Christian and Jade announced as curators of The Mindcraft Exhibition 2026

The Mindcraft Project is pleased to announce the design duo Christian and Jade as curators of The Mindcraft Exhibition 2026, to be held from September 23rd – 27th at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen’s centre. Christian and Jade represent a contemporary wave of Danish designers who are re-contextualising the role of craft and material research within the design field today. They have brought their own hands-on experience across materials and scale into their curatorial vision for this year’s exhibition; drawing a focus on the inherit qualities of natural materials, a devotion to craft, and the importance of tacit knowledge built through the act of making.

Having met during their studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven – graduating in 2018, the Copenhagen based studio of Christian Hammer Juhl and Jade Chan was formed through a shared desire to deepen our collective relationship to objects and spaces. Hailing from geographically and cultural diverse locations – Jade from Singapore and Christian from Denmark, alongside studying in the Netherlands and completing design residencies in the USA, Austria, Japan and Switzerland, their approach has always been open and shaped by the unique context of each project. Their diverse cultural backgrounds, initially seen as a hurdle when working together, were quickly embraced as a collective strength – allowing the duo to constantly re-assess and re-contextualise prior knowledge into a design language that is self-reflective and open to critique. The duo are individually drawn to divergent aspects of the design process – allowing their practice to be formed simultaneously through concept as well as action.

“I enjoy spending time diving into the research, knowledge and the history behind materials and an objects environment, distilling it to carve out a context in which the studio can design within. Christian’s strength lies in translating the ideas and intention of the studio into acute and nuanced forms and function… We tend to say that; as there are two of us, there are also two sides to our studio – the hand with a focus on small scale bespoke acts of making, and the mind with a focus on larger system and thinkings” – Jade Chan of Christian and Jade.

As their studio has grown, so to have the scale of their projects – solidifying the aforementioned duality in Christian and Jade’s output. Self-produced works in hammered aluminium and delicate lighting created from waxed and stitched mulberry bark paper, sit alongside projects such as Weight of Wood in collaboration with Danish flooring producer Dinesen, and subsequently presented as part of The Mindcraft Exhibition 2023. Weight of Wood allowed the duo to dive into research on the natural properties of each individual timber species, with a focus on wood density leading to a number of tactile experiments and a series of kinetic objects that interpret woods invisible qualities through play and interaction. Subsequent projects with Japanese furniture producer Karimoku and Dutch linoleum producer Tarkett have emphasised Christian and Jade’s ability to unite a research led approach to their projects with an array of physical manifestations of said research – from furniture and objects, to entire libraries where people can interact with their conceptual groundwork in a uniquely physical way.

“We often find that we make some of our best work when we have a context to work out of, and therefore a need and perspective to address, rethink or share. Working with bigger companies allows us to work on a larger scale, both in terms of being able to learn and have access to the larger systems behind production – from harvesting to manufacturing, but we have also been lucky to be afforded the opportunity to create extensive research driven worlds around the act of telling their stories.” – Christian Hammer Juhl of Christian and Jade.

It is this combination of the deeply personal act of making alongside the larger context of a raw materials journey from nature into our human environment that has shaped Christian and Jade’s approach to curating The Mindcraft Exhibition 2026. While Christian and Jade are actively working with a number of diverse materials and craft techniques, they were conversely drawn to practitioners that held a unique devotion to a single material or process. A certain laboriousness can be seen across the ten Danish studio’s they have brought together, representing thousands of hours of time spent with raw material and the repetitious acts that have led to an individual mastering processes and techniques. For Christian and Jade, the importance of tacit or esoteric knowledge built from the unique interaction of hand and material has never been more important to cherish and champion as within our current age of increased digitalisation and isolation;

“We have selected designers whose thinking happens through the hand and the material. In a world that rewards speed, scalability and reinvention, we think it is important to give space to designers who work hands-on with long standing natural materials, and continue to build upon almost ancient elemental ways of making – from glass casting to basket weaving, allowing craft, place, and lineage to remain within design today.” – Jade Chan of Christian and Jade.

While each studio represented within The Mindcraft Exhibition 2026 presents their own unique field of focus, together they provide a snapshot of Danish art, craft and design that balances tradition with a contemporary and future forward approach to practice. Christian and Jade were conscience throughout their curatorial selections of balancing these elements, with certain crafts holding a deep historical position within Danish society featured alongside contemporary form-giving and practices that revisit the past in order to offer sustainable alternatives to environmental considerations of our current age. With some practitioners hailing from Japan, England and Belgium alongside their local counterparts, all present work within the context of Danish society and culture of both past and present.

“We feel that Denmark has a long standing closeness between art, craft and design. The Danish word for design is often called “Kunsthåndværk” combining quite literally the word art and craft, and this feels very connected to the spirit of The Mindcraft Project as well – the meeting of thought and making, of the mind and the hand. For us, this exhibition is also a quiet appreciation of that intersection. It celebrates the art of specialising, the beauty in devotion, the patience of the hand, and the act of practicing, repeating and refining.” – Christian Hammer Juhl of Christian and Jade.

The Mindcraft Exhibition 2026 will launch as both a physical and digital exhibition on September 23rd, 2026.