Conversation with Synnøve Kruse Serup
Clay in all shapes, drawings and strong color paintings in geometrical forms. But if you dig, and you should, you will once in a while discover a selfie on a field somewhere in Europe. ‘Like nothing else’ September 10, 2022. Long brown hair, big mouth and white ceramic braces with a golden line. The natural world is an unavoidable part of both Synnoeve’s work and life. A so-called nature lover. “Fjeldgænger”; a person due to great shame is ostracized by society, goes up into the mountains to live as a hermit, is given supernatural abilities and is therefore feared [by the capitalistic society]. Synnøve Kruse Serup, ceramic artist. BA in Fine Arts & Design at Gerrit Rietveld Academie (NL). To be found at Guldagergaard, International Ceramic Research Center (DK).
Attendees: Divijah Rajendra, Nanna Svane,
Synnøve Kruse Serup
Divijah Rajendra: Whoops, Hi!
Nanna Svane: Haha, Good to see you.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Good to see you too.
Nanna Svane: Welcome.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: How are you guys?
Divijah Rajendra: We're good.
Nanna Svane: We're good.
Divijah Rajendra: We're excited.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Me too. Wait, I need to do this full screen and have you a bit louder. Okay.
Nanna Svane: Perfect.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I'm not super tech.
Nanna Svane: That's all good. Just before you entered, we were just discussing. Can she just enter or do we have to admit and then in that second you arrived!
Divijah Rajendra: You popped up.
Nanna Svane: So it was perfect. Welcome! And thank you for taking your time.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Of course. Thank you for having me.
Nanna Svane: We're very excited to speak to you. so first of all,… You're the first one we're speaking to and we have lots of different stuff we want to go through. We think you have a lot of different things going on both in your practice and in general and that is what we want to talk to you about today. But we're just going to start super chill!
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Okay, perfect. It's all good.
Nanna Svane: Yeah, but how do you spend your Sundays?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I mean it depends a bit because right now I'm currently at the Ceramic Center where I stay and then sometimes on the weekend I go to Copenhagen, so it depends a bit where I'm at, but ideally I would be maybe in my studio just having a very chill pace all day, taking my time. Maybe do some nice food or spend it with someone who's dear to me, I think, yeah.
Nanna Svane: What did you do today?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Today I was out for a run for the first time in a long time and then did some... You call it winter bathing in English? Yeah.
Nanna Svane: Yeah.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I was outside in the water and it's a bit cold now since it's November, but it was nice. Yeah.
Nanna Svane: I love winter bathing, but it divides the water. I think in general people, especially because I live here in Italy and people here are like, are you mental that you're jumping into the water? When it's freezing! I feel like when I get out of the water, it feels like I'm a new person. I feel cleansed in a way. Besides swimming and morning routines, what did you listen to this morning?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: What did I listen to? I think I started the day out with a playlist I made mostly with Blood Orange. Just like a mix of a lot of stuff I like. And then later on another playlist, It was a random one, just because I was out running and I needed stuff with high pace.
Divijah Rajendra: High pace!
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, and just get going, Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: That's a good mix you start smooth and nice and calm and then we amp up the beat and get the day started.
Nanna Svane: Divijah, what do you listen to when you run?
Divijah Rajendra: I don't run, babe! Is the Ceramic Centre a residence, Synnøve?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Well, this is not a residency. This is more like an assistant job. (Later on, she participated in a residency program for young artists)
Divijah Rajendra: Okay.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, so I'm working part-time, and then I'm staying here. So when I'm not working I'm just here. The place I work is the Ceramic Center and so where there indeed are residencies and People are coming to do specific works or projects.
Divijah Rajendra: Nice, then we wanted to ask you, why clay?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: So, good question. I studied fashion back in Copenhagen before I moved abroad and then I applied to an art academy, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam where they always suggest taking a foundation year. The reason why they do that is partly to kind of shake you a bit and also push you in a direction you maybe thought you wouldn't like. Like you're too focused in one field and then, therefore, you don't let a lot of other stuff come in and I think I had that the first year and I was so sure that I should do fashion and I had this whole plan about my own life and then I think I took the first year in fashion,…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah, you really need to slow down with it, and have a lot of patience, right?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Everything needs patience, and then maybe you need patience when you make it but then it also needs to dry and fire it for days and…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: then you have to do something else maybe and then fire it again and everything just takes a lot of time and I think in this sense, like I don't know. It's very confronting somehow and I think that show and…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I think that's also why I thought it was a very interesting material to work with.
Nanna Svane: Do you feel like the pace of clay works better for you because it's slower than fashion for instance?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yes, but I also think that the material has such a big identity that if you work with it you'll have to kind of respect it and I think that element of it is really interesting for me and where you can manipulate maybe more for instance the fashion and the pace and it's a very different feel.
Nanna Svane: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: So, would you say that it's less playful because you need to have this patience? How is it that testing out ideas can be quite nerve-wracking, right? because I know from other friends working with the material the firing part is such... When the oven opens, it's like this, tense moment of what actually comes out?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, and I think that's a great thing about it, but I actually do think it also depends on, maybe this is not, but I think this is true for me... And that it also depends on your knowledge of clay and if you get, I don't know. It takes the courage away from you if something breaks or something then... Maybe yeah, it can be, but I think if you're okay with playing and things go wrong and you have to try it again, but I think it also allows you to open your mind to what this material can do and then delivers you that it's not expected. But I think it really goes hand in hand somehow but it's like you're referring to and other outcomes through that you expect to come out but also, of course, if you really on fixed an idea and you wanted spot on anyway, yeah, I can be really frustrating. Well for sure and the kiln moment with broken pieces. Yeah, that’s fun….
Divijah Rajendra: We were interested in hearing more about what is craft to you and how you use craft in your practice. And if you can just talk a bit about your practice as well.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, of course. I think craft-related is just such an interesting thing also because of history and it's like techniques that have been passed on for generations and with a lot of knowledge and people really taking care of materials or specific processes of a lot of different stuff and I think because of this you need to know and understand before you can kind of use it and I think there is also a patience aspect of it here, but I think it's me personally. I really love to understand what I'm doing and it is that I can be within the, like this set I'm put into, so for instance, would clay that would be like okay this where are my limits and where can we go from these different techniques, all the knowledge that has been passed onto you, and I think that it's really different techniques about materials around the world and I think there's just like so.. I really appreciate it. And I think that's also why I studied fashion before, very much the technical part. But I think also maybe being a part of the whole process and you somehow also become the process because you are in it all the time and you don't just hand it over. It's really ideas, process, and the end result.
Nanna Svane: But do you think, like, if let's say you make an object or something and you talk a lot about following the recipe, respect the clay working within what is allowed of the material very much looking back in history. Maybe. Is it because the outcome for you has to be correct to be good?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Back in the days, yes, for sure. 100%, and I think, yeah, that I liked the idea that I was doing something properly or following the rules of something. But also and yeah, if you know you can also better achieve things, so it's kind of this 'Not being too fixed', but also be able to maybe know where to go with stuff and how to get there. So I think for sure. Yeah.
Nanna Svane: ... What shapes do work with? For the reader to visualise.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Which one?
Nanna Svane: Yeah. Like what shapes are you working with? Is it like objects, plates or how is it?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Well, The last couple of weeks here, I've just been doing, the quickest thing to do something quickly, is to throw something on the wheel, which is cups and plates and whatever tableware things, but I think this is also the element of Ceramics where it's is it like a craft? Is it like an art practice? What is it like the media? Because there are also discussions about being a potter and not like an artist, like all of these 'gestures a weight with her hands' a bit the same with art vs. design, kind of. I really like crossing borders in all of them.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: But I think I have some pieces now that are more objects sculptural pieces, that I hope to try to fire in December. So I'm also working on that but it's the mix and…
Nanna Svane: And how do they look, the new more sculptural parts you made?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: It's like big triangles...
Nanna Svane: Big triangles!
Synnøve Kruse Serup: With them some slip on it, which is another glaze but it's kind of just watered-down clay that gives different shapes with the clay.
Nanna Svane: Because in general geometry and settle forms, it's like an ongoing shape in your work, right? But do you then in general struggle with getting out of control. It sounds a little bit like it when we speak about your practice.
Nanna Svane: Yeah. So it's very satisfying to see, like when you compare a lot of different artists and when we research all the different works you've been doing, I remember seeing your graduation show that was one of the parts that were most not in your... Cha... Gee.., I can't pronounce a word right now cheer, okay...
Divijah Rajendra: You mean geometrical, yes?
Nanna Svane: Geometrical! There we go. Not my mother tongue, as you can hear.
Divijah Rajendra: Blue! It's an ongoing color, it's all over your work and it's like for years if you scroll and scroll and scroll on your Instagram, it's just blue and blue, and blue. I love blue. It's not that and it's very much within the same kind of nuances of blue, don't you want to change that or don't you get tired of it?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Well, I think you're referring to my maybe common use of either cobalt blue or…
Nanna Svane: Yes.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: also ultramarine… And I think, no I don't think I'll get tired of it, and I think this is just these types of blue that's just so rich, and deep, and growing, and just alluring to me. I think it also has this, I don't know, this endless feeling where you can just keep staring at it, because it keeps giving. And I think for me you just need so little because these colors are just so vibrant in your face that you need very little color, and I think this is also why I would choose to do that color because otherwise, I think that my work would also be boring if everything was just like...
Nanna Svane: Haha, no, but I know what you mean, but just the description before, that sounded like the ocean.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah...
Divijah Rajendra: I was also thinking of the sky, ocean...
Nanna Svane: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: It's just something that you can keep staring at, it has like this transcendence to it, something very meditative about it. So also how you speak about using clay, but also, it's brought together with the use of color.
Nanna Svane: It sounds very therapeutic.
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah.
Nanna Svane: There's a rhythm and a satisfaction and everything, which sounds very, very calm...
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, so I can't take credit for this, it's just a color. I mean. It's just good.
Divijah Rajendra: You're using it in your work. You're making it all come together.
Nanna Svane: Yes.
Divijah Rajendra: So Nanna spoke a bit about your graduation piece...
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: Maybe you can speak a little bit more about that, as it is not something I have seen, what it was, and what the inspiration behind it was? Ursula Le Guin?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, so there's some different elements of it, and I think... So I always had a big fascination with monuments and these big historic buildings. And like sitting and just trying to take in what you're like looking at and also feel free from it and just feel like you're just a little brick in something, because this has been in, like the time, the size, and all that has gone into this Monument for it to be that. It's often to kind of honor someone or to make someone remember someone big and awesome... Yeah, and I think I kind of also needed to question that because there are a lot of structures that I don't value in the same sense, and then usually when talking about the Carrier Bag Theory, it's kind of speaking about how mankind’s greatest invention was like the spear and she argues that it's not. The greatest invention was the carrier bag, because the carrier bag was something that got you through all the dry periods between hunting, and it was something you used more often and something you would do together. And therefore this was the most important aspect of our survival back then. Also, it was typically the feminine job, carrying in general, quite interesting to look at, but that is a longer discussion and that's also maybe why it was not talked more about. It was lacking the action hero narrative from the hunting stories with all of this greatness, all of this drama, and how he conquers blah., blah., I think she just draws these great parallels about how it's a man's narrative and that's also what a monument symbolizes today. And it's like you don't hear who makes Monuments, you only hear who they're for, and what they stand for is often related to dominance, violence, and all of these things that I don't agree with or…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I don't think that it should have the space that it has...
Divijah Rajendra: Mmm…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, my graduation work was called a Non-Monument. This is kind of just a response to what a monument has been standing for. I think she (Ursula) just made a very clear point that I relate to in the sense that a monument should also be interesting, almost as it should be ‘people-free' and not like serving one person or one specific group of people but actually for everyone involved and around. And yeah, maybe it's a more important story or it's not as whatever but it was more like a feminine perspective and how to raise awareness of a point in history together more than one person takes the spotlight kind of. I think my journey with this was also that I wanted to try to create something similar to a monument (feeling), but without the basic foundation or idea of a monument, and then is it still a monument? And the question is if you can create that without following the same rules. Yeah.
Nanna Svane: Question, does it... Because you started working on that with your graduation show and... I think I haven't read this book or text...
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I think it's a short story and…
Nanna Svane: Sorry, and…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Well, its...
Nanna Svane: That was told by a woman? And the other one was told by a man?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah.
Nanna Svane: Yeah. The spear? The thing about how men are?…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, It is the principle about in general how the weapon is always the grand invention and how you conquer and how we survive and bla, bla, bla., but there are just so many things in between that it's not getting space or attention, which is also a part of the story because it's kind of what it's built on.
Nanna Svane: We're celebrating one specific person. But can you tell us a little bit more about how it's ongoing in your process, like in your practice in general? The non-monument part, because I think it's very interesting what you said about how you evaluate a monument but how you don't disarm it kind of.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah. but I think this is, yeah this is the thing and... I think it's ongoing in the sense because I do think that there's so much beauty to a lot of these things in monuments around the world, but I also think that it's for us to understand we will also need the context of its actual history and not just one story about a hero or whatever. It is important because everyone has their story so I think for me it's about creating something that doesn't have a right story or only my story. I think it should create and hold multiple stories, and I hope to create with more monumental sculptures a space where people can come up with their reality and put their feelings, stories, and narratives into, so it's not something that could be seen as right or wrong or my story. It should function as a place, where you can kind of honor your story or your answers to the story and it's not made for specific people, it's a more inclusive space and works only as a communal thing. A way to create a connection to each other and the space involved. I think this is also what Ursula Le Guin was talking about the era back symbolized more community and multiple narratives rather than one narrative. And I think that the essence of it is fine, and I find it beautiful and something very necessary especially nowadays. I think, yeah, there should be more room in that sense and more stories told. So.
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah, it's interesting to me, that you are kind of speaking about how you disrupt the idea of the monument, opening it up to be something... Maybe an abstraction as well, also how you used kind of the title of the non-monument. You're still using the word so it's very much present, but you disrupt it by doing something else to it and…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: then opening it up to a broader audience somehow.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: it's something I'm still working on but I think it's also difficult in the sense of…
Divijah Rajendra: So Synnøve, we know that you participate a lot in residencies and we were wondering if you could give us a bit more insight into how you kind of utilize these different residencies, and how that is a process for you?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yes, I enjoy doing residencies and I didn't know before I started, and I think, actually the first residency for a longer period was three months, very isolated in France. And I think the first month I was so chaotic in my head, and my body, and I think it was also this thing with always living in big cities and then dropping out of everything you know, and putting yourself just with your thoughts. Just nothing else and you're just there. I think that was helpful, and I think I found out a lot about myself and my practice I am now able to kind of convert this mentality into other art residencies, as well as coming, with a clean slate just trying to be as present as possible and just take in where I am. And of course, this is also a huge privilege. I think it also kind of shows... This might sound a bit corny, but to show respect to where I'm at. I think you can also really easily see in my work that it differs in locations…
Divijah Rajendra: Okay.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: ...if I go looking at my stuff from Spain and France, they look completely different; the colors are different like the whole energy is so different because My location and mind was so different in every sense. So I think for me residencies are also really great in terms of taking in and trying to also not be too set in your work of yourself. It is about being able to be present and able to take in and try to translate that into the pieces that I make there.
Divijah Rajendra: Mmm
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Like what your color scale is it that you're like, you can if you're open to it, take in a lot. Everything you're in, and you're still your work but it might just be very influenced by where you are. And I think that's interesting to me.
Divijah Rajendra: To grasp onto energies from the space that you're in. So how is that kind of different from your studio? Do you have your studio? More set in stone maybe, and then the residencies give you these kinds of new energies to bring in. How do those two kinds of specific places intertwine or not intertwine with each other to kind of contrast each other? If you have thoughts on that?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I think, now when you're asking me; I haven't had a set studio and a set location for years now, so I always have bits of different energies from somewhere and even in Amsterdam, where I was located for more than five years.
Divijah Rajendra: Mmm Okay.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I would still have different studios and there would still be things coming in, so I think it would also be very different if I knew this was my space and this is my thing. But even now where I am working, I know I'm here the next few months and then I have to figure out something else, so I think I kind of also have to just adjust to where I'm at. And then hope that my work will expand and evolve and still hold some of the code of what I think is something that I identify with. Yeah, but I think the mentality, of course, also with the residences they often offer you to come without anything else to do, other your work. So, of course, that gives you more free time and more freedom and capacity to take in, where maybe if you have a studio and you also work, or you also do all other things...
Divijah Rajendra: Exactly
Synnøve Kruse Serup: That, of course, also going to affect you.
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah, it gives you the time to focus really, but what's the worst part of the residency?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Overthinking...
Nanna Svane: Makes sense!
Divijah Rajendra: Because you have that focused space, right?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: So you just sit there with your work and you think a lot, when you have the space capacities...
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: I think also if you dislocate yourself from the circle you're within. You just surround yourself with your work. Do you overthink you working in clay with your long hair?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: No, I think only once it's been a part of the wheel going around.
Divijah Rajendra: Did that happen? No...
Synnøve Kruse Serup: It's also because I've done this a few times but I know that you shouldn't work the wheel with loose hair, but I would do it anyway, and I feel this is very present in my practice to be 'stupid brave’. And I think it's just kind of like, sure yeah, I can do this, and then it's like you can't do it. And you also mess it up, come on, don't do it. I recommend if you have long hair, take it back...
Divijah Rajendra: For sure that's noted. So you touched a bit base on femininity. And that being a part of the inspiration for your graduation piece, what does femininity mean to you?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: but I think I just found out, and also because of the first year where I tried out and experienced a lot of stuff that I could work in the field in a more broad sense of design and art and then I think especially maybe the pace of clay spoke to me. I think I'm also a person who could work for hours and hours and hours. And if I have a deadline, I'll just go there and you really cannot stress yourself and I think clay somehow made me a bit humble… Because you can't stress it and you can't force it. It's own thing and it's also such a raw material that has been used for hundreds of years and it's right at your feet,…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah, you need to slow down with it, and have a lot of patience, right?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Everything needs patience, and then maybe you need patience when you make it but then it also needs to dry and fire it for days and…
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: then you have to do something else maybe and then fire it again and everything just takes a lot of time and I think in this sense, like I don't know. It's very confronting somehow and I think that show and… I think that's also why I thought it was a very interesting material to work with.
Nanna Svane: Do you feel like the pace of clay works better for you because it's slower than fashion for instance?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yes, but I also think that the material has such a big identity that if you work with it you'll have to kind of respect it, and I think that element of it is interesting for me and where you can manipulate maybe more (the material) for instance the fashion and the pace and it's a very different feel.
Nanna Svane: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: So, would you say that it's less playful because you need to have this patience? How is it that testing out ideas can be quite nerve-wracking, right? Because I know from other friends working with the material the firing part is such... When the oven opens, it's like this tense moment of what comes out.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, and I think that's a great thing about it, but I do think it also depends on, maybe this is not, but I think this is true for me... And that it also depends on your knowledge of clay and if you get, I don't know. It takes the courage away from you if something breaks or something... Maybe yeah, it can do that, but I think if you're okay with playing and things go wrong and you have to try it again, but I think it also allows you to open your mind to what this material can do and then delivers to you what is not expected. Then the question is whether it was supposed to turn out like that or not. But for sure opening the kiln moment and seeing your pieces broken. Yeah, that’s fun….
Divijah Rajendra: We were interested in hearing more about what is craft to you and how you use craft in your practice. And if you can just talk a bit about your practice as well.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, of course. I think craft-related is just such an interesting aspect of the process also because of the rich history and it's like techniques that have been passed on for generations and with a lot of knowledge and people taking care of the materials or specific processes of a lot of different stuff and I think because of this you need to know and understand before you can kind of use it to its full extent and I think there is also a patience and curiosity aspect of it here, but I think it's me personally. I love to understand what I'm doing and then I am within the process, like the whole setup I put myself into, so for instance, with clay that would be like okay this where my limits are and where can we go from these limits with different techniques, all the knowledge that has been passed down, and very interesting how that is different around the world and I think there's just like so much to gain and understand... I appreciate it. And I think that's also why I studied fashion before, very much the technical part. But I think also maybe being a part of the whole process and you somehow also become the process because you are in it all the time and you don't hand it over. It's really ideas, process, execution, and then the outcome in the end.
Nanna Svane: But do you think, if let's say you make an object or something and you talk a lot about following the recipe, respect the clay working within what is allowed of the material very much looking back in history? Maybe. Is it because the outcome for you has to be correct to be good?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Back in the days, yes, for sure. 100%, and I think, yeah, that I liked the idea that I was doing something properly or following the rules of something. But also and yeah, if you know you can also better achieve things, so it's kind of this 'Not being too fixed', but also being able to maybe know where to go with stuff and how to get there. So I think for sure. Yeah.
Nanna Svane: ... What shapes do work with?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Which one?
Nanna Svane: Yeah. What shapes are you working with? Is it like objects, plates or how is it?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Well, The last couple of weeks here, I've just been doing, the quickest thing for me to do, where I don't think too much, is to throw something on the wheel, which is mostly cups and plates and whatever tableware things. I have wanted to try a new firing technique out, where it is good to make some tryouts, to see how it affects your pieces. Because it is a wood firing, it takes multiple days to pack them and fire the kiln manually with wood (obviously) for often days. You never can tell what you then get days later on, when the kiln is cold enough to open. I love that though. I believe that because this is so connected with the whole process with the fire, ashes, oxygen levels, temperature, etc, and a bit out of your control, it does feel like a work of art "even" for a simple cup. I think here again is the element of Ceramics where it's; is it like a craft? Is it like an art practice? What is it like in the media? There are also discussions about being functional ware and then it is not like "real" art, like all of these 'gestures a weight with her hands' a bit the same with art vs. design, kind of. I like questioning and crossing borders in all of them. But I think I have some pieces now that are more sculptural objects, that I hope to try to fire in December. So I'm also working on that but it's the mix and…
Nanna Svane: And how do they look, the new more sculptural parts you made?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: It's like big triangles...
Nanna Svane: Big triangles!
Synnøve Kruse Serup: With slip and terra sigillata on it, which you can use kind of like a glaze and paint on as well, but it's kind of just watered-down clay that gives a different visual shine effect and interacts more with the clay that I brush on.
Nanna Svane: Because in general geometry and settle forms, it's like an ongoing shape in your work, right? But do you then in general struggle with getting out of control? It sounds a little bit like it when we speak about your practice.
Nanna Svane: I love that.
Divijah Rajendra: Very wholesome.
Nanna Svane: Would you feel less feminine if you cut all your hair off?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I don't think I would. I have been playing with the thoughts of chopping it off, but I think for me it's also like I just... No, I don't think I would feel less feminine. I think some people would see me as less desirable as a female with short hair, and I think that is also again a societal and historical thing.
Divijah Rajendra: Mmm
Nanna Svane: Divijah how did you feel with short hair? Because both you and I have had short hair.
Divijah Rajendra: I had long hair and I cut all of my hair off in Nanna's apartment and…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah?
Divijah Rajendra: It's very interesting to me that you're saying this, for me what I'm hearing is this appearance that is femininity.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah.
Divijah Rajendra: And then there is this emotional aspect of femininity. So I struggled with my appearance as a female with the short hair going from long hair, but I still felt feminine, having feminine emotions about it and it is very feminine reactional aspects of me cutting all my hair.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: This is also your internal aspect of it, like that it almost makes it thrive more because you can do all of this and still be so feminine and feel so feminine. And I think this is also the aspect why I had little "sound of doubt" about my answer because I never thought about it too much. Other than maybe I'll do it at some point now, yeah,…
Divijah Rajendra: And then it grows out again, anyway,…
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I think that's right,…
Divijah Rajendra: ...because look at me!
Synnøve Kruse Serup: You're just, yeah... I think a lot of the discourse about femininity has been about appearance for sure and being vulgar.
Divijah Rajendra: That's true.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Then it is less feminine to take up space. Historically? Yes
Nanna Svane: Yes. Historically and ongoing. Yes.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Do you think femininity has something to do with beauty?
Nanna Svane: That's the thing. That's what the connection I wanted to draw here is because we've been objectified in the way we have been, as a born woman for so long.
We are an object of beauty, right? That's what it's looked at. And I think that's why we wanted to talk to you about femininity and also drawing in your hair because that is the general way of being feminine is having long hair. Now the three of us all have long hair and I was very proud when I got into this call because I got such long hair and I've been trying to grow it out for some time.
Divijah Rajendra: We've been talking about a lot of different elements in your practice. But how do you feel about people eating off your art?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I think I also have a different feeling with the stuff I make.
I think I have a different feeling towards sculptural pieces, that I have with drawings, that I have with tableware. The tableware, that's where it's supposed to be and I think that's why great and kind of has something that, someone will appreciate and want to have some of their meals out of because a meal is often.
Nanna Svane: That's cute. I eat a lot off all of your plates all the time, but I feel like it's art, do you see it (the plates) less as art pieces?
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Yeah, but I think I'm also probably what you call it... Colored by being in an Art Institution for four years, where there's a lot of no-gos, like design is one thing, and art is another thing, and this whole spectrum is something that you can use maybe, not as hard, and yes, I do see every piece as being art, but I don't have that people should feel the necessity of hanging it up the wall. (Because that is what you do with art)
Synnøve Kruse Serup: That's all up to the individual to figure out what it can do for them.
Nanna Svane: That's very nice. Okay, we got in a wrap-up once asked one last question, and then we're out. One thing in 2023 that happened to you, do you want to mention it? It could be good, it could be bad.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I feel you're fishing.
Nanna Svane: A little bit maybe, I know you quite well.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I got braces.
Nanna Svane: Yes, I love it, because I wanted it to be in this interview, and promise you can't see it in the video.
Divijah Rajendra: I cannot see anything.
Nanna Svane: It's not visible.
Divijah Rajendra: I see it now.
Nanna Svane: First of all speaking about feminine appearance, like all of this. You rock those braces. Secondly, they're badass braces because it's white ceramic with a golden line. I'm not kidding!
Divijah Rajendra: Wow.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: I feel it's very appropriate considering where I am, during my ceramics and stuff.
Divijah Rajendra: It's fitting for sure, and it looks so good.
Synnøve Kruse Serup: Thank you! No, it's not the biggest thing that happened to me this year. I think moving out of Amsterdam has been a big switch for me because I've been there for five years and now I kind of need to figure out what's next and then now I'm back in Denmark and I need to make some choices...
Nanna Svane: Just enjoying Denmark. Thank you so much Synnøve.
Divijah Rajendra: Yeah, thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation with us.
Nanna Svane: Yeah, and get to know you more also from another perspective even though I know you quite well.
Divijah Rajendra: Thank you. Bye.
Conversation ended after 01:16:34 👋
Impressions of Synnøve. Need more! Read here!
I thrive in the contrast of the two. But I do believe I’m more at peace in the countryside.
The delicacy of porcelain or the weight of stoneware?
I will have to go for the weight and the feel of the stoneware.
A go- to personal dish for your plates?
My dear friend introduced me to this beautiful simple fava recipe, that I will always go back to.
If you were to be a vegetable, which one would you be?
If legumes count in this category, I think it would be a bean.
Matt or shiny surfaces?
I think I will have to choose matt.
How long is your hair?
I have no idea, haha.
Where do you live?
Currently, I am living in Denmark at a ceramic center.
Where do you wish to live?
That is a good question, I am still figuring that out. Hopefully close to the water!
Sun or moon?
Sun, brightness, energy and warmth. My name’s origin is also related to the sun.
2023 was...
Personally, change, both good and bad.
And the year 2023, hopeless and heartbreaking but still hopeful. Not surprised.