Mundane Magic : Tactile Re-enchantment

A collaboration between Nova Nørgaard x Pura Utz

Mundane Magic: Tactile Re-Enchantment is a cross-cultural collaboration between Nova Nørgaard, The Royal Danish Academy, and Pura Utz. This project brings together two distinct craft traditions - Norwegian knit heritage and Mayan glass-bead craftsmanship - within a shared, experimental space where materials and techniques are reimagined.

Rooted in Nova Nørgaard’s bachelor project Mundane Magic - Re-Enchanting the Everyday Through Fashion, the collaboration explores re-enchantment as a way to reactivate the familiar in a world shaped by speed, information overload, and emotional distance. Through the concept of tactile distortion, familiar shapes are subtly displaced, inviting viewers to experience the work slowly, through touch and sight.

In close dialogue with our craft tradition and its team of Mayan artisans from Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, the project’s central works take shape: the classic Norwegian sweater, translated and recreated as handwoven glass-beaded knitwear, accompanied by a matching hat and pair of gloves. Here, two culturally rooted practices (rarely seen together) merge to create a new, shared expression, balancing respect for tradition with a desire to push the limits of craft.

The exhibition invites you to experience how the familiar, in fashion as in fine craft, can become more than function. It demonstrates how the meeting of cultures, hands, and skills can create both stillness and wonder - a space where the familiar is gently displaced and, through that shift, re-enchanted.

Nearly half a million glass beads. 
310 hours of handwork. 
Seven Mayan artisans.
No Machines.
Just needle, thread, and generations of craft knowledge.

The creation of Mundane Magic was an intensive, collective process, rooted in experimentation, precision, and material discipline. Across the three pieces, sweater, hat, and gloves, each bead was placed by hand in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, translating Norwegian knit patterns into glass-bead form.

In total, the project required 44 days of dedicated handwork, with seven Mayan women artisans bringing the pieces to life. The project pushed the team into uncharted territory: they had never created a pair of gloves in glass beads before, and learning to make the beads behave like knit demanded new techniques and creative problem-solving.

Leading artisans Jenny and Rosa were responsible for all sampling and technical development, experimenting beyond what they had believed possible. The remaining pieces were completed in collaboration with Mary, Brayan, Asael, Elisa, Julia, and Bernabela. Together, they transformed concept into form through shared trust, skill, and generations-old Mayan glass-bead techniques, expanded and reinvented in dialogue with Norwegian knitting heritage.

For two weeks, the exhibition will be hosted at Sabine Poupinel in Copenhagen, and will then continue throughout the spring at the Pura Utz showroom.

Come experience beadwork pushed to its limits - where tradition, technique, and imagination meet:

📍 Sabine Poupinel⁠
Møntergade 1, Copenhagen⁠
January 26 – February 14, 2026⁠