Furniture, lamps and jewellery by designers from Norway, which demonstrate sustainable design and the circular economy, will be displayed at an exhibition called Join at this year's Milan design week. 

Join is this year's offering from Norwegian Presence at Milan design week, which runs from 9 to 14 April. It will showcase the work of 21 designers, alongside seven of the country's leading manufacturers, in three connected rooms in what was previously a garage.

Curated by Jannicke Kråkvik and Alessandro D'Orazio who together make up design studio Kråkvik&D'Orazio, the work on show aims to highlight the economic and social dimensions of circular design.

"Why should we design a new thing? In addition to aesthetics, the object must have a value in terms of materiality or durability," said Kråkvik.

"The items we have chosen must give something in return – through longevity, decomposability or the way in which they are produced."

Items on show will include tables, glass vases, chairs, and storage units as well as jewellery made from reindeer bone and jagged clay pieces embedded with twigs, bark, sand and plants.

"The exhibited objects highlight how the boundaries between craft and design aren't as clear as before. Designers no longer design solely for mass production," continued Kråkvik.

Once the pieces were selected, each maker worked with the curatorial team to find further ways to maximise its sustainable qualities.

Oslo-based designers Kristine Bjaadal and Hallgeir Homstvedt conceived the exhibition design. It is constructed entirely from recyclable and reusable materials, allowing it to be dismantled and repurposed once the design week ends.

"We noticed that a lot of the products chosen for the exhibition were conceived around a circular shape. With the title Join and the exhibition's focus on collaboration and sustainability, the circle seemed the natural symbol to use," said Bjaadal.

"The shape will appear in many different ways – as details in mobile walls and modules, for example, and in Volver's circular rugs."

Other exhibitors include Tron Meyer, who will show Varde, a sculpture of stacked hemispherical forms. The flat surface of each split stone exposes a core of 290 million-year old volcanic rock.

Meyer will also show Half Moon Table and Cyclop, a furniture series in anodised aluminium, larvikite and Norwegian Dinesin Douglas wood.

Kim Thomé's Tango recyclable tables can easily be disassembled and repaired, while Bergen studio KnudsenBergHindenes's Hive storage unit is not only recyclable but also made from recycled materials.

Scraps and offcuts from granite slabs find their way into Kent Fonn Skare's Universell furniture.

Arkitektur, Etterklang and Struktur av Minner is a series of glazed objects in porcelain and stoneware. They "are objects studying cyclic processes of change, such as growth, transformation and decay," said their maker, Anita Hanch-Hansen.

Her work combines clay with natural materials such as twigs and sand, which emit colour and leave sculptural traces on the finished objects.

Other designers featured are Erik Wester, Henrik Ødegaard, Kaja Solgaard Dahl, Kim Thomé, Marte Frøystad, Martin Høgh Olsen, Mijo Studio, Noidoi, Stine Aas, Vera & Kyte, and Máret Ánne Sara & Matt Lambert.

The exhibition is organised by DOGA (Design and Architecture Norway), Klubben, an initiative founded by three Norwegian designers in 2011, and Norwegian Crafts, who together have presented the exhibition during Milan design week for the last five years.

Last year's edition of the exhibition focused on the idea of collaboration and how this quality which the Norwegians call "fellesskap" was integral to building a modern Norway.

Join by Norwegian Presence will be at via Savona 35, Milan from 9 to 14 April 2019.