Shifting Objects – Shifting Values

Shifting Objects – Shifting Values is a two-part exhibition series by Studio Jonathan Radetz.

The series opened with its first exhibition during 3daysofdesign 2025 in Copenhagen. Its curatorial concept established a platform for new forms of collaborative design-making under the WDC 2026 motto, Looking Forward – Shaping Tomorrow Together, while also serving as a preview of WDC 2026.

Through a collaborative selection process, Studio Jonathan Radetz brought together design studios from Denmark and Germany, presenting selected works alongside craftspeople from the Rhine-Main region, represented through their essential tools and impressions of their working processes. A photographic exhibition documenting the intersections between design and craftsmanship offered further insight into the creative process. In addition, a participatory intervention invited visitors to create their own wooden design object, illustrating how the interplay of craft and design can become both a form of individual expression and a shared creative experience.

While Phase I in Copenhagen was strongly defined by exhibition architecture and a museum-like character, Phase II shifted toward a process-oriented exchange between craft and design through the formation of four transnational teams. Following the first exhibition, each team—consisting of one craft discipline, one German design studio, and one Danish design studio—developed new concepts and designs in collaborative partnership for a democratic and sustainable future.

The second exhibition now focuses on these innovative approaches, perspectives, and the collaborative process itself. The results of this joint work will be presented at the Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt. At the same time, an accompanying exhibition at the WDC Hub, featuring winners of the Design Prize of the Rhine-Main Chamber of Crafts as part of Tag des Handwerks 2026, will further highlight the potential of the intersection between craft and design for visitors.

Teams:

• Wood work: Volker Herglotz mit Marie Luise Stein und Anker Bak
• Metalworks: Dirk Velte mit Haus Otto
• Bespoke tailoring: Bennecker mit Studio Sarmīte und Tanja Kirst Studio
• Freymadl – die Steinkultivierer mit Studio Œ und Form22
  

Jonathan Radetz (1985*) is a multidisciplinary designer based in Frankfurt. His experience as a cabinet maker and product designer finds expression in his versatile work, ranging from furniture design to accessories and fine jewellery. Positions at modern design brand e15 and in the studios of both Stefan Diez and Saskia Diez Jewellery also impacted on his working method and approach to design. Reinterpreting pieces with a unique vision, his design philosophy  is characterized by an unbroken fascination for the timelessness of modern forms and his delight in capturing this ideal in his works. For Jonathan Radetz his work is his passion. His experiential reality is his inspiration. Thus, fashion, architecture, furniture, nature and people become his creative impulses. With a fascination for breaking down every idea into its essential components, he works playfully and at the same time consistently with materials and forms to create extraordinary furniture, accessories and jewelery.