Latvian designer and artist Dace Sūna is fascinated by how we fit into the vastness of the cosmos. Through light, glass, and water, she explores big ideas and turns them into immersive installations and sculptural objects that invite reflection and wonder. With a background in interior and contextual design from New York and Eindhoven, she blends craft, science, and spirituality in her work.
Recently, her Vertical Helium Fractal Candles were part of the Tactile Baltics exhibition at Milan Design Week. Now back in Riga, Dace keeps exploring how the universe and human experience connect.
Hi Dace, how are you? Where are you now?
Hi, I’m good, and right now I’m in Latvia, in Riga.
I read you have lived all over the world, can you talk about your training as a designer?
I’m originally from Latvia. For about ten years, I did modeling, so that’s how I started traveling. I lived in Milan, Paris, London, and then I moved to New York. When I was about 23, I got really fed up with modeling, so I applied to universities and got into FIT to study interior design. I ended up living in New York for six years, and that’s a very intense city. So I moved to Los Angeles for a while, but in 2020, with the pandemic, I decided to move back to Latvia because I felt I was too far away from home.
My first education was interior design. It was more practical, you really have to focus on technical information, learn the software, different styles, all that. When I moved back to Europe, I went to Eindhoven to do the Contextual Design master’s degree. And yes, I think what I learned there was very important for me as an artist. In a way, Eindhoven is more of an art school, it’s a very experimental setting. I think the Netherlands is one of the leading countries for innovation in the world, and because they see design as something very experimental, it supports new ideas and ways of doing things. So in that regard, I think it’s a good design school, but it’s completely different.
What’s the difference between how people approach things in the US and in Europe, since you’ve experienced both?
What I noticed is that in the US, universities are open 24/7. I remember we were doing computer renderings in the middle of the night, on Saturdays and Sundays. But in the Netherlands, if you have a workshop (they have all kinds of workshops with wood, metal, textile) they take a lunch break, a dinner break, the school closes at 10 p.m., and it’s also closed on Saturdays and Sundays. So they have a more mindful approach to when you’re going to work on your projects.
And I think that’s a really good balance. It’s important that you’re not working all the time. I remember some of my classmates were like, well, it’s Sunday, you’re not supposed to work. And for me, I was used to working all the time, as much as I could. I think there’s a different mindset in Europe, you take your time off.
At Dutch Design Week, you presented your work Cosmic Dancer. It’s quite complex, can you talk about it?
That was a big research project, a one-year-long project that I developed, it was the research for my master’s thesis. It questions a very big problem in our world: the nuclear situation and our understanding of what it means. So Cosmic Dancer is trying to comprehend this huge problem, because with the invention of nuclear weapons, we not only have to deal with the idea of our individual death, but also our communal death.
I tried to look at this existential question from a spiritual standpoint. But I was also doing interviews with scientists, nuclear scientists at Columbia University. And through all the research and a lot of experimentation, I came to the idea of using a single water drop to symbolize the nucleus, this nuclear element or particle. When the water drips, it falls rhythmically, creating a kind of mantra. Also, when I was living in Los Angeles, I got involved in yoga practice. I did Kundalini yoga teacher training, and I used that knowledge in the project, like meditation tools, the dripping sound, and these visual rhythmic repetitions that help bring people into a meditative state.
Cosmic Dancer is a place where people can gather and reflect on the nuclear situation. There’s water, a pool in the middle, yoga mats around it, and a projection of the water drop rippling outward. It brings all these elements together. It’s trying to comprehend this very global problem, but at the same time, I’m using a very universal language, water, which everyone can understand.
I liked a lot the fact that when I exhibited the project at Dutch Design Week, people would just come and lie down in Cosmic Dancer. Without me telling them what to do, they instinctively understood how to engage with the installation, which was a happy surprise for me. There’s this whole research background about the nuclear situation, but even without knowing that, there’s a meditative aspect to the installation. People would simply come together and pay attention to things. The idea is that by focusing on this one particle, you can start to comprehend this vast, complicated situation in the world.
And what what happened afterwards? You moved moved back to Latvia?
Yes, I’m now in Latvia, where I’m trying to establish my practice. I’ve been working on some exhibitions, and right now I’m preparing one for the Osaka Expo. It’s organized by the European Union, and they selected a few designers from each country. The exhibition is called Design Beyond Things.
For that, I’m working on an installation that I made back in Eindhoven. I’m trying to turn it into a glass object, a physical object, but behind it, there’s also science and an installation element with water and smoke.
The installation, Sky-Set, talks about air pollution in the sky. I’m using the scientific explanation for why the sky is blue and why the sun appears red. During wildfires or heavy air pollution, the sun turns red or orange, which is the same reason it looks orange during sunset. So I’m trying to highlight this global problem through the effect of light.
You exhibited your work Vertical Helium Fractal Candles at the Tactile Baltics exhibition in Milan this year. How did you develop it?
When I moved from New York to Los Angeles, I wanted to experiment and develop my artistic side by making things. I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to create, so I took a few classes. I started with ceramics at first, and then I did this workshop where I got involved in neon making.
When you’re working with neon, you’re melting glass and working with gases. There’s this vacuum process that involves high voltage, so it’s quite scientific, with all these different elements coming together. I got really fascinated by the craft. Neon is basically glass that you’re melting and shaping in a specific way. And as a spatial designer, I noticed that neon signs are usually two-dimensional, like graphic design. So I wanted to bring my neon practice into more sculptural, three-dimensional shapes and started experimenting with what that could look like.
By then, I had started working with helium. About 20 percent of our sun is helium, so it has this natural, soft glow, which you could see in the exhibition. It’s the natural color of the gas itself. I’m working with translucent glass, so you can actually see the gas inside, without any added color.
The first helium elements were actually created in the Big Bang, and now they’re in neutron stars, like our sun. So in a way, when I’m working with these materials, I’m also thinking about space and cosmological elements. In my practice, I always like to think about our place in the universe, how we connect to it, how we place ourselves in the cosmos. Those are the things I like to explore.
That’s how the fractal shapes came about. I was exploring those forms and ended up creating both a candle version and a chandelier version of these shapes. I actually showed it as Fractal Candles for the first time at New York Design Week, and then for Tactile Baltics at Milan Design Week, I was asked to create a custom design specifically for the exhibition.
Do you use other gases? Do you find they each have their own character or personality, like helium?
Yes, but helium is definitely my favorite gas because it’s a little softer. Neon gas is this bright red, and argon has more of a blue color. For certain projects, I would use those, but they’re not really my favourites.
Do you have a favorite material that you like to work with?
For installations, I really like working with water. But when it comes to objects, I’ve found that glass behaves very similarly to water.
I think my main material overall is light, but then the question is how to show light through different phenomena. So for me, it’s about working with water and light, or glass and light. Glass is interesting because you can melt it, and it becomes molten and liquid, kind of like water. But unlike water, you can also bring it back again into a solid form. So right now, I’d say light, water, and glass are my main materials.
How do you feel about artists and designers working in Latvia? I have this idea of it as a place with a lot of new energy. What’s your perspective?
I feel like design here is smaller than in other places, but at the same time, it’s emerging and developing. A big part of design in Latvia has been trying to fit into the Scandinavian world, but that’s already been done in many ways. So right now, I feel like we’re in this interesting stage of trying to find our own voice. And I think it’s a really exciting moment in time, and that some interesting things are going to come out of Latvia.
There are a few new designers who are working to develop their own voice and figure out what it means to be a Latvian designer. Some of them were also part of the Tactile Baltics exhibition. I think we’re small, but I believe that can actually become a strength. I really see things coming together, and I think it’s important for us to stay connected and support each other. Tactile Baltics was a good show for that sense of community.
Very last question. What’s awaiting you in the next few months?
So there’s this installation that I’m sending to Osaka, and if the exhibition can’t happen physically in Osaka, they’re talking about showing it in Brussels or at Milan Design Week next year. So that’s definitely on the horizon. I’m also trying to develop a variation of this installation, but in another shape and form, more like an object for industrial design. I think the work is strong and visually very pleasing, so I’m trying to push it further.
I’ve also been working on these slumped glass mirror shapes over the last year, and I think they’re finally getting polished enough to put them out into the world. That’s been in the works for a while.
Those are some of the things I’m working on right now, and my plan for the summer is to take a little break, because I know September is going to be busy again, so yes, I think I’ll pause a bit.
To get to know better the work of Latvian designer Dace Sūna, visit her website dacesuna.com or follow her Instagram account @dacesuna.
