Nicolas Cheng lives and works in Stockholm. He received his BA from the Design Academy Eindhoven, and shortly after he joined Fabrica Research Centre in Treviso, Italy. He holds an MFA from Konstfack and a PhD from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. His research work is published under the title World Wide Workshop: The Craft of Noticing (ArtMonitor, 2019). He was one of the contributors to a critical craft anthology: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water (arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2020) and Cheongju Craft Biennale: Craft City Lab (Beumdeuk Han Publisher, 2021). His artistic practice is interwoven with studio-based work, artistic research, collaboration work and co-curated exhibition projects such as Bucks ‘N Barter and (IM)PRINT. Nicolas was one of the recipients of the inaugural Blumhardt Foundation Residency and Dunedin School of Art Residency. As a maker, his practice is concerned with the 'response-ability' of craft and jewellery practices, and its role in a material world that is disrupted by human-caused phenomena.
While maintaining an individual studio practice, in 2011 he initiated Conversation Piece with fellow artist Beatrice Brovia. The collaborative practice is a hands-on study of interconnectedness and interdependency: a reflection on making together with friction, conversation and misunderstanding. Work from the collaboration is held in the permanent collections of Pinakothek der Moderne and of the Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch. His individual and collaboration work has been published and exhibited at venues such as, among others, Triennale Design Museum, IT; Design Miami and Basel, US/CH; Saint-Étienne Design Biennale, FR; Z33 - House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture, BE; Pinakothek der Moderne, DE; Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch, NL; Singapore National Design Centre, SG; The Dowse Art Museum, NZ and Museum of Arts and Design, US.
For full CV, please request by email.
SOLO & DUO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Animacy; Objectspace, Auckland, NZ
2019 World Wide Workshop: The Craft of Noticing; RIAN Designmusuem, Falkenberg, SE
2019 Craft Remediation; Barklund & Co., Stockholm, SE
2017 Gold Rush; Kunstburo Reillplast with Maurer Zilioli Contemporary Arts, Munich, DE
2017 Friction - Resonance; Konsthantverkarna, Stockholm, SE
2015 Terrior; Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam, NL
2014 dé·cor dé·cor; Galerie de Zaal, Delft, NL
2014 Beyond Repair; Bukowskis, Stockholm, SE
2013 Chinoiseries; Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Brussels, BE
2011 Façades; Design Miami/Basel - Design On/Site, Basel, CH
2011 On The Doorway; Ventura Lambrate during Salone del Mobile, Milan, IT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2020 DETOX - Clean it up, Rejmyre Art Lab, Rejmyre, SE
2019 21 Grams, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, NL
2019 MasterMakers, curated by Mark Edgoose, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, AU
2019 21 Grams, BeCraft - World Crafts Council, Mons, BE
2019 Schmuckismus, curated by Karen Pontoppidan, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, DE
2019 Non-Stick Nostalgia, curated by Kellie Riggs, MAD - The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, US
2019 Group Exhibition, Maurer Zilioli Contemporary Art, Munich, DE
2019 21 Grams, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, DE
2019 Everyone Says Hello, curated by Lars Sture, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, NO
2018 Device People, Droog Design, Amsterdam, NL
2018 These are a few of her favorite things, curated by Gjertrud Steinsvåg, National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim, NO
2018 Mari Funaki Award Exhibition 2018, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne, AU
2018 Device People, initiated by Gijs Bakker, ALCOVA, Milan, IT
2018 The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery, curated by Sian Van Dyk, The Dowse Art Museum, NZ
2018 21 Grams, curated by Ruudt Peters, Hangzhou Contemporary International Jewelry and Metalwork Triennial, CN
2018 From Walter to Valerie, Valerie Traan Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2017 Some Like it Hot, Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2016 CULT, curated by Current Obsession and Fredric Baas, Stedelijk Museum‘s-Hertogenbosch, NL
2016 Koru 5, Kuopio Art Musuem, FI
2016 The Imminent Domain: Designing the Life of Tomorrow, Singapore National Design Centre, SG
2016 (IM)PRINT, co-curated exhibition, Easy!Upstream Contemporary Art Space, Munich, DE
2016 SCHMUCK 2016, IHM, Munich, DE
2016 Chest of Drawers, curated by Liesbeth den Besten, Galerie Phoebus, Rotterdam, NL
2015 Body Alchemy, curated by Ruudt Peters, Hangzhou Contemporary International Jewelry and Metalwork Triennial, CN
2015 HAND+: Expansion & Co-existence, Cheongju International Craft Biennale, KR
2015 Koru 5, Vaasa Art Musuem, FI
2015 Tool - Jewelry - Weapon, part of The 8th Annual International Deleuze Conference, Konstfack, Stockholm, SE
2015 Koru 5, Imatra Art Museum, FI
2015 Le Rolling Club, curated by Florence Ostende and Jean-Luc Moulène, Saint-Étienne Design Biennale, FR
2015 From The Coolest Corner, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, DE
2015 Lagomland, curated by Karen Pontoppidan, Bayerischer Kunstgewerbeverein, Munich, DE
2014 Confrontations - New Traditional Jewelry, Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, NL
2014 A Sense of Place, Konstfack, Stockholm, SE
2014 From The Coolest Corner, Röhsska Museet, Göteborg, SE
2014 Confrontations - New Traditional Jewelry, SIERAAD Art Fair, Amsterdam, NL
2014 Mari Funaki Award Exhibition 2014, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne, AU
2014 Jewellery Session 2/13, Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem, IL
2014 From The Coolest Corner, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, EE
2014 Autarchia, Austerità, Autoproduzione, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, IT
2014 Kino, during Schmuck 2014, Galli Theater, Munich, DE
2013 Bucks 'N Barter, co-curated exhibition, SIERAAD Art Fair, NL
2013 From The Coolest Corner, Design Museum Helsinki, FI
2013 The Wilde Things. The so contemporary jewellery collection of Mrs. Wilde, Z33, House of Contemporary Art, Hasselt, BE
2013 Design Miami/Basel, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Basel, CH
2013 This End Up, curated by Iris Eichenberg, SNAG - Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, CAN
2013 From The Coolest Corner, Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
2013 Dialogue, Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h and SNAG - Harbourfront Centre, Montreal/Toronto, CAN
2013 Tendenser 2013 ·Tenderness, curated by Glenn Adamson, Galleri F15, Moss, NO
2013 Bucks 'N Barter, co-curated exhibition, during Schmuck 2013, Munich, DE
2013 From The Coolest Corner, Nasjonalmuseet, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, NO
2013 The Imminent Domain, curated by Fumio Nanjo, Asia Society, HK
2012 Design Miami, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Miami, US
2012 Creative Ecologies+, curated by Amy Chow, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, HK
2012 PAD London, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, UK
2012 This was 2007, Brussels Art Days, BE
2012 Object of Vertu, VILLA Knokke, BE
2012 Design Miami/Basel, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Basel, CH
2012 A Matter of Act, Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam, NL
2012 Nordic Masters 2012, organised by ArtShortcut, Helsinki, FL
2012 The State of Things, curator by Karen Pontoppidan, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, DE
2012 PAD Paris, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, FR
2011 HKYDTA, Inno Design Tech Expo 2011, HK
2011 Design Miami, represented by Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Miami, US
2011 WOODS, Gallery Libby Sellers, UK
2011 Open Design Italia - Selected, Bologna, IT
2011 WOODS & GOODS, Brussels Art Days, BE
2011 True Colours - New Traditional Jewelry, The Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem, NL
2011 AMBERIF 2011 - Story Telling, Gdańsk, PL
2011 LOOK, curated by Ruudt Peters, Galerie Caroline Van Hoek, Munich, DE
2011 TALENTE 2011, IHM, Munich, DE
2010 True Colours - New Traditional Jewelry, Villa Bengel, Idar Oberstein, DE
2010 Open Design Italia 2010, Modena, IT
2010 B-side Jewelry Art Festival, Atelier Ada Breedveld, Amsterdam, NL
2010 True Colours - New Traditional Jewelry, SIERAAD Art Fair, Amsterdam, NL
2010 Galerie Marzee Graduation Show, Nijmegen, NL
2010 BROOCHMANIA, Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, NL
2010 The Savage Mind, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan, IT
2010 Creative Flow, Formex Spring 2010, SE
2009 Collection/Selection, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, IT
2009 Made@home by ATcasa, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, IT
2009 Squatting Corpus, curated by Ruudt Peters, Munich, DE
2008 Cordially Invited, Fabrica, Palazzo Borromeo, IT
2007 The 60th anniversary of Design Academy Eindhoven, Museo Luciano Minguzzi, IT
2007 YOU ARE HERE, Fabrica, Pedras e Pessegos, Porto, PT
2006 Kamer 465, Dutch Design Centre, Utrecht, NL
2006 Under the Knee, Saint-Étienne Design Biennale, FR
2006 Tabula Rara 2006, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, IT
2006 Graduation Galleries, Design Academy Eindhoven, NL
2006 De Woonbeurs Amsterdam, RAI, NL
LECTURES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS
· Linköping University, Linköping, SE
· The Wallace Arts Foundation - Pah Homestead, Auckland, NZ
· AUT - Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, NZ
· Otago Polytechnic - Dunedin School of Art, Dunedin, NZ
· Massey University, Wellington, NZ
· Objectspace, Auckland, NZ
· RIAN Designmusuem, Falkenberg, SE
· Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg, DE
· Central Saint Martins, London, UK
· The JMGA Biennial Conference, Melbourne, AU
· RMIT University, Melbourne, AU
· Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, DE
· Sint Lucas School of Arts Antwerpen, BE
· Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, SE
· Schmucksymposium Zimmerhof, Bad Rappenau, DE
· HDK - Academy of Design and Crafts, Gothenburg, SE
· Asia Society Hong Kong Center, HK