Iku-Turso

2021

In collaboration with Nikari

Japanese washi paper yarn, 
oak, apple tree wood, brass


Iku-Turso takes its name from a creature in the Finnish national epic Kalevala — ancient, never fully seen, never fully explained. The work draws on the tradition of the wunderkammer, the cabinet of curiosities in which natural specimens, mythological objects, and things that resisted classification were brought together in a single space.

Made in collaboration with Finnish furniture maker Nikari, the piece combines oak, apple tree wood, and brass with a woven surface of Japanese paper yarn. The myth is carried in the textile. The object keeps it.