Veera Kulju (Finnish, b. 1975) is a multi-media artist living and working in Helsinki, Finland. Self-described as a“hybrid of a curious, random-minded artist and a rational, business-oriented designer,”Kulju creates work that poetically dances along the line between art and design, toying with the distinctions between the decorative and the functional.

intensely layered work hand-built from small, distinct and precious elements. These small pieces, when brought together, give way to a larger compositional intent of fragile beauty and timelessness with nature often playing a central role. While Kulju generally uses a restrained palette of black and white, she is experimental with the materiality of the objects. She frequently introduces unexpected characteristics within one work employing a variety of glazes, both matte and glossy, and shapes, both smooth and sharp-edged, and evoking a physical experience when viewed.

Kulju’s artworks have conceptual levels born through materials. Yet, her aim is to make viewing them physically experiential. Kulju manages to convey the feel of her artworks through their materiality and idiom. The differences between the matte and the glossy, the sharp and the smooth, and the warm and the cold can be felt in your fingertips.Her nature-themed sculptures are timeless yet topical, transporting us from ancient woodlands and breathtaking biodiversity to mass extinction and climate crisis.

Clay is an elemental material that lends itself to Kulju’s flow of self-expression. She kneads, clasps, squeezes and pounds it until it finds a form that is solidified in the kiln. Kulju is like her art: sensitive yet strong. Uncompromising in her art. White and black, delicate and strong, dark and light. In Veera Kulju’s art, all concepts find their counterparts to show that opposites can coexist side by side. Kulju’s art is touching. She invests herself, imbues her art with personal meaning, making it speak to us in a relatable way. Hence her themes touch us all. Her art speaks of what it means to be human, of identity, of different ways to exist in the world.