Cabinets of Wisdom

An exhibition showcasing the physical interpretations of Bulgarian proverbs by Finnish artists.

Client: Finlandia Vodka (2016)
My Role: Idea and Communications

Brief

Create an experiential marketing campaign in line with Finlandia’s latest global campaign, 1000 Years of Less Ordinary Wisdom, and generate a lot of PR and word of mouth.

Insight

The Bulgarian audience reacts very passionately to topics concerning national identity and the way foreigners see our culture.

Thinking

Bulgaria already has its own wisdom — collected in numerous peculiar proverbs. But how would a foreigner understand these proverbs without any local context?

Idea

We selected six Finnish creatives and assigned them to interpret famous Bulgarian proverbs as a work of art.

Each artist had to display their interpretation as the contents of a Cabinet of Wisdom — exposition design, inspired by the Renaissance period Cabinets of Curiosities.

The Cabinets were created using vintage Bulgarian furniture.

The final works were displayed in a pop-up exhibition in the center of Sofia.

Zine

A limited-edition zine was designed for visitors to keep after the event.