Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn [Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum, EDTM]

This combined ‘clock-barometer’ (1969) by Helle Gans (b. 1940) is significant in several ways. It was designed for the first edition of Ruum ja Vorm (space and form), an experimental exhibition series that showcased different aspects of the design process and is now considered a groundbreaking laboratory for design futurology. The works displayed in these exhibitions were usually one of a kind. A few years later, the same object was published in the DIY section of the design magazine Kunst ja Kodu (art and home) as a kind of ‘freeware’ that could be constructed at home by interested readers.
This piece is an excellent representative of the design collection at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. For decades, the collection was focussed only on unique examples of applied art, and it was not until 2000 that design became part of the museum’s focus. Since then, the once blank spots on the map of Estonian design have been gradually filled in by a systematic approach to growing the collection, highlighting a wide variety of phenomena and materials in order to open up the relevant background and context.