The photographer: Credits to Rene Suurkaev.
The Artist’s profile
In my work, I explore what I remember about the environments and situations connected with my past and present moments, and how these memories are intertwined with materials. Working mostly with personal memories, I contemplate how much of them are not individual, but clearly local and generational. My use of wood originated from a desire to reapply the everyday skills and techniques I learned as a child in a house heated by a wood-fired stove. It was daily my responsibility to prepare the winter’s heating material in the house for the kiln: to take it indoors and strip birch bark for kindling. In the studio, I’ve attempted to replicate a similar routine by reconstructing wood, well known materials into jewellery. I am very much a process person, which also stems from my love of working on one topic for a long time.
Environmental Concerns
I mainly use wood taken from my childhood home and from my great grandparents’ garden. A few years ago, I became the owner of an old farmhouse – a traditional housebarn – belonging to my mother’s family in North-West Estonia. Now, mostly in the Summers I take care of the house and garden, as I can. Two years of forced isolation during Covid provided the opportunity to explore the rich layers of this more than a century-old building. I used the clothing worn by my ancestors, which was wedged between the logs for insulation, as my material. Step by step, year after year the house reveals its endless potential with its rich history to me.
In my creative practice, I consider myself a slow worker and I do not advocate overproduction. The materials I use mostly come from my own environment and I process them myself. The idea of the works and the meaning of the materials used are of equal importance in my work.
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Ketli Tiistar, lives and works in Talinn.
Education and Activities
1991–1995 Tallinn Art University, metal art department, BA (cum laude)
1995–1999 Estonian Academy of Arts, metal art department, MA studies (Prof. Kadri Mälk) Complementary studies
1996 National College of Art and Design, metal department, Oslo, Norway (Prof. Ingjerd Hanevold)
1997 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, jewellery design department, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Prof. Ruudt Peters)
1996-2005 member of the artists’ group F.F.F.F.
since 2002 member of the Estonian Artists’ Association
1997-2002 gallerist of the Estonian Academy of Arts.
since 2002 programme manager of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
2002-2015 member, chairperson and main organiser of NGO Tallinn Applied Art Triennial Society
Has curated, adjudicated and designed jewellery, applied art and design exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad. Teaching Estonian jewellery history assignments at the Estonian Academy of Arts and at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy.
A selection of my exhibitions and group exhibitions are; 2025 FOKUS. Ageing. Vienna Design Week, Austria BEEST. Group exhibition of Belgian and Estonian jewellery artists. Gallery Pont & Plas, Gent, Belgium / Rocks & Locks. New collection – jewellery designed for the hairscapes. Handwerkmesse, Frame, Munich, Germany / 2024 2+2+2 Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h, Montreal, Canada and NYC Jewelry Week / Don’t Tell Me Stories. METALLOphone, 7th International Biennial of Contemporary Jewellery and Metal Art. The Museum of Applied Art, Vilnius, Lithuania / The Fine Lines of Constructiveness, The 9th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial. Kai Art Centre, Tallinn, Estonia. / HOME. Duo Exhibition with Mia Maljojoki. Gallery Maurer Zilioli at Kunstbüro Reillplast, Munich, Germany / Radical Softness. Group exhibition of Estonian contemporary jewellery in the framework of Lisbon Jewellery Biennial. St Magdalena Church, Lisbon, Portugal / Soulmates. International group exhibition. Gallery Biró, Munich, Germany / Jewellery all along the line. Group exhibition. Gallery Handwerk, Munich, Germany Schmuck. Curated by Norman Weber. Group exhibition. Handwerkmesse, Halle B1, Munich, Germany* / 2023 Things are closer than they appear. Together with Kristi Paap and Siiri Nõva. Tartu Art Hall, Tartu, Estonia Hol(l)y Wood. Group exhibition. Gallery Pont & Plas, Gent, Belgium Gehölz. Group Exhibition. Gallery Schmucke. Berlin, Germany / 2022 Dialogues of Longing. Together with Flora Vagi. A-Gallery. Tallinn, Estonia / Duo exhibition with Flora Vagi, Schmuckgalerie Birgitta Knauth, Bonn, Germany / 2021 Microworlds the annual exhibition of A-Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia / Koru7, International Jewellery Exhibition, South Karelia Museum, Lappeenranta, Finland* / Wood & Body: Expressions in Contemporary Jewellery. The Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia, USA / 2020 Schmuck. (selected, show was cancelled, catalogue was published)* / 2019 17. Erfurt Schmucksymposion. Angermuseum, Erfurt, Germany Udujutt. Fogspeak. 13* from Estonia. Gallery Putti, Riga, Latvia / Memory Cards. A-Gallery, Tallinn Estonia / Meeting Point. Orimattila Art Museum, Finland* / Aline in Wonderland. Gallery Pont&Plas, Ghent, Belgium / 2018 Udujutt. Fogspeak. 13* from Estonia. Gallery Platina, Stockholm, Sweden* / 2017 Nature Morte. Cherries and a Skeleton. Chapter III. Solo exhibition with Kristi Paap, Linnagalerii, Tallinn, Estonia / Nature morte. Contemporary artists reinvigorate the Still-Life tradition. Four Domes Pavilion, Wroclaw, Poland / 2016 Testament. Kadri Mälk private collection. Portrait Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia / Open Space- Mind Maps. Positions in Contemporary Jewellery. National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden* / ESTONISHING ! 13* from Estonia. During Munich Jewellery Week in Thomas Cohn Gallery, Munich* / Messe Halle; Thomas Cohn Gallery in Sao Paolo, Brazil; / The Staircase Gallery of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. Tallinn, Estonia * / A-to Z. Contemporary jewellery. Gallery Maurer-Zilioli, Munich, Germany / 2015 HOTEL, contemporary Estonian jewellery, Reigi parsonage, Hiiumaa / Nature Morte. Cherries and a Skeleton, during Munich Jewellery Week, 84GHz, Kunstgießerei, Munich, Germany (with Kristi Paap); Kuressaare, Estonia * / Ehted Eestist, Showroom Trofejas, Berlin, Germany / 2014 Rethinking the Everyday, Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin, Ireland / A-V. Unique Portraits, Hop Gallery, Tallinn* / Figurative Sense, Toldi Art Movie Theatre, Budapest, Hungary / 2013 Lahti korut, 84 GHz, Munich, Germany; Gallery Pont&Plas, Ghent, Belgium* / Tiger in the Living Room, solo exhibition, Gallery Hop, Tallinn 2012 Cidade Fronteiriça | Border City. Tallinn-Lissabon. Instituto Camoes, Lisbon, Portugal* / OP Voorraad. Touring pop-up store for contemporary jewellery, Berlin; Amsterdam / Lahti korut, Lahti, Finland* / Play. Estonian design, Helsinki, Finland (with KAM Kartell) / Palus pohli punetab, A-galerii, Tallinn (with KAM Kartell) / 2011 / Seaside Stories, A-galerii, Tallinn / Ideal Landscape, Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia / Landscape, Iias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum, Athens, Greece / Cidade Fronteiriça | Border City. Tallinn-Lissabon, City Gallery, Tallinn* / Ultramarine, Noblessner Foundry, Tallinn* / Wearable Pictures. Photography-Jewellery, Hop Gallery, Tallinn / Dreamscape, (AV17) Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania / 2010 Gender Check, Zacheta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (F.F.F.F.) * / Walking the Gray Area, Gallery Emilia Cohen, Mexico City, Mexico / Happy People, Kärdla Power Station, Hiiumaa, Estonia; Coffee Shop, Tallinn / Budapest-Tallinn 1900-2000 Tallinn Budapest, Hungarian Institute, Tallinn / LightEST, gallery Vandeplas, Brugge, Belgium / Stems, solo exhibition, A-galerii, Tallinn / 2009 Blumenflirt, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn / Near and Far, Museum of Cultures, Helsinki, Finland / Estonian Jewellery, Svanekegaarden, Bornholm, Denmark / KORU 3, Imatra Art Museum, Finland* / MALE, Gallery Iida, Tallinn / Gender Check, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria (F.F.F.F.) / 2008 Just Must, Estonian History Museum, Tallinn* / Homesickness, solo exhibition, Hop Gallery, Tallinn / 2007 Permission to Grow Up, Gallery 84GHz, Munich, Germany / Artist of the month. Gallery Norsu, Helsinki, Finland / Non-Stop, annual exhibition of Estonian Jewellery Artists’ Association, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn / 2006 Permission to Grow Up, Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn / 2005 Things You Need to Know about Estonia, Cork Vision Centre, Ireland (F.F.F.F.) Maker-Wearer-Viewer, Mackintosh Gallery, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland* / European Triennial of Contemporary Jewellery*, Museum of Silversmithing, Castle of Seneffe, Belgium / Permission to Grow Up, Pincegaléria, Szombathely, Hungary; Gallery Rantapaja, Lappeenranta, Finland / Things You Need to Know about Estonia, City Gallery, Tallinn (F.F.F.F.) / Rare Leid, Estonian contemporary jewellery, Gallery of the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland / Amber trip, International Amber Fair, Vilnius, Lithuania (F.F.F.F.) / 2004 Estonian Jewellery, Beijing Arts and Crafts Museum, China / ContacT, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, Ma, USA / ContacT, Bakalar Gallery, Boston, Ma, USA (F.F.F.F.) / SOFA-CHICAGO, Chicago, USA (represented by Charon Kransen) / 2003 Where is East and West, OXOXO Gallery, Baltimore, USA / Our Daily Bread, Gallery HNOSS, Gothenburg, Sweden (F.F.F.F.) / KORU, International Contemporary Jewellery exhibition, South Karelia Museum, Lappeenranta, Finland* / 2002 Closing the Distance, Laźnia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland (F.F.F.F.)* / Daily Bread, Gallery of Hansabank, Tallinn (F.F.F.F.) / Pentagram, Applied Art Museum, Tallinn (F.F.F.F.) / Kapital, Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn (F.F.F.F.) / 2001 Ehted – Ékszerek – Schmuck – Jewellery, Péter-Pál galleria, Szentendre, Hungary (F.F.F.F.) / Daily Bread, Gallery Johan S., Porvoo, Finland (F.F.F.F.) / Daily Bread, Old Town Hall Gallery, Turku, Finland (F.F.F.F.) / 2000 Estonian and Danish Jewellery, Applied Art Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark / Estonian and Lithuanian Jewellery, Kunstpaviljoen, Nieuw-Roden, Holland / Papuošalai/Jewellery, The Mizgiris’ Artists’ House, Nida, Lithuania
Talks & Guest Lectures-selection
2024 Artist Talk. The Fine Lines of Constructiveness, The 9th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial. Kai Art Centre, Tallinn, Estonia.
2014 Schmucksymposium Zimmerhof, Germany (presentation “Tiger in the Living Room”
2013 Cheongju Craft Biennale, Cheongju, South Korea (presentation “Collecting that Reassesses Value. The 6th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial”; Pecha Kucha “Estonia in Focus”
2011 From the Coolest Corner, Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland (presentation “From Homesickness to Ideal Landscape. Notes on works from the last four years”)
2006 Royal College of Arts, London, UK (presentations “Tallinn Applied Art Triennials”, “Estonian Jewellery From the Collection of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design”)
2005 Amber Trip, International Amber Fair, Vilnius, Lithuania (presentation “Estonian Jewellery from the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design”)
2005 Estonian-Dutch-Scottish Jewellery Symposium, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland (presentation “Estonian Jewellery”)
2004 ContacT, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma, USA (presentation “Fun For Five Female”, with group F.F.F.F.)
2003 KORU, International Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition, South Karelia Museum, Lappeenranta, Finland (presentation “Making Jewellery as Path of Constant Observations”)
Awards
2002 Annual Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (F.F.F.F.)
2009 Ede Kurrel Prize, from the Estonian Metal Artists’ Association
2018 Annual Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (with Kristi Paap)
Works in Public Collections
Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Collection of Metal Art Department at Estonian Academy of Arts
Art Museum of Estonia
Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
Collection of Svelvik Community Centre, Norway
The Mizgiris’ Artists’ House, Nida, Lithuania
Rian Museum Smykoteket, Sweden
Selected private collections
Book
Nature Morte. Cherries and a Skeleton. Ketli Tiitsar, Kristi Paap. 2015-2016
