Klara Veer was born in Tg-Mures, Romania in 1979. She works in the fields of interior architecture and product design and also on various other projects that involve direct engagement with people. Her interests revolve around celebrating human creativity, collaborative art and playfulness. Even when she’s creating fluffy creatures out of up-cycled pullovers.
After finishing Fine-Arts School in her hometown, Klara was trained as an architect in the Technical Universities of Cluj (RO) and Tampere (FI). From 2005, she worked in the B.A.U. office in Cluj on several projects that involved the architectural rehabilitation of historical monuments like the city’s Central Park with its Public Events Hall, or the Taylor's Tower which hosts nowadays the Cluj Urban Cultural Center (nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Prize 2011). She founded her own design studio in 2012. Her project for the community space in the Paintbrush Factory Cluj, a Center for Contemporary Art, was recently awarded with the 1st prize for interior architecture during the BATRA 2013 (Transylvanian Architecture Biennale Awards). Her projects and articles have been published in various romanian architecture & design magazines. Klara has a very clean, minimal but expressive approach towards design and architecture, while ecological and community related issues push her frequently towards creative experiments. She lives and works in Cluj, RO.
Lutopia has an ever growing population and each lutopian is unique and personalized. As an exception, limited softie-series are produced for special occasions, e.g. charitable auctions or the recent local ecologist rallies, when they were offered as gifts for the participating children. All Lutopians are designed and fabricated by Klara Veer in Cluj (RO), using upcycled textiles with natural fabrics (most of the times she uses donated woolen pullovers). Their conception involves a special collaborative process between the maker, a “godparent” who sends in the drawing and the creative doodler who has no idea about the surprise. Initially, Lutopia started as a playful exchange between an aunt and her nephew. The story began in 2009, when Klara decided to create a gift for the two year old Tom, using her favorite cashmere pullover which shrank in the washing machine. She tailored a softie inspired by the drawing of a Bird that he made for her.
The imaginary world got populated with dragons, animals and buildings sketched by the tireless inventor, but it also inspired friends and strangers to send in doodles and drawings (made by their friends and/or children). Beautiful life stories and friendships unfolded in the process and the immense joy of the receivers keeps the project going. Because putting smiles on people's faces is an addictive endeavor.
Exhibiting at Wood&Wool // LUtOPIA
LUtOPIA is a design project based on the transformation of creative doodles and children's drawings into three-dimensional, handmade softies. All are made using upcycled textiles with natural fabrics (most of the times she uses donated woolen pullovers). Their conception involves a special collaborative process between the maker, a “godparent” who sends in the drawing and the creative doodler who has no idea about the surprise.
