Norwegian Crafts is pleased to announce the selected grant recipients who will go to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts this year with support from the American-Scandinavian Foundation and Norwegian Crafts: Estelle Bourdet and Søren Krag.

Norwegian Crafts is guaranteed 1-2 places in the Haystack summer program for Norway-based artists. The American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Arts & Crafts Fellowship Program and Norwegian Crafts will provide a grant for the selected artists to cover most expenses related to the workshops.These programmes aim to provide unique and diverse opportunities for artists in the craft field, namely by offering Norway-based craft artists a place at renowned schools, workshops and residencies.

Estelle Bourdet

«The chance to focus deeply on a personal project in such an inspiring environment as Haystack will certainly give me both the creative energy and the tools to expand my work. I’m really looking forward to it!» Estelle Bourdet

Estelle Bourdet is a Swiss-Swedish hand weaver based in Norway. Drawing inspiration from inhabited spaces and nature, she creates functional and non-functional woven objects that intertwine authentic materials with everyday life. Blending traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design, her work merges domestic concepts, sustainability, and slow production.

Bourdet graduated in fine arts at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne ECAL and and spent a year experimenting with textile techniques at the Hochschule Luzern HSLU. Following, she moved to Sweden and immersed herself in traditional textile handcrafts at the school for craft and design, Capellagården.

Søren Krag

«The workshop I will participate in at Haystack is about various methods that bridge the digital and the physical, which fits my artistic practice very well. I am excited about participating in this workshop and to learn many things that I can hopefully bring further into my practice.» Søren Krag

Søren Krag (b. 1987 in Silkeborg, Denmark) is a visual artist based in Bergen. Krag produces work that combines textiles with digital tools and images. An important part of his practice involves creating digital 'paintings' using relatively simple software. In this work, he seeks to use the 'limitations' of respective methods/media as an aesthetic starting point.

Krag attended the Jutland Art Academy and graduated with an MFA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in 2019. Recent exhibitions include participation in Artaspetry7 (2025), the 7th Riga International Triennial of Textile and Fiber Art (2023), and the solo exhibition Oligarchy Dopamine Rollercoaster at SKOG Art Space (2024). In 2020, Krag was awarded the Lumen Prize for Technology: Nordic Award, and he won a 2020 Talente Prize in textiles. His work is represented in the collections of the Sogn & Fjordane Art Museum and KORO – Public Art Norway.