table “above the water”, glass, ash, 2024
Swamp for Laumės
Once inseparable from everyday life, the mythological beings, water fairies known as Laumės, have become forgotten. Being intermediaries between fate and humans, Laumės in Lithuanian mythology reflect the desire to control one's destiny. It is said that, like other mythical creatures in Lithuania, they live in water, whispering that it is the field of the unconscious.
Once inseparable from everyday life, the mythological beings, water fairies known as Laumės, have become forgotten. Being intermediaries between fate and humans, Laumės in Lithuanian mythology reflect the desire to control one's destiny. It is said that, like other mythical creatures in Lithuania, they live in water, whispering that it is the field of the unconscious.
While exploring antique Lithuanian furniture storages and experimenting with glass and wood, I created design objects - a table "Above the Water'' and a lighting fixture "Underwater” torn by the metal claws of Laumės (also known as cnc mashine). Together they create a swamp for Laumės - a place between myth and reality, between childhood memories and the unknown of the future that often hinders us experiencing the present. These objects are made from 24 wooden planks from my grandfather's workshop, poetically embodying the cycle of a day. Placed within the space and reflecting the surrounding environment through glass, these objects give meaning to the present moment, defining place and time. In myths, those factors are crucial for fulfilling a prophesied destiny.
Through material research, questioning traditions and craft heritage, this project proposes a new design method, combining traditional crafts with new technologies and modern approach to design.
photos by Simonas Pigulevičius
acrylic, stainless steel, 2024
Hope chest
A hope chest, also called a dowry chest, is a piece of furniture once commonly used by unmarried young women to gather clothing and household linen, in anticipation of married life.
I remember the dowry chest I saw in my childhood at my great-grandmother’s house: spacious, made of wood, bearing vivid signs of wear, somewhat eerie. Inside the chest, instead of the handwoven linens there were cobwebs spun by spiders. Instead of the once beautifully painted floral motifs, there were peeling, swollen layers of paint. I wondered why a once so important object, which in the past had an absurdly large influence on a woman's life, became unnecessary? What was the significance of the dowry chest, and what would mine look like? The chest of a woman living in a society reshaped by industrialization, global capitalism, and technological progress. When social gender is perceived as independent of biological gender (which according to Foucault is also a construct) and marriage is no longer the most important event in a woman's life. Once locked away, female identity – passed down through generations in the form of a chest spills out to the environment, becoming a part of it, flowing with it. It is as if nonexistent, yet casting the shadow of the past. The materiality of the chest has faded over time, but people's hopes for the future and their anxious gaze towards it remain. Manufactured by industrial machines with ornaments inspired by nature and growth melted on the surface, just as before, it wishes happiness and success for a catastrophically unpredictable future
photos by Simonas Pigulevičius
styrofoam, plastic, water, stainless steel , water pump, 2024
The fountain
drinking water fountain composed of several parts. The water, brought from a Lithuanian spring (Well No. 31099), comes accompanied by four mythical water fauns, sealed in 19-liter containers.
In ancient cities, drinking water fountains were often designed as central features of urban spaces, serving as both a source of pride and a symbol of the city’s power. However, the industrialization of the 19th century brought the development of sewer systems, causing drinking water fountains to lose their primary function. They became aesthetic, decorative elements that adorned urban areas. Thus, water gradually shifted its status—from a sacred, worshiped, ritualistic source of life to an everyday domestic office space. As global warming progresses, the world’s supply of drinking water is shrinking. However, Lithuania has a large reserve of freshwater. Currently, the country consumes only about 20% of its potential underground water resources, so in the near future it could export water to other countries of the European Union. Could the mythical beings, guardians of water—who once dwelled in springs, rivers, and lakes—return when water regains its value? How might they appear, and what whispers will they share when they awaken from their centuries-long slumber?
drinking water fountain composed of several parts. The water, brought from a Lithuanian spring (Well No. 31099), comes accompanied by four mythical water fauns, sealed in 19-liter containers.
In ancient cities, drinking water fountains were often designed as central features of urban spaces, serving as both a source of pride and a symbol of the city’s power. However, the industrialization of the 19th century brought the development of sewer systems, causing drinking water fountains to lose their primary function. They became aesthetic, decorative elements that adorned urban areas. Thus, water gradually shifted its status—from a sacred, worshiped, ritualistic source of life to an everyday domestic office space. As global warming progresses, the world’s supply of drinking water is shrinking. However, Lithuania has a large reserve of freshwater. Currently, the country consumes only about 20% of its potential underground water resources, so in the near future it could export water to other countries of the European Union. Could the mythical beings, guardians of water—who once dwelled in springs, rivers, and lakes—return when water regains its value? How might they appear, and what whispers will they share when they awaken from their centuries-long slumber?
photos by Simonas Pigulevičius
The woven shoe
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The Woven shoe is inspired by ancient footwear making technique, where the whole shoe is woven using only 10 stripes of bast (a fiber material taken from the bark of trees). This design was made by weaving with vegetable tanned leather, which was chosen for better durability and comfort qualities. Glueing and stitching were not used in the process.
The overbred udder can now be seen as a symbol for the generation and satisfaction of needs. Mother’s milk that is gaining new importance in industrial production. The udder is provided with ownership and those who have access to it milk it.
Erwin Uhrmann, 2008
To milk
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We are drinking cow’s milk, which is intended for veals. Milking becomes mechanical process. The cow once was sacred, but now it is a factory, a machine. The udder becomes the property of the human being, not the cow.
