«Nordic Design in Translation: The Circulation of Objects, Ideas and Practices is an exciting and necessary addition to the discourse on material culture, bringing together fresh approaches to the transnational character of Nordic design. The contributors take the reader outside the established frameworks of national, institutional and disciplinary boundaries and offer us a way to think about the circulation of objects, ideas and practices and their interconnection with wider influences and cultural contexts.»(Professor Juliette MacDonald, Chair of Craft History and Theory, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh)«With the ambition to go underneath the veneer of "Scandinavian Design", this volume offers original perspectives on artistic and cultural transfer. Case studies spanning the twentieth century challenge canonical trajectories of unidirectional influence and demonstrate how design and its ideas translate across nations. It is a vital contribution to contemporary scholarship and an inspiring read for everyone interested in design history in the Nordic region and beyond.»(Christina Pech, Senior Lecturer, History of Art, University of Oslo)«Scandinavian Design» as a myth, a brand and a shorthand for a range of design ideas has proved an enduring and adaptable construct. Its export around the world has ensured that it has touched and transformed design cultures from Europe to Australia. At the same time, the Nordic design it draws on has been shaped and reshaped by influences from beyond the Nordic countries and by reflection on its own global success. This collection of essays considers Nordic design from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day within transnational dynamics of cultural interaction, circulations and cross-border flows that highlight exchange and reciprocity. Engaging with a range of Nordic and Nordic-inspired material objects, techniques, practices and concepts, the essays assess both the impact they have had on new cultural contexts and the ways they themselves have been fashioned and refashioned in response to foreign influences.

Contents: Charlotte Ashby and Shona Kallestrup: Introduction - The Transnational Formation of National Design Cultures at the Turn of the Century - Bente Aass Solbakken: Through Time and Place: Norwegian Norman - Shona Kallestrup: Nordic-Romanian Connections: A Case Study of the Transnational Dimensions of «National» Art - Bart Pushaw: Circumpolar Circulations: Sámi Duodji in Gold Rush Alaska - Tonje Haugland Sørensen: Exporting Dragons: Stave Churches as National Icons and Transnational Commodities in Nineteenth-Century Europe - Jeremy Howard: Nobel Designs ... on Fire-Worship: East-Oriented Original Nordic Designwash - The Translation and Export of Scandinavian Design in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries - Mia Åkerfelt: The Myth of the Little Red Cottage: The Circulation of Vernacular Romanticism in Scandinavian Architecture in the Twentieth Century - Lucila Mallart: Josep Puig i Cadafalch in the Nordic Countries: Transferring Art Historical Knowledge between North and South in the Interwar Period - Mark Ian Jones: Nordic Design Down Under: «Swedish Modern» andScandinavian Designin Mid-Twentieth-Century Australia - Karolina Jakaite and Triin Jerlei: From Baltic Dreams to Reality: The Significance of Nordic Architecture and Design in Lithuania and Estonia from the late 1950s until the 1970s - From Baltic Dreams to Reality: The Significance of Nordic Architecture and Design in Lithuania and Estonia from the late 1950s until the 1970s - Malene Breunig: Nordic by Noma: Relocating Critical Regionalism to Gastronomic Innovation and Design - Kjetil Fallan: Afterword: Lost and Found - Translational Thinking in the History of Nordic Design.