'True Nordic' presents a comprehensive look at more than nine decades of Nordic and Scandinavian influence on Canadian craft, design and industrial production. Emphasising durability and truth to materials, the humanistic integrity of Scandinavian and Nordic Modernism resonated culturally with Canada, such as the iconic functionality of Danish designer Arne Jacobsen and the organic simplicity of renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Including essays by the much respected architect and theorist George Baird and founding curator of the Design Exchange, Rachel Gotlieb, contributors to True Nordic share their substantial insight and expertise into how these influences inspired the development of a particular style and the cultural language of Canadian design. AUTHOR: Rachel Gotlieb served as the founding Curator of the Design Exchange between 1990?2002, and co-wrote Design in Canada (Knopf Canada, 2001). She has also curated and co-curated several important exhibitions. George Baird is a Canadian architect and architectural educator most closely associated with the University of Toronto, although he also taught at Harvard University. Baird has been recognized for his teaching of architecture and urban design and was awarded the 2012 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. Dr. Michael J. Prokopow is a cultural historian and curator. Between 2004 and 2008, he was curator of the Design Exchange, Canada's only museum of 20th century industrial design. In 2012, he was co-curator of "Museum for the End of the World" The Monumental Project, Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche, in Toronto. Mark Kingwell is a Canadian professor of philosophy and associate chair at the University of Toronto. Kingwell has published twelve books and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, for contributions to theory and criticism.
