Craft histories of Bornholm, Denmark

The collection of craft histories in Bornholm is the result of a collaboration between HEPHAESTUS and its partners: Copenhagen Business School and BOFA, with contributions from students in the master’s program in Business Administration and Philosophy.

During a two-day study trip to Bornholm, the students investigated local craft makers and other operating businesses related to the craft sector. Through imagination, speculation, and exploration, they documented their research process through photographs and videos. Their work narrates the story of the craft, the story of waste, its historical relevance, the artifacts, and the materials, while highlighting the traditional techniques, sustainable practices, and its connection to the unique Danish island Bornholm.

Artist and craft-maker: Christina Schou | Ceramics and glazes

Christina’s Schou practice combines artistic production, material research, teaching, and studio-based experimentation with recycled ceramic waste. She is known for her experimental glazes.

Alongside producing sculptural works for galleries, she develops and teaches glaze techniques, runs studio courses, and conducts material research through the Ødeland project. A central element of her work is the production of glazes made from crushed ceramic waste, including discarded sanitary ceramics. These recycled materials are processed and reintroduced into glaze recipes, reducing reliance on virgin raw materials.

Christina’s commitment to ceramics is closely tied to an interest in material experimentation and transformation. Her practice unfolds as a portfolio rather than a linear business.

The craft allows her to work directly with matter, including what she describes as “immortal waste”, and to reconfigure discarded ceramic materials into new glazes and surfaces. Ceramics provides a medium where ecological responsibility, aesthetic exploration, and technical research can be held together within one practice.

Glaze innovation through waste. Recycled ceramics become the basis for new glaze recipes and aesthetic expressions.
Portfolio structure. Artist, researcher, and teacher roles coexist within the same practice.
Tension between mission and market. Ecological experimentation does not automatically translate into gallery based economic value.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.

Artist: Bettina Prejsler | WIWOLO

WIWOLO is a one-person jewelry practice run by Bettina Prejsler on Bornholm. The pieces are handcrafted jewelry made from concrete containing sand and granite from the island, combined with precious metals.

The jewelry materializes a connection to Bornholm. Concrete, granite, and design are tied to the island’s landscape and identity.

At the same time, the practice is deeply personal. WIWOLO is grounded in Bettina’s philosophy What If We Only Live Once, where creative expression and meaningful work are central. The business is therefore not only a commercial activity, but also a realization of a subjective need to create.

The craft emerged from Bettina’s need for creative expression after relocating to Bornholm. Jewelry became a way of translating the island’s materials and atmosphere into wearable objects. The practice allows her to combine industrial design, local identity, and personal meaning. The craft is therefore both expressive and relational, before it is commercial.

An interesting aspect of WIWOLO is the dual value proposition. On one hand, the jewelry offers customers a portable connection to Bornholm. On the other, the practice fulfills Bettina’s intrinsic need to create.
There is also a tension between creativity and business logic. When production is guided by presupposed customer expectations, authenticity weakens and sales do not necessarily improve.
Also, the practice operates within the Anthropocene by using concrete and precious metals while simultaneously telling a story about locality, material origin, and responsibility.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.

Craft-makers: Tobias Sode and Lene Dahl Jacobsen | Glød Glas Studio

Glød Glas Studio is a glassblowing workshop founded by Lene Dahl Jacobsen and Tobias Sode. They produce hand crafted glass vases using an advanced Venetian glassblowing technique combined with Nordic design aesthetics.

The studio centers on the production of unique glass vases where value is closely tied to craftsmanship, time, and storytelling.

The making process is central. The value of the vase does not lie primarily in functionality, but in the experience of witnessing the technique, understanding the tradition behind it, and engaging with the craft-makers themselves. The workshop space functions as a condition for value creation, since appreciation emerges through presence and interaction rather than through digital representation alone.

Lene and Tobias’ commitment to glassblowing is grounded in a dedication to preserving and practicing a demanding craft tradition.

Glassblowing allows them to sustain a particular mode of valuing, where skill, slowness, and embodied knowledge are central. Their ambition is not primarily scalability, but the continuation of a craft practice anchored in technique, narrative, and material discipline. The choice of craft is therefore tied to a commitment to craftsmanship as a value in itself.

An interesting aspect of Glød Glas is that value emerges through the experience of craftsmanship rather than through functionality alone.
The vase becomes meaningful in the encounter with the making process and the story behind it.
The practice also presupposes a customer who is capable of learning to appreciate craft through engagement, rather than evaluating it purely through price comparison.
Finally, the vases resist disposability as long- lived objects, yet their production remains embedded in energy intensive infrastructures and transport systems.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.

Craft-maker: Michael Brandt | Baltic Sea Glass

A place-based glassblowing studio producing handmade glass objects, including both functional and artistic “Unika” (unique) pieces.

The craft centers on traditional glassblowing techniques combined with strong artistic and narrative elements.

Baltic Sea Glass creates high-quality, handmade glass pieces inspired by Bornholm’s landscape and natural environment. Each object is crafted in their studio, where storytelling, craftsmanship, and place are deeply interconnected. Aesthetic connection to light, water, and nature which aligns perfectly with Bornholm’s coastal landscape.

Glass is also particularly suited to their value proposition because it can embody both material excellence and symbolic meaning. Through glassblowing, they can translate elements of Bornholm’s nature (light, granite, sea, movement) into physical form.

The studio itself is essential to the craft. The landscape, atmosphere, and physical experience of visiting the space significantly shape how customers understand and justify the value of the pieces.
Selling is not treated as a transaction, but as an act of interpretation. The story behind each piece helps customers understand and assign value.
The glass does not carry value by itself. Value emerges through storytelling, education, and the customer’s experience and evaluation.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.

Craft-maker: In Kyong Lee

In Kyong Lee’s practice combines functional ceramics, experimental projects, and participatory art formats. She is also employed at BOFA, the municipal waste management company.

Although previously operating as a small-scale ceramic producer, her practice has gradually shifted away from market-oriented batch production.

Today, the work centers less on selling cups and vessels and more on cultivating awareness of time, labour, material use, and energy embedded in craft production. Through exhibitions and participatory formats such as the project Take, she invites audiences to reflect on responsibility, ownership, and consumption

Ceramics allows Inkyong to work directly with material processes that are slow, energy intensive, and physically demanding.Her commitment to craft is tied to making these processes visible. Rather than presenting ceramics as inherently sustainable, she highlights its material and energetic costs in order to foster reflection. The craft is therefore chosen not only for aesthetic reasons, but as a medium for questioning production, value, and responsibility.

An interesting aspect of Inkyong’s practice is that value shifts from the object to the understanding it generates.
The ceramic piece becomes a vehicle for cultivating awareness rather than merely a commodity.
At the same time, she resists growth and on demand production, even when demand exists, because scaling would contradict the conditions under which her craft is meaningful.
Her work engages the Anthropocene not by offering solutions, but by foregrounding the material and energetic realities of production and inviting reflection on how objects are valued and cared for.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.

Waste Facility – BOFA

BOFA is Bornholm’s municipal waste management organisation, working with circular economy and sustainable reuse.

Representative from BOFA: Rebbie Preston (they/them), project manager at BOFA

Through projects like HEPHAESTUS, they collaborate with craftsmen to transform waste into new value.

BOFA works to make Bornholm waste incineration-free by 2032. They do not only manage waste, they also organise people and craftsmen around waste, turning it into a resource for learning, creativity, and circular innovation.

Because waste on an island is visible and unavoidable. BOFA addresses the environmental challenge by combining infrastructure, engagement, and collaboration — aiming to create responsibility and long-term sustainability for Bornholm.

Waste is seen as a resource, not just something to remove, but something that can create value.
Organising people around waste, focusing on engagement and behavioural change.
They use fair collaboration, recognising craftsmen’s knowledge as professional and worthy of compensation.

Master’s students from Copenhagen Business School enrolled in the course Philosophical Analysis in Business Studies, taught by Associate Professor Marius Gudmand-Høyer.