Earlier this year we announced a unique design partnership with the National Gallery of Denmark (known to those in the know as the SMK). The SMK is a leader in the OpenGLAM (Open Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) movement and has made a huge amount of its art collection — pieces old enough to be in the public domain — available to the public without copyright restrictions. We partnered with the SMK to invite the Shapeways design community to create new pieces of jewelry based on six artworks selected by SMK curators. One winner and four runners up would be featured in the SMK itself, and other entries would be featured in SMK’s online shop.

After picking the winners and runners up from the over 250 amazing entries, last week SMK held an exhibition opening for the winners and runners up (and their incredible jewelry).

 

 

The pieces will be displayed in the main atrium of the museum — along with reproductions of the paintings that inspired them — through the end of the year. Visitors are then able to find the original paintings within the museum’s permanent collection.

At the event, the SMK’s openness lead Merete Sanderhoff welcomed attendees with opening remarks, explaining why the National Gallery values openness and connecting the works in the SMK’s collection to the designs created by the Shapeways design community.

After the reception, the event moved to the galleries. SMK Director Mikkel Bogh (who is also an art historian) debated the connection between classic works and modern interpretation with 3different (Francesco Carli and Lorenzo Imprenti), the designers behind the winning Melancholy necklace.

Where do we go from here? A selection of the winning pieces are available in the SMK’s online shop. If you are in Copenhagen between now and the end of the year, you can see the pieces on display and in the museum gift shop. And keep your eyes on this space. We had a great time showing all of the good things that can come out of open content. We’re hoping to do more interesting design challenges in 2018!