Sofia Vusir Jansson is a artist, designer and author with extensive experience in art, craft, creative learning, and visual and spatial design. Her work moves between artistic practice, educational development and project management, often encompassing the entire process from initial idea to practical implementation.

Throughout her work runs an interest in making as a form of knowledge. In what happens when we work with our hands, become familiar with a material, and understand how and why something works. Or doesn’t. For Sofia, knowledge and freedom are not opposites. Knowledge of materials, tools and techniques provides a foundation for experimenting, making mistakes, solving problems and finding your own way.

She moves between her own artistic exploration and creating the conditions for others to be creative. She also believes in making collectively, and in what can emerge when people from different generations, with different experiences, knowledge and perspectives, come together and influence a process.

Making and learning.
Since 2018, Sofia has developed and led workshops for thousands of children and adults, both independently and at museums, cultural institutions and other public venues. She develops concepts, methods, materials and spaces for making. Through many years of hands-on experience, she has developed an educational approach in which craft knowledge within clear frameworks and the freedom to create support one another.

An important part of her work is challenging habitual ways of seeing and awakening curiosity about what we might otherwise take for granted. She wants to inspire people to discover new possibilities in materials, objects and environments. Reuse, remake and a resource-conscious approach to materials have long been a natural part of her practice.

The same approach to knowledge and making is reflected in Sofia’s three books, Hidden Places, Hidden Winter and Pappersblommor. The books combine visual storytelling, design and hands-on learning and have been published internationally. While the first two explore a range of different crafts, the latter is devoted entirely to the craft of making flowers from paper.

Pappersblommor received an overall rating of 5/5 from the Swedish Library Service, with the review: “An author who truly knows her subject and who also succeeds in communicating it in the best possible way.”

Art, Spatial Design and Production
Sofia has a broad professional background in photography, set design, craft and spatial design, and has worked with cultural institutions, public organisations and international brands. She has developed public environments and cultural projects, created exhibitions and installations, and led complex productions from initial idea through to completion.

For Svenskt Tenn, Sofia developed four collections of handmade paper flowers and was responsible for the entire process, from artistic concept and prototype to production and finished product. To make production possible, she developed new craft methods, specialised tools and production systems. The largest production involved 15,000 handmade flowers and 4,000 lanterns.

From Idea to Practice
Sofia often works in contexts where there is no existing model to follow. Contexts and projects where ideas, education, content, materials and space need to be developed from the ground up and in relation to one another, with people as an important starting point.

She has experience building projects and organisations from the ground up and leading projects and teams. She moves between the bigger picture and the details. From defining an idea and direction to developing content, working methods and the practical conditions needed to make it happen.

An important part of this is spatial design and an understanding of how environments can encourage creativity, curiosity, concentration, encounters and independent making.

Together with city architect Pernilla Wåhlin Norén, Sofia also hosts the podcast Kvinnor och rum, in which they explore design, craft, architecture and cultural history, with a particular focus on women’s influence on the spaces around us.

Sofia’s professional practice is largely self-taught and has been shaped through many years of professional work, research, artistic exploration, method development and collaboration. Her path stretches from her own creative platform, Mokkasin, and international assignments in photography and visual design to art, craft, books, cultural projects and educational work. This has shaped a multidisciplinary practice in which artistic vision, practical knowledge, educational understanding and the ability to turn ideas into reality are closely interconnected.