As part of her first exhibition at 3daysofdesign 2026, Karmameju’s founder, Mette Skjærbæk, is presenting a new series of herbarium works. In this interview, she talks about her journey from childhood memories in her parents’ garden and many years of pressing plants to the creative dialogue between nature, craftsmanship and composition that characterises her work today. A conversation about inspiration, collaboration and finding a new creative expression.
As 3daysofdesign itself describes it, the festival is a platform for showcasing and celebrating good design – a festival for dreamers, creators and anyone with a curiosity about design.
I am both proud and humbled to be part of this annual design festival in Copenhagen, which is open to everyone.
Represented by Galleri Sonja, in a space created by Norm Architects and in the iconic Kvindernes Bygning, it feels almost surreal to me that my herbarium works are to be exhibited in such distinguished company.
The exhibition A Dialogue Between Nature and Craft brings together artists and designers whose practice is characterised by sensitivity to materials, the slow processes of craftsmanship and a shared approach to creation, where form emerges through attention, place and time.
As 3daysofdesign itself describes it, the festival is a platform for showcasing and celebrating good design – a festival for dreamers, creators and anyone with a curiosity about design.
I am both proud and humbled to be part of this annual design festival in Copenhagen, which is open to everyone.
Represented by Galleri Sonja, in a space created by Norm Architects and in the iconic Kvindernes Bygning, it feels almost surreal to me that my herbarium works are to be exhibited in such distinguished company.
The exhibition A Dialogue Between Nature and Craft brings together artists and designers whose practice is characterised by sensitivity to materials, the slow processes of craftsmanship and a shared approach to creation, where form emerges through attention, place and time.
It describes very precisely how I feel when I work with pressed plants. My work feels like a dialogue between me and the plants – a meticulous and patient process in which I find the motif and then refine it.
I’ve always loved jigsaw puzzles, and I feel a bit as though I’m now putting together free-form jigsaw puzzles with plants. I’m very fond of graphic design, and composition means everything to my eye.
Many of my works represent ‘people’ to me: families, couples and so on. The composition often becomes the ‘dialogue’ that the figures seem to be having with one another.
It’s important to me to have a dialogue with nature. I believe that city dwellers need regular contact with nature to thrive. Working with plants – finding them in nature, growing them, harvesting them, pressing them and finally composing the finished piece – is a process I value immensely. Not least because it draws me into a dialogue between nature and craftsmanship, where the two merge.
It describes very precisely how I feel when I work with pressed plants. My work feels like a dialogue between me and the plants – a meticulous and patient process in which I find the motif and then refine it.
I’ve always loved jigsaw puzzles, and I feel a bit as though I’m now putting together free-form jigsaw puzzles with plants. I’m very fond of graphic design, and composition means everything to my eye.
Many of my works represent ‘people’ to me: families, couples and so on. The composition often becomes the ‘dialogue’ that the figures seem to be having with one another.
It’s important to me to have a dialogue with nature. I believe that city dwellers need regular contact with nature to thrive. Working with plants – finding them in nature, growing them, harvesting them, pressing them and finally composing the finished piece – is a process I value immensely. Not least because it draws me into a dialogue between nature and craftsmanship, where the two merge.
Herbarium feels like a natural extension of my work with natural ingredients in skincare.
In our skincare range, I work with natural ingredients that the skin loves, and with the art of perfumery, where I compose fragrances using genuine essences from nature. I’m deeply grateful to be working with our fantastic ‘nose’, our perfumer Richard in England. I have never met anyone with such a deep understanding of natural fragrances as he does.
Nature is at the heart of most of what I love. The herbarium art I create is a dialogue between nature and craftsmanship, whilst the skincare I create is a dialogue between nature and our largest organ: the skin.
Some of my clearest childhood memories come from my parents’ garden and greenhouse.
As a child, my windowsill was filled with little plants and cuttings. I have always loved plants.
I have been pressing plants since the 1990s, when I lived in New York for seven years – a particularly creative and formative period in my life. A few years ago, I began creating herbarium compositions on paper, simply as a creative hobby.
Two women whose opinions I hold in high regard said the same thing to me, independently of one another: “Mette – your art is good. Keep working on it.”
This became a key catalyst for me to start taking my work more seriously and with greater dedication. I put my imposter syndrome to one side for a while, immersed myself in the process and found my FLOW.
Some days I love what I create.
Other days, my inner critic tells me it’s not good enough. But with age, I’ve learnt to just carry on and do my best.I also think it’s linked to the fact that my daughters have grown up. As they spend more time away from home, I’ve gained more space for my own creativity. My work with Karmameju is very creative, but it also has to fit within the framework of a larger company. The herbarium work gives me an extra creative outlet, and I’m very grateful for the support I feel around me.
These works are a reinterpretation of my work.
Until now, I have worked with pressed plants on beautiful paper. For this exhibition, I have turned the classic format on its head by working directly on glass. This allows light to pass through and creates an optical space around the world’s lightest Japanese paper, which the manufacturer from the Japanese mountains describes as ‘as thin as the wings of a mayfly’.
The pressed flowers and stems float delicately above the open glass and are left vulnerable – just like nature itself. This openness invites the viewer even closer to both nature and the craftsmanship.
After the exhibition, the works are finished with a further layer of museum-grade glass and framed in oak, which lends the works the wood’s beautiful earthiness.
Birgit Lyngbye from Galleri Sonja and Norm Architects are the inspiration behind this new direction in my work. I love collaborating with people, and I am very much looking forward to experiencing the herbarium works in dialogue with the craftsmanship and design that characterise the exhibition.
Yes, I love circles. I always have. I find them so pleasing to the eye.
The exhibition’s central work, Seed Pod Moon, is, for me, a symbol of how essential nature is to the Earth when we view it from a distance – as far away as from the moon.
Yes, I love circles. I always have. I find them so pleasing to the eye.
The exhibition’s central work, Seed Pod Moon, is, for me, a symbol of how essential nature is to the Earth when we view it from a distance – as far away as from the moon.
One of the wonderful things about working with herbariums is that I’m even more aware of nature now.
I stop the car to pick plants by the roadside, and I pull weeds from between the paving stones when I go for a walk.
My most important collaborators are my parents and their garden. They are responsible for much of the planting, harvesting and pressing. My mum is always on the lookout for plants that will transform beautifully when pressed. She inspires me and always has.
Our family garden on Funen is also slowly becoming part of the story behind the works. My work is often described as peaceful and calming, and there is so much beauty and tranquillity in my parents’ garden that I believe its essence can be felt on a quantum level in the works.
The inspiration feels like a flow between craftsmanship, creativity and nature – something that moves through me and, in some ways, creates itself.
Open to all
Date:10–12 June 2026
Opening hours:10.00–17.00
Location: Kvindernes Bygning, Niels Hemmingsens Gade 8–10, Copenhagen
Even if you don’t use aromatherapeutic skincare or products for the home, nature still ensures that aromatherapy is all around us. Trees and plants release invisible plant compounds, phytoncides, which research links to lower stress levels and increased activity in the body’s natural defence cells. This is a beautiful account of forest bathing, nature’s aromatherapy and the scientific evidence behind it.
