Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts And Design

SUMMARY

Konstfack is Sweden’s largest university for art, craft, design and visual art education, at the historic Telefonplan campus in Stockholm. It offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral-level education across four departments, with strong workshop-based practice and a prominent public Degree Exhibition each May.

HISTORY

Konstfack traces its origins to 1844 when artist–ethnologist Nils Månsson Mandelgren founded the “Söndags-Rit-skola för Hantverkare” (Sunday Drawing School for Artisans) to give apprentices artistic training outside working hours. The school was taken over in 1845 by Svenska Slöjdföreningen and renamed Svenska Slöjdföreningens skola, reflecting early links between design education and the applied arts movement.

By 1859 it became a state school, Slöjdskolan i Stockholm (Handicraft School), and in 1879 was reorganised into four departments as Tekniska skolan (The Technical School), formalising specialist strands that would shape modern curricula. In 1945 the institution was named Konstfackskolan, with departments in textiles, decorative art, sculpture, ceramics, furniture and interior design, metal, and advertising/printing—an early template for today’s disciplinary mix.

Konstfack gained högskola (university college) status in 1978. From 1993, the short name “Konstfack” became the official title, matching long-standing common usage. In 2004 the university moved to Telefonplan, repurposing LM Ericsson’s former industrial premises into a 20,000-m² arts campus with extensive workshops and exhibition spaces. Today Konstfack runs seven BFA programmes and multiple MFA programmes aligned to the Bologna Process with an annual Degree Exhibition that showcases work by 200+ graduating students across venues in Stockholm.

Konstfack’s strengths lie in materiality and the capacity to imagine. The university studies, handles, develops, and relates to materials through daily, practical exploration. Its education and research expand imaginations—an essential condition for a more sustainable society, where information and knowledge alone are no longer sufficient to drive change. Konstfack seeks to understand how things could be, to engage with these possibilities, and to foster new behavioural patterns in everyday life. To this end, Konstfack offers a research education programme, Doctoral Education in Artistic Practice in Visual, Applied and Spatial Arts. It also conducts multiple research projects through three cross-institutional research platforms—internal networks that operate across boundaries: Microhistories, Design Explorations, and Heritage, Culture, Community.

The campus, which is more than 20,000 square metres in area, is also home to some of Europe’s most well-equipped workshops and an outstanding library. ICT suites, wood and metal workshops, screen printing, a weaving room, textile printing, a paint shop, a graphics workshop, a photo and TV studio, a glass studio, a ceramics workshop and studios for sculpture and painting. In Konstfack’s workshops everything is possible! And not only that, the school also has one of Sweden’s most well-stocked art and design libraries.

VISION

Konstfack’s founding ethos was to open artistic education to working artisans, building skill, drawing, and craft knowledge as tools for societal and industrial development. That focus on accessible, practice-centred education remains a core principle today. Over time the vision broadened to integrate applied arts with contemporary design, visual communication and fine art, encouraging critical inquiry alongside material experimentation. Its structure—workshop-intensive teaching, studio culture and public exhibitions—supports learning through making and reflection.

TOP DESIGN COURSES

Konstfack Master’s degree programmes prepare graduates for professional practice or research. This includes CRAFT!—a collaboration across Ceramics & Glass, Textiles, and Jewellery & Corpus that uses craft to question contemporary conditions; Spatial Design, which strengthens experimental, reflective approaches in interior architecture and furniture design; and Design Ecologies, which views design as relationships that support living systems and social–biological diversity. Master’s programmes also include Fine Art, centred on self-reflection and deepening of one’s artistic project; and Visual Communication, a norm-creative pathway focused on individual work in graphic design and/or illustration.

At the undergraduate level, Konstfack offers a three-year Bachelor’s degree (180 credits) across seven programmes: Graphic Design and Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture and Furniture Design, Ceramics and Glass, Fine Art, Jewellery and Corpus, and Textiles. Konstfack also runs freestanding courses aimed at professionals; teaching is in Swedish unless otherwise indicated, with select courses offered in English. Since 2023, the university has provided doctoral education in Artistic Practice in Visual, Applied and Spatial Arts. Grounded in Konstfack’s core fields—fine art, craft, design, and visual communication—the programme leads to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Artistic Practice in Visual, Applied and Spatial Arts.

KEY TEAM

• Anna Valtonen — Vice-Chancellor (Rektor).

• Jenny Althoff — Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education & Collaboration).

• Elisabet Nordwall — University Director.

• Gunilla Muhr — Head of Department, Fine Art.

• Sara Isaksson From — Head of Department, Crafts.

• Annelie Holmberg — Head of Department, Visual Arts & Sloyd Education.

JOB INTEGRATION SERVICES

Konstfack’s annual Degree Exhibition is a major recruitment and networking platform where industry, galleries and institutions engage directly with graduating students across all programmes. As a member of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, Konstfack students and alumni can access free interdisciplinary entrepreneurship courses, venture workshops and incubation offers across Stockholm’s six partner universities. Konstfack maintains extensive partnerships, hosts public talks and curatorial programmes (e.g., CuratorLab), and connects students with Sweden’s creative industries through live briefs, exhibitions and research portals.

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