At Berlin Art Week, a Historic Foundry Becomes a Stage for Experimental Craft
Curator Anna Carnick gathers 19 international studios at Wilhelm Hallen, where works in sugar, Kevlar, agave fiber, and more reflect on history, resilience, and collective care
Inside a decommissioned iron foundry on a sweltering September day in Berlin, a machete made of sugar slowly melts into amber drops. Titled The Bittersweet Memory of the Plantation, the sticky eye-catcher by Yassine Ben Abdallah greets visitors to “Crafting Community,” an exhibition of what curator Anna Carnick describes as “exceptionally crafted objects, all of which honor community.”
Carnick, who served as curatorial director for Design Miami/ in 2023, draws on her wide network of emerging talent to present 19 international art and design studios. The show unfolds at The Foundry, an 18,000-square-foot creative space within the historic Wilhelm Hallen compound—Berlin’s oldest iron foundry, revitalized by Canadian lighting company Bocci and unveiled in 2019 as an art and culture hub. On view from September 6–14, “Crafting Community” aligns with Berlin Art Week 2025.
Carnick describes the narrative-rich works as spanning “personal stories that range from celebrations of the people and places that shape us to critiques of attacks on communities.” Several were created specifically for the exhibition, with participants crediting her with sparking their ideas.
For Abdallah, who grew up on La Réunion, a former French colony, the machete is a response to the silent voids in history. Visiting the Musée Historique de Villèle, a plantation museum on a former colonial estate, he found only the colonial master’s artifacts on display—none from the enslaved and indentured laborers. He then started working with what he considered “the only archival material available: sugar.” For some visitors with a particularly strong sweet-tooth, the machete was just too tempting. “A few people licked it or touched it to taste,” the artist admits.
American architect and designer Jerome Byron also contributes a new commission. His expansive table, Everyday Altar, is built from Kevlar, a material most associated with bulletproof vests. With his piece, Byron reflects on ICE raids and the fragile security of domestic spaces. By sanding the synthetic fiber to a raw, weathered surface, he sought to reclaim it. “Kevlar resists polish and shows stress, abrasion, imperfection,” he notes. “The work isn’t about presenting a perfect object, but about making those tensions visible.”
Overlapping, hand-carved wooden shingles, primarily larch, clad Armadillo Hope Chest, a continuation of the Armadillo series by German design duo Lukas Wegwerth and Corinna Dehn. “Shingles are particularly interesting as a material strategy as they are historically made from small offcuts—wood that couldn’t serve in construction,” explains Dehn. Adds Wegwerth, “They make the most of the material at hand.” The cabinet is dyed a delicate blush hue with alcohol-based pigments and sealed with linseed oil paint. Fir clads the interior. Gifted to the couple’s young child, it continues a family legacy: Dehn’s grandfather escaped East Germany carrying a chest he had built himself.
The exhibition will also feature 41.0, a cloud-like spatial intervention designed by Bocci co-founder and Galerie Creative Mind designer Omer Arbel. The immersive work—made by casting hay bales, shooting them with foam, and removing the casting positive to reveal the space formed within—becomes a gathering space for smaller objects from both Berlin and beyond that champion collective care. Among the highlights: Rive Roshan’s 3D-printed sand vessels made in homage to the voices of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement; a woven work by Rosana Escobar that reframes our relationship to fique, an agave fiber long used to create coffee bags from Colombia; and a glass collection by Mischer’Traxler Studio that illustrates disparities in access to clean drinking water.
Other standouts include a monumental tapestry woven from agave fiber, a procession of one-of-a-kind black stoneware “warriors,” and a 3D-printed bioplastic arch inspired by traditional Mexican wedding chairs. Each continues the series of living stories “Crafting Community” deftly captures—and celebrates the resourcefulness of craft.