Nobel Creations 2021
December 04, 2021

Last chance weekend 26-27 February!

See them in the Nobel Creations exhibition at the Nobel Prize Museum from 4 December

Nobel Creations from Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm is celebrating the 10th anniversary since beginning of the project. This year, first-year students in the Fashion programme have created free interpretations of the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics. 

The creations explore what unites the Nobel Laureates, artists and creators: creativity – the courage to think outside the box, to question established theories and to innovatively combine in-sights from different fields. "Designing creations based on the Nobel Prizes is both a design exercise and a reflection on what creativity and research can mean. In this year's performances, the students have worked artistically and poetically. Abundance has been stripped away to let the messages linked to prices shine through, such as the protection of freedom of expression, the fight against climate change and the fate of refugees," says Martin Bergström, fashion designer and course coordinator at Beckmans. 

The creations are exhibited at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm from December 4th. ”It’s fantastic to once again be able to exhibit the interpretations made by the Fashion students of Beckmans College of Design. The creations are an exciting way for our visitors to reflect upon the discoveries and work awarded with the Nobel Prize this year,” says Erika Lanner, Head of the Nobel Prize Museum

Nobel Prize in Physics, interpreted by Emma Carling and Tim Bunwassana

Strategies for how we can understand and combat climate change have been working on nobel laureates in physics for many years and are now being praised for their discoveries.

“Vi ville skydda människan från naturkatastrofer under ett paraply i en atmosfär av tyg som symboliserar ozonlagret. Under paraplyet finns en öppning där klänningen, som brukade vara jämnt rosa, blivit vattenskadad av naturkatastrofer. Hur länge kommer det sköra paraplyet hålla innan det slits i stycken och vattnet regnar ner på människan?”

The creation is created from leftover curtains colored with black rice.

Nobel Prize in Literature, interpreted by Pierre Westerholm and Hampus Ekman

Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature on the grounds: "for having uncompromisingly and with great compassion examined the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the divide between cultures and continents".

“Gurnahs litterära verk och Svenska Akademiens motivering till priset har inspirerat till designprocessen och kreationens utformning. Motiveringens andra del är det som klänningen återspeglar, den stora klyftan mellan kultur och kontinent.

His storytelling is often described as subtle and powerful, without it appearing excessive. The lines that run through the dress symbolize the refugees' journeys and the pearls tell how many people leave their homes but few who reach a safe destination."

Sveriges Riksbank in Economic Sciences, interpreted by Albin Vikström & Sofia Ericsson

“Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne är i år starkt kopplat till naturliga experiment – experiment som endast kan studeras och undersökas, inte initieras.

Our interpretation of the prize is a dress filled with graphic elements. As with the case on the fabric, natural experiments have not been controlled as there are a number of unknown and odd factors linked to the result – until now.

With our creation, we want to reflect the laureates' way of measuring the consequences of, and controlling, these natural experiments. The dress consists of bars that bend around the body and form a graph. Together with the light blue, sterile color and the black passpoals, we make the wearer part of the graphene."

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, interpreted by Ingrid Norberg and Paul Shutrick

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to two people, List and McMillan,
the same discovery independently: a more efficient and environmentally friendly way of driving a variety of chemical reactions. This dress is a snapshot of a chemical reaction when it is in its visually most dramatic state.

The two laureates are represented by the two elements of the dress that interact and become a whole. The meeting between the classical and the modern from each part creates a reaction intended to embody the discovery made by the laureates. In all its simplicity, it challenges boundaries. In this way, this is our tribute to the pioneering work of the chemistry laureates in the development of organocalysis.

Nobel Prize in Medicine, interpreted by Jens Nilsson and Rasmus Georgiadis

“Vår förmåga att registrera temperatur, beröring och att relatera kroppen till det fysiska rummet är alla avgörande egenskaper för vår överlevnad. Sinnesintryck som är direkt kopplade till receptorer i huden och vårt nervsystem. Med en skör sidenklänning, som omges av, och står i förhållande till en värmeledande koppartrådsstruktur, skapas ett skydd, men också ett eget rum i mötet med förändring och nya upptäckter.”

Nobel Peace Prize, interpreted by Miranda Berg and Edina Petonji

"Awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to protect freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace".

A minute's silence for journalists who have lost their lives as a result of their profession. A creation whose outer structure consists of 22 shapes where each product design represents a year, counting from the year 2000 until 2021. Each product design is printed with the year and with figures on statistics on the number of journalists, civilian journalists and media assistants killed for each year. The statistics come from Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Barometer.

Unfortunately, due to censorship and limited freedom of the press, it is impossible for all individual lives to come to light. Hence the black underdress that will reflect the dark number of journalists killed that are not included in the barometer.

About Nobel Creations

In the 10th anniversary project Nobel Creations from Beckman College of Design , students in year 1 of the Fashion Program create free interpretations of the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace, as well as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The creations explore what unites Nobel Laureates, artists and creators: creativity - the courage to think in new ways, to dare to question established theories and innovative combinations of insights from different fields.

"It feels fantastic that we can once again exhibit the interpretations made by the fashion students at Beckman College of Design . The creations are an exciting way for our visitors to reflect on the discoveries and works that have been awarded the Nobel Prize this year," says Erika Lanner, Director of the Nobel Prize Museum.

Teacher & guest teacher in the course

Martin Bergström, course coordinator
Pär Engsheden, Programme Manager
Lisbeth Stålborg, senior lecturer sewing and construction

Guest lecturers and lecturers: Ulrika Elovsson, Tina Törnqvist, Kumi Kawaji, Göran Sundberg, Elisabet Yanagisawa Avén

Photographer: Carl Bengtsson / Skarp
Model: Nitia/FYE Management
Hair & makeup: Jenny Svensson/Dashl

Thanks to:
Studio Spring, Carl Bengtsson, Sharp Agent, and Studio Dipol.