Li’s Forecast #7

Solid Energy

Column

January 2026

is one of the world’s most beloved and influential forecasters. Each month, she writes a column for See All This titled The Future is Handmade, where she shares her views on a handmade future and spotlights unique handmade objects. For Edelkoort, these objects are more than just beautiful – they represent a quiet form of resistance against an increasingly artificial future. Today: the radiating energy of a Smiley.

Column

January 2026

A colon, a hyphen and a bracket form together our most beloved and frequently used typed ideogram of a smile – as a cynical aside or in childlike joy. Choose the other bracket and we express disappointment swiftly and precisely, with the uneasy grimace that lingers for a moment after reading.

We rely on this emoticon constantly to set the tone in a text, alongside an image, or even on its own as a moment of pure happiness. The bright yellow, round, stylised Smiley – as it was called from the very beginning – has been part of popular culture since the 1950s, first used by a radio station. In the 1970s, competing insurance companies both adopted the little face as their logo, distributing it on buttons to reassure their customers of happiness. From that moment on, the symbol went through periods of rapid growth and increasing influence, appearing in visual art, music and fashion.

For the new year and the months ahead, the famous grin has been reimagined by artist Maria Roosen, who, alongside her other work, has launched a new line of portraits; she calls them her jewels :-).

This serial approach may be devoted to a single smiling image, but each incarnation is different: shaped by the glass, by the material itself, and stilled as it solidifies. A hidden twinkle begins to resemble a shy Mona Lisa; an ecstatic scream echoes Munch’s masterpiece. Colour plays its part too: pale blue, like the sky, for the gentler face; bright yellow to express inner pain; transparent like an open portrait that adapts to its surroundings.

These works can be chosen as medals for our inner battles (gold, silver and bronze), or worn as insignia for our good intentions – a gift to yourself, or to loved ones and friends. In these dark times, when fear prevails and the future feels uncertain, these smiles speak of courage and optimism in the face of indescribable chaos, making the day brighter, lighter. Each morning, the Smiley helps us to see the good in the day ahead. The substance of molten glass is like a glossy dough, radiating energy out into the world. Its weight feels significant, and the ribbons offer their own commentary through patterns and stripes; suddenly, a Smiley becomes ethnic, graphic, or comic. Scale and execution elevate the emoticon into small-scale visual art.

Lidewij Edelkoort

‘In these dark times, when fear prevails and the future feels uncertain, these smiles speak of courage and optimism in the face of indescribable chaos, making the day brighter, lighter’

The smiles were released during Maria Roosen’s retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (on view until 3 May 2026). Across a sequence of dignified, blissful rooms, her work is brought together not chronologically, but associatively, and with compassion. Watercolours punctuate the spaces. The works converse with one another, offering a full view of what glass can do within the sculptor’s oeuvre. Roosen works without reverence, yet with deep respect for glass and its many appearances and forms: from simple, even naïve, to narrative and erotic – almost explosive.

The masterpiece Isabelle, Charlotte, Marlene, Juliette, Georgina, Cecilia consists of a series of jugs hung at vagina height, which through shape and colour become a sensual set of portraits. The mythical woman as jug, in all her initial glory. Shining, iconic breasts in her own bed, and voluptuous milk jugs on her own armchair, point to the intimacy and entanglement Maria experiences with her work. She breathes creativity, turning every found object into a departure point for a new series. So too with a small Smiley charm that suddenly demanded to be made monumental. Scrub Rake Pour Sweep is the exhibition’s dynamic title, with the verb placed front and centre. To that list we now add one more word: Smiling.

Scrub Rake Pour Sweep Smile.