Kiwis and Swedes generally both enjoy the outdoors, ocean and art so it is little wonder New Zealand is home to many Swedish-born artists. Now these artists are giving back to their adopted community, filling the gigantic physical gap between Sweden and New Zealand with the Swedish Art & Design Extended exhibition. Swedish Art & Design Extended offers a way to bridge the two cultures by matching some of the world’s best Scandinavian design with perhaps some of its most needed philosophy.

Organised by Swedish Style New Zealand, the exhibition’s manager Ulrika Jansson says most of the featured artists and designers are born in Sweden but call New Zealand home. “Many of these Sweden-born artists and designers are definitely Kiwis these days, like screen printer Susanne Khouri who has lived here for 30 years. However, we do have one exception;” says Ms Jansson with a laugh. “The brave jewellery sculptor Göran Jönsson still lives in Sweden but will be travelling over 30,000 miles to visit NZ during Swedish Style in New Zealand.” Mr Jönsson will be showing his mystic and beautifully sculpted jewellery in the hopes of “establishing new relationships with a New Zealand audience.”

The public is welcome to sample a variety of modern design objects and products, jewellery, glass, paintings and sculptures from various artists, designers and companies at the three-week long event. For the more commercially minded audience, Swedish Art & Design Extended offers examples of design processes amalgamating art and design from product inception to completion. This conscious process of integrating artists or designers into product development is an important contributor to the success of Swedish businesses today.

Yet design is not the only thing on offer at Swedish Art & Design Extended. The exhibition also gives the public the opportunity to join artistically driven discussion around the identity, culture and heritage of different countries. “We would also like to raise questions about trans-nationality and how all the world’s population can live in unity, while still preserving individual and culture uniqueness,” Ms Jansson concludes.

Date: Tuesday 21 October - Friday 7 November 2008

Time: 10pm to 5pm Tuesday-Friday, 12-4pm Saturday

Venue: AUT St Paul Street Gallery 2, 40 St Paul Street, Auckland City

Tickets: No/Free of charge

Registration: No registration required.

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Media Contact: Petra Mihaljevich, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , ph: +64-(0)9-480 9968