Mapping Norwegian and Sámi Fashion Cultures researcher-in-residence
Saturday, November 1, 2025 – 11:00–Wednesday, April 1, 2026 – 10:00
We are pleased to announce Paulina Czajor as the researcher-in-residence selected for the ’Mapping Norwegian and Sámi Fashion Cultures’ researcher-in-residence programme! The project will unfold this winter and upcoming spring with the generous support of the Norwegian Arts Council (Kulturrådet). The jury, consisting of 10 leading Norwegian and Sámi fashion scholars and experts, received research proposals of impressive quality and innovation.
Paulina Czajor is a researcher, writer, and creative consultant working across fashion, craft and visual storytelling. She holds a BA in Fashion Design and an MA in Sustainable Fashion Business & Practices from Kingston University London, combining practical design experience with research and systems thinking. Building on her early experiences in design and product development at Paul Smith and Acne Studios, in her current practice she explores ethical collaboration, the cultural value of making and fair ways to integrate traditional techniques into contemporary fashion. She views craft and peripheral communities not only as subjects to preserve but as blueprints for responsible design. Her recent collaborators include the Polish Cultural Institute in London and the research based non-profit Passa Ao Futuro in Lisbon.
For the 'Mapping Norwegian and Sámi Fashion Cultures programme', Paulina’s research will examine how peripherality, identity and material culture intersect in shaping contemporary Norwegian and Sámi fashion. Through essays, interviews, film and photography, she will document designers, artisans and institutions that embody alternative models of creativity and resilience. The project will reflect on how fashion can function as a cultural ecology rather than an extractive industry, how rural crafts and smaller-scale infrastructures resist globalised overproduction, and how isolation can nurture innovation, storytelling and mindful creation.
