About
Kristine Five Melvær (b. 1984) is an Oslo-based designer working with tableware, lighting, furniture, textile objects and graphic design. She investigates the subject of object communication, bridging the disciplines of product design and graphic design. She focuses on the communicative potentials of objects as a means to create emotional bonds between object and user. By searching for the sensual essence of phenomena, she translates these qualities into sensuous objects with a Scandinavian simplicity.
Melvær holds a Masters degree in Industrial Design from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (2008) and a Masters degree in Visual Communication from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2012).
Melvær collaborates with a number of European producers. She was the first Scandinavian designer to launch with the Belgian producer When Objects Work, with the product series Soft Bowls and Soft Vases, and she is one of the biggest contributors of new designs to the Norwegian glass manufacturer Magnor Glassverk, with whom she has launched the Dew vases, Seasons vases, Multi lanterns, Else vases, Marie vases and Liv vases the past two years. At ICFF 2015, Melvær pre-launched the Mikkel blankets and Naturpledd blankets for Røros Tweed, which won Best Textile in the ICFF Editors’ Awards.
Melvær received the international glass prize Riedel Award for her glass work in 2014, and was awarded Newcomer of the Year in the Bo Bedre Design Awards 2013. She has been nominated for awards like Nordic Designer of the Year in Nova Design Award 2013, Young Designer of the Year in Plaza Award 2012 and Accessory of the Year in the Bo Bedre Design Awards 2013 and 2014. She received a development grant from Grafill in 2013, and a three year working grant from Arts Council Norway in 2014.
Melvær has exhibited her work in cities like Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Tokyo, Paris, London, Prague, Zagreb, Berlin, Kortrijk, Stockholm, Lillestrøm, Stavanger and Oslo. One of her Ray prototypes was acquired by the VitraHaus exhibition in 2012.
Education:
2010 – 2012: Master of Visual Communications, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
2009 – 2010: Graphic Design, Westerdals School of Communications
2003 – 2008: Master of Industrial Design, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design
2006 – 2007: Master of Architecture, Design and Industrial Form, exchange year, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture