Estonian design in the second half of the Soviet period – the 1970s and 1980s – was marked by significant overlap and interactions with art. Many artists, designers and architects were active in both fields. Artists trained in applied arts frequently designed items for mass production or crafted limited-edition studio pieces, while those who had studied design or architecture also created works of fine art. The borders between the categories of art were also blurred for the artists themselves, whose works, despite the artists’ different backgrounds, were often inspired by the same problems and driven by similar impulses.

Photo: Stanislav Stepaško