Milena Kling

Berlin

Berlin-based artist, Milena Kling, is one of the six finalists of Ketel One’s Modern Craft Project. Currently being shown at Das Stue hotel, the finalists stand out for their artworks that live and breath modern craftsmanship.

We talked to Milena Kling about her works.

Wertical: Assuming we would hardly know you; how would you introduce yourself?
Milena Kling: I am a young designer based in Berlin. For me being a designer means to explore materials and their inner character to unveil visual and sensual qualities that have been invisible or hidden. My ambition is to cultivate experiments and to create objects that stimulate our senses and mind. Objects that can speak for themselves and can not only be seen but heard, too.

WE: How did you start devoting yourself with what you are doing today?
MK: Growing up in Berlin Kreuzberg in the 1980s, I experienced a lot of freedom to explore and create. I have ever since been keen to get my hands dirty and making things. While studying Architecture I followed my interest in constructing space and creating atmosphere. Nevertheless I decided to focus on Product Design as I adore its immediacy and scale.

WE: You seem to be fascinated by materials. You research new techniques to realize your designs. How important is the material; does it eventually constitute half the product?
MK: The different materials I work with are a very important source that I mindfully observe in experiments. My artistic process is often driven by a dialogue between materials. Therefore I enjoy to work with a variety of materials and combine them to find techniques that result in intriguing objects. For my graduation project “ The Presence of Absence“ I tried to find a technique to show the quality of traces of production processes. Within my ambition I rediscovered a long forgotten technique once used by Alchemists to colour glass with gold. To refine this traditional technique and reinterpret it in a modern way to create a process which transforms glass to be a tool of narration was more important to me than the material itself.

WE: Do you have an idea in mind that you can’t transform yet as it is still technically impossible? If yes, what is that idea about?
MK: I have a multitude of ideas in mind which I would love to translate into reality and I think to find a way to achieve this is one of the most interesting parts of my work as a designer. When it comes to my graduation project, I would love to create more complex objects with the production process I discovered, and explore the limits of this technique, especially in combination of mouthblown glass and rapid prototyping moulds.

Milena Kling

Modern Craft Project

Drakestraße 1
10787 Berlin
Germany