nature regularly to be content. Working with plants, finding them in nature, planting them, harvesting, pressing, and finally composing the final piece… it is such a lovely process that I appreciate very much, especially as it gets me into the dialogue with nature and craft in union.
”A Dialogue between Nature and Craft” – how do you interpret this?
It sums up how I feel when I am working with pressed plants quite perfectly. My work feels like a dialogue between me and the plants – a meticulous, patient process of finding the motive and then perfecting it. I have always loved jigsaw puzzles, and I feel like I now do it in free form with plants. I really appreciate graphic design, and composition is everything to my eye.
Many of my works represent “people” to me. Families, couples etc., The composition is often the “dialogue” they seem to have.
Having a dialogue with nature is important to me. I believe that city people need to connect with nature regularly to be content. Working with plants, finding them in nature, planting them, harvesting, pressing, and finally composing the final piece… it is such a lovely process that I appreciate very much, especially as it gets me into the dialogue with nature and craft in union.
You also work with nature in Karmameju Skincare – how is this related to your art?
Herbarium feels like a natural extension of my work with nature’s ingredients in skincare. In our skincare, I work with natural ingredients that are loved by the skin, as well as with the art of perfumery, composing scents with real fragrances from nature. I am deeply grateful to work with an incredible nose, our perfumer in England, Richard. I have never met natural fragrance skills like his.
Nature is the core of most things that I love. The herbarium art I create is a dialogue between nature and craft, while the skincare I create is a dialogue between nature and our largest organ: the skin.
Artwork: Kin 4 | pop | duality
How did you get into working with herbarium?
Some of my clearest childhood memories are of my parents’ garden and greenhouse.
As a child, my windowsill was filled with little plants and cuttings. I have just always loved plants. I have pressed plants since the 90s, when I lived in New York for seven years, a particularly creatively evolving time of my life. Some years back, I started creating the herbarium compositions on paper, just for creative fiddles.
Two women, whose opinions I really value, independently said the same thing to me: “Mette – your art is good… keep working on it.” This was an important catalyst for me in taking it to a more dedicated, focused and serious level – digging myself deep into it, setting my imposter syndrome aside, and finding my flow with it.
Some days I love the work I create; other days, my inner critic thinks they are bad. But with age, I have learned to just keep going, and to do my best.
I think there is a great bridge as well to my daughters growing up. As they spend more time away from home, I have regained time for my own creativity in my spare time. My work with Karmameju is very creative but also restricted to fit into the larger scale of the business. My herbarium work is an additional outlet for my creativity, and I am grateful for the support I feel all around.
Artwork: Kin 5
10 herbarium works are showcased at 3daysofdesign – do the artworks have an overall theme?
These works are quite a new take on my work.
Until now, I have worked with pressed plants on beautiful paper. For this exhibition, I flipped the classic format, by working directly on glass, allowing light to pass through and creating an optical space around the lightest Japanese paper in the world “as thin as the wings of a mayfly”, as described by the paper manufacturer from the Japanese mountains.
The pressed flowers and stems hover delicately above the open glass, leaving them vulnerable – as is nature. This openness invites the viewer to come even closer to nature and the craft. Following the exhibition, the works will be finalised with another layer of museum glass and framed in oak for the lovely grounding element of wood.
Birgit Lyngbye from Galleri Sonja and Norm Architects are the inspiration behind this new take on my work. I absolutely love collaborating with people, and I am so looking forward to see the herbarium works showcased in this setting, in dialogue with the craftmanship and design that define the exhibition.
You have made quite a few circular plant composition pieces over time?
Yes, I love circles. Always have.
I find them pleasing to the eye.
The Seed Pod Moon centrepiece of the exhibition is, for me, a symbol of how essential nature is for Earth, looking at it from far away, as far away as the moon.
You have made quite a few circular plant composition pieces over time?
Yes, I love circles. Always have.
I find them pleasing to the eye.
The Seed Pod Moon centrepiece of the exhibition is, for me, a symbol of how essential nature is for Earth, looking at it from far away, as far away as the moon.
Where do you get your inspiration?
One of the great things about working with herbarium is that I notice nature even more now. I stop the car to pick plants by the roadside, and I pick weeds between bricks when I am out for a walk. My most important collaborators are my parents and their garden. They do a big job with much of the planting, harvesting and pressing for me. My mum is always on the lookout for plants that will transform beautifully when they are pressed.
She inspires me, and always has.
Our family garden on Fyn is somewhat transforming to be a part of the herbarium storytelling as well. My work is often described by others as peaceful and calming, and there is so much beauty and solace in my parents’ garden that I believe its essence can be felt quantum physically in the works.
Inspirationally, it is a flow between craft, creativity and nature – something that I feel comes through me, and, in some ways, creates itself.
3daysofdesign
Open to everyone
Dates: 10–12 June
Opening hours: 10:00–17:00
Location: The Women’s Building (Kvindernes Bygning)
Niels Hemmingsens Gade 8–10, Copenhagen
