In 2021, the The Finnland Institute in Germany, once again supported a Finnish designer by sponsoring his residency at Schloss Hollenegg. Tuomas Markunpoika is a Finnish designer who lives and works in Berlin. In 2012 he established ‘Studio Markunpoika’ after graduating with an MA in Contextual Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven. The work of Studio Markunpoika oscillates between design and art, industry and craft. Each work reflects the designer’s attraction for the interaction between the physical and metaphysical world; his objects are not just “material” but they reveal the mysterious memories and sentimental values attributed to them. Whether functional or merely sculptural, Markunpoika’s work invites us to reflect upon the notion of value and to explore objects beyond their predictable meaning.

For Schloss Hollenegg Tuomas worked on the doorway as a symbolic passage between two worlds. He has recreated, in his own style, one of the sumptuous wooden doorways in the Tapestries rooms and “displaced” it to the courtyard of the castle. The finished work will be presented at the upcoming exhibition East to West, in May 2022.