Xena Kalouti Exhibition

Xena Kalouti design process draws on reflective interrogation into questions about identity’s malleable manifestations through varying times and places. Her intellectual inquiry into local heritage is guided by ritualized uses of materials in the past and present and the materials’ transformative capacities for creating atmospheres. Most importantly, the designed products evoke a visual understanding of how they are made, celebrating and regenerating historical traditional crafts where art and artisanship unite and meanings of pride and joy not only emanate from abstracted visual forms but the skills and craftsmanship of their makers. The intellectual inquiry is complemented with Xena’s personal experiences that accrued from her interactions with people from different generations and places along with her inner affinity to understanding the effect of nostalgia in shaping our sense of identity. The design process into our heritage and identity can only be authentically materialized by an ethical imperative to use sustainable materials, which Xena brand prides itself for. She continues to ask questions like: How can design create a feeling for things that are absent but not imitate them in a literal sense? How can objects evoke contact and proximity to grasping the hidden in our cultural crafts through appreciating materials and their making? In this time where mass consumption of products has generated an alienation from ‘the maker’ and distanced us from interacting ethically with our material world, Xena’s design objects are handcrafted and made-to-order.