Isabel Berglund with her artwork Fluid Island of Pearls, 2025. Photo by Dorte Krogh

In Focus

Isabel Berglund
Fluid Island of Pearls

Isabel Berglund uses yarn to both embrace and challenge familiar forms and objects. Working with sculpture and installation, she explores the space between the recognizable and the abstract, transforming elements such as furniture and organic shapes through knitted cotton yarn. Her energetic knitting, often marked by loose ends and fluid structures, reshapes everyday objects and blurs their original function and meaning.

Berglund’s works focus on the relationship between material, color, and space, emphasizing the tactile qualities of yarn and the aesthetic potential of craft. Through simple color palettes, transparency, and layered surfaces, she draws attention to subtle details and sensory experiences. Her creative process is guided by the materials themselves, allowing form to emerge organically.

“Fluid Island of Pearls has been created specifically for ILLUM’s grand atrium. The title refers to the department store as a floating island of pearls. This monumental, hand-knitted textile installation cascades from the ceiling, extending gracefully across multiple floors. The textured mass appears to drip downward toward viewers, forming voluminous shapes molded by the fabric’s own weight. It creates the illusion of a floating fabric, with large strings of pearls emerging organically from the textile, as though they have grown from the material and transformed into rounded, polished forms. Fluid shapes dissolve into new forms and surfaces, embodying a continuous transformation from one state to another.”

Isabel Berglund working on Fluid Island of Pearls at The Danish Art Workshops in Copenhagen

In Berglund’s work, collaboration is also central to her practice. By inviting others to participate in the making of her works, she creates pieces that balance artistic control with collective input. These collaborations add social and relational dimensions, highlighting shared authorship, recognition, and the potential for change. Examples of these are: