Dr. Karolina Jakaitė
karolina.jakaite[at]vda.lt
Design historian and researcher
Research interests: design studies in the 20th century (history, theories, methodologies); design and identity, national pavilions; Lithuanian design history in the 1960s–1980s; Soviet design and architecture; contemporary design: exhibitions, policy and management.
Art historian, senior researcher at the Institute of Art Research of the Vilnius Academy of Arts сince 2019. In 2017–2019 she was a Postdoctoral researcher at VAA „Lithuanian Design at International and Baltic Exhibitions 1966–1985: Origins, Influences, Tensions and Identities” (supervisor prof. dr. (hp) Giedrė Jankevičiūtė). In 2012 defended her PhD thesis in art criticism and art history “Lithuanian graphic design in the 1950s–1970s: between national and international” (supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lolita Jablonskienė) at VAA.
Since 2006 she has been teaching several courses on Design History and Design Management, mainly at Vilnius Academy of Arts. She has also written articles, edited books and catalogues on contemporary Lithuanian design, organised conferences and seminars, curated design exhibitions, and implemented various design management projects in Lithuania and abroad.
PROJECTS
Since December 2023 – researcher at the New European Bauhaus project “Baltic Way: Design histories from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the late 1980s–1990s“ (with dr. Triin Jerlei).
2020–2021 Creative project „Design foundation networking and mobility“. Project leader.
2020 Creative project „Design foundation digitization and the gallery ”. Project leader.
2017–2021 Creative project „Lithuanian design history documentation and dissemination“. Project leader and one of the researchers.
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2025 April 25–May 17 „Drop by Drop. Dot by Dot. 100th anniversary of Kęstutis Gvalda“ curator, at the cultural complex SODAS 2123 in Vilnius
2024 December 12 – 2025 July 27 Exhibition „Fairy Tale. Childhood in Lithuania during the late soviet Period“ (co-curated with Auksė Petrulienė, Vaiva Mikelionytė, Aidas Kulbokas), National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas Art Picture Gallery
2024 March 26 – April 27 „PROCESSES. Exhibition of the work of designer and architect Šarūnas Šlektavičius (1977–2023)” (co-curated with Gintautė Žemaitytė) at Titanikas, VAA Exhibition Halls, Vilnius
2023 March 25 – July 16 Curator of Lithuanian design capsule of International Exhibition “Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces“ at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum (chief curator dr. Claudia Banz)
2022 September 29 – October 22 Exhibition “Kaunas’ ASORTI: Stories of Graphic Design From 1964–1984”, Kaunas Central Post Office, part of the Kaunas 2022 programme "Designing Happiness"
2021 September 30 – November 13 Retrospective Exhibition „Antanas Kazakauskas: all is programmed“ (co-curated with Julijus Balčikonis), Vilnius Graphic Arts Centre
2020 September 24 – October 26 Exhibition “Gvalda’s Room: Designed by “Tara” Bureau” at the cultural complex SODAS 2123 in Vilnius
2020 February Exhibition “Collages of the Book Graphics by Antanas Kazakauskas (1937–2019)” (co- curated with Julijus Balčikonis) at the Vilnius Book Fair’2020
2018 July 13 – September 30 Exhibition „Stories of Things. Lithuanian Design 1918–2018“ (co-curated with Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, Ernestas Parulskis, Gintautė Žemaitytė), National Gallery of Art, Vilnius
2018 July 13 – September 30 Exhibition „Lithuania. London. 1968. The Odyssey of Lithuanian Design“ (co-curated with Julijus Balčikonis), National Gallery of Art, Vilnius
2016 December 15–31 Exhibition „Design Foundation: designed in Lithuania in the 1960s“ (co-curated with Šarūnas Šlektavičius, Gintautė Žemaitytė), National Gallery of Art, Vilnius
2016 October 20–November 27 Lithuanian posters’ at the International exhibition “Ephemeroids. XX Century in Posters” (Mysteckyi Arsenal, Kiev (Ukraine)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Scholarly books and studies
Karolina Jakaitė, Deimantė Jasiulevičiūtė (eds), Tara: Then and Now, Here and There: Archives and practices of the Experimental Design Bureau in Vilnius 1960s–1980s, Spector books, 2025.
https://www.spectorbooks.com/book/tara-then-and-now-here-and-there.
Antanas Kazakauskas: Everything is Programmed, Vilnius: Vilniaus grafikos meno centras, Vilniaus dailės akademija, 2022. https://www.vda.lt/en/institute-of-art-research/news/antanas-kazakauskas-everything-is-programmed
Šaltojo karo kapsulė: lietuvių dizainas Londone 1968 [The Cold War Capsule: Lithuanian design in London in 1968 (Summary)], Vilnius: LAPAS, 2019.
https://english.lithuanianculture.lt/lithuanian-culture-guide/2021/01/08/karolina-jakaite-the-cold-war-capsule/
Scholarly articles
„Fantasmagoryczny dziennik wizualny litewskiego grafika Arvydasa Každailisa z końca lat sześćdziesiątych jako manifest życia i twórczości“, in: Elementy, 8/2025, 52–73. DOI: 10.52652/E.8.25.4
Karolina Jakaitė, Triin Jerlei, „From Baltic Dreams to Reality: the significance of Nordic architecture and design in Lithuania and Estonia, from the late 1950s until 1970s” , in: Nordic Design in Translation: the Circulation of Objects, Ideas and Practices, eds. Charlotte Ashby, Shona Kallestrup, Series: Internationalism and the Arts, Volume 3, Peter Lang, 2023, 239–265.
Data recovery of Lithuanian design history: stories and links from visual folders of Antanas Kazakauskas’ archive, in: Memory full? Reimagining the relation between design and history: DHS annual conference, held online, 2-4 September 2021, Basel, Switzerland: conference proceedings, 340–347.
„The Lithuanian Pavilion in Chile in 1972: Architect Vladas Vizgirda’s Account Fifty Years Later“, in: Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, t. 105, ed. Laura Petrauskaitė, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2022, 262–294, https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.105.2022.113
„Antanas Kazakauskas – koliažinių kompozicijų ir dizaineriškų XX a. 7–8 deš. knygų rūbų kūrėjas“ [Antanas Kazakauskas, the Maker of Collages and Creative Book ‘Clothing’ in the 1960s-70s (Summary)], in: Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, t. 101–102, ed. Jolita Liškevičienė, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2021, 318–356, https://doi.org/10.37522/aaav.101.2021.74
“Design connections between Lithuania and Estonia: exhibitions, contexts and the brightest creative sparks’, in: New Pain: Young Estonian Design in the 1980s, ed. Jüri Kermik,Tallinn: Estonian Museum of Applied Art, 2018, 198–217.
"The Lithuanian Pavilion at the 1968 London Exhibition", translated by Jurij Dobriakov, Art in Translation, Volume 7, 2015, Issue 4, 520–551, ISSN 1756–1310, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17561310.2015.1108035
„Neringa: graphic design and identity from the 1960s–1970s“, in: Nida International Design Management Seminar and Workshop Papers, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2013, 84–92, http://issuu.com/karolinajakaite/docs/nida_papers_small
„Lietuvos paviljonas Londono parodoje 1968 m. [The Lithuanian Pavilion at the 1968 London Exhibition (Summary)“, in: Menotyra. 2013 m. Nr. 4, 302–323. ISSN: 1392-1002, http://mokslozurnalai.lmaleidykla.lt/menotyra/2013/4/6908
„Gaminiai bus puikūs“: lietuviškų prekių reklama ir grafinis dizainas XX a. 6 deš. pab. – 7 deš. (vietiniai ir eksportiniai variantai) [The products will be excellent”: advertising and graphic design of Lithuanian products in the late 1950s and 1960s (local and export versions) (Summary)“], in: Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, t. 61: Tekstai apie dizainą: lietuviški ir tarptautiniai kontekstai, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2011, 77–104, https://leidykla.vda.lt/Files/file/Acta_61/Acta%2061_Karolina_Jakaite_77ir104psl_net.pdf
Source Publications
Mokslo šaltinis „Lietuvos grafinio dizaino kūrėjai 1964–1984 [Lithuanian graphic design creators in 1964–1984 (Summary)]“, sud. K. Jakaitė, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2022, https://leidykla.vda.lt/lt/leidinys/1293543248/1964e280931984-m-lietuvos-grafinio-dizaino-kurejai
LITHUANIA LONDON 68 [catalogue related to the Lithuanian SSR pavilion at the Soviet Industry and Trade Exhibition at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London in 1968], ed. Karolina Jakaitė, Vilnius: VDA, leidykla LAPAS, 2018.
Articles in catalogues
"Imaginative and Experimental Design: about the most utopian exhibition objects, cosmic vacuum-cleaners and visitors‘ comments", in: Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces (ed. Claudia Banz), Berlin: Verlag Kettler, Kunstgewerbemuseum, 2023, p. 34–39.
„Design paradoxes“ (co-author Gintautė Žemaitytė), „The tape recorders Neringa and Lietuva“, „A lounge chair and business trips by Lithuanian designers to Africa“ (co-author Lijana Natalevičienė), „Albinas Purys’ ‘American’ chairs and ‘expo’ design“,„ Foreign examples and imitation design“, „The Saturnas vacuum cleaner“, „The first design graduates and their experiments with plastic“, „The Rūta and machine designers“, „The sensitive Šilelis television sets that picked up Swedish television channels“, „Bočių Liqueur and the story of Tara packaging“, „A nugget of postmodern design that outdid the Estonians“, „The EVA sports car“, „A Scandinavian chair from Tallinn“, in: Daiktų istorijos. Lietuvos dizainas 1918–2018 [Stories of Things. Lithuanian Design 1918–2018, eds. Karolina Jakaitė, Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, Ernestas Parulskis, Gintautė Žemaitytė, exhibition catalogue, Vilnius: LDM, 2018, p. 72–73, 76–77, 82–83, 90–91, 96–99, 104–107, 106–107, 110–111, 116–117, 124–129.
“On design in Lithuania: through a search for experiences, changes and connections”, in: Lithuanian Culture Guide, Vilnius: The International Cultural Programme Centre, 2018, p. 71–90.
“Design from Lithuania”, in: Lithuanian Culture Guide, Vilnius: The International Cultural Programme Centre, 2013, p. 61–73; http://lithuanianculture.lt/menosakos/design/?lang=en
Sukurta Lietuvoje 8 dešimtmetyje [Designed in Lithuanian in the 1970s], sudaryt. Karolina Jakaitė, Audronė Drungilaitė, Šarūnas Šlektavičius, Vilnius: Dizaino fondas, Lietuvos dizaino forumas, 2017.
Compiled and prepared publications
Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 117: Between Ideology and Imagination: African Art in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, eds., with dr. Karina Simonson, Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Arts, 2025, https://aaav.vda.lt/journal/issue/view/aaav117
Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 103: Dizaino procesai / Design processes, ed. by Karolina Jakaitė, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2021, https://aaav.vda.lt/journal/issue/view/aaav103
Nida International Design Management Seminar and Workshop Papers (study material, Karolina Jakaitė (ed.). Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Arts, 2013, ISBN: 978-609-447-105-6, http://issuu.com/karolinajakaite/docs/nida_papers_small
Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 61:Texts on Design: Lithuanian and International Contexts (ed.), Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2011, http://leidykla.vda.lt/lt/leidinys/1293521618/tekstai-apie-dizaina-lietuviski-ir-tarptautiniai-kontekstai
Other significant publications
Design by another name: Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian design exhibitions from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, in: Estonian Art, 2018, no 2, p. 72–81, http://www.estonianart.ee/design/design-by-another-name-estonian-latvian-and-lithuanian-design-exhibitions-from-the-early-1960s-to-the-late-1980si/
„Kаip žinosime kur eiti, jei nežinome, iš kur atėjome?“, in: Created in Lithuania, Nr. 2, 2018, p. 17–26, https://issuu.com/loftasvilnius/docs/2018_05_10_createdinlith_web
“On Lithuanian Design”, in: FORM, 2016, Nr. 264, p. 38–51, http://www.form.de/en/news/form-264-land-of-design-lithuania
“1954–1979: Was There Such a Thing as Soviet Lithuanian Design? Why Were the 1960s so Important for the History of Lithuanian Design? in: MMC Culture History, August 2016: http://www.mmcentras.lt/cultural-history/cultural-history/design/19541979-was-there-such-a-thing-as-soviet-lithuanian-design/why-were-the-1960s-so-important-for-the-history-of-lithuanian-design/79089
“1954–1979: Was There Such a Thing as Soviet Lithuanian Design? The Process of Graphic Design Projects: The Establishment and Practice of an Experimental Design Bureau, in: MMC Culture History, August 2016: http://www.mmcentras.lt/cultural-history/cultural-history/design/19541979-was-there-such-a-thing-as-soviet-lithuanian-design/the-process-of-graphic-design-projects-the-establishment-and-practice-of-an-experimental-design-bureau/79137
Conference Papers
Data Recovery of Lithuanian Design History: stories and links from visual folders of Antanas Kazakauskas’ archive. Design History Society Annual Conference “Memory Full: Reimagining the relations between design and history”, Switzerland, 2021 09 02–04.
“Not success” stories: Design objects from the Soviet exhibitions in the 1960s–80s: Lithuanian, Baltic and International interconnections. Conference „Building-Object/Design-Architecture: Exploring Interconnections“, United Kingdom, 2019 06 06–08.
