Thursday 23 March 2017

Diana Scherer I






German artist Diana Scherer has been  collaborating with biologists and ecologists of the Radboud University in Nijmegen, and growing a portfolio of plant matter by encouraging roots to grow into molded forms dictating the pattern of growth and creating a unique natural art form, a root textile. They hope to develop this work into fabric or carpets and this year they plan to grow a root dress.
The fantastic thing about this possibility is that the roots fix carbon dioxide so carbon is fixed in the fibers, helping to remove it from the air.




Monday 20 March 2017

Super Groupe




The French collective 'Super Groupe's' project "Bande de mutants" from 2012, juxtaposed bold garments to create monsters. You can see a video of the creations here.


Saturday 18 March 2017

Tracy Widdess




A collaboration focusing on fictional birds from children's books, led to the bird masks above being created by 'brutal knitter' Tracy Widdess and costumes by 'Ant' Babcia Mrówki. Photography is by Tomasz Biskup and Paulina Kania. Art direction, custom-made typography and 3D objects are by Piotr Buczkowski 


Friday 17 March 2017

Thursday 16 March 2017

Alexandra Drenth I




Alexandra Drenth lives and works in Amsterdam her artistic career started with photography and painting. In the last few years her focus has been textiles and in particular incredibly detailed hand embroidery, utilising combinations of fabrics old and the new.
Often her pieces have dense tracts of text telling stories from women's lives. These are accompanied by highly populated scenes and natural elements such as plants, flowers.


Wednesday 15 March 2017

Elaine Jae Jarrell

 Above and Below: 'Urban Wall Suit' 1969 cotton and silk painted.

Jae Jarrell inspired by her Grandfather's work as a tailor and her uncles haberdashery shop. An early exposure to fabrics and stitch techniques set the foundations for a career as an artist, fashion designer and advocate. Jae produced garments to inspire pride, power, energy, and self respect in African American communities. She was one of the founding members of AFRICOBRA
"One of the tenets of AFRICOBRA was to reinvent yourself, reinvent how you were, reinvent your whole manner so that you had a fresh voice. I was inventing my fabric. I had made a line of silk shirts at my Jae of Hyde Park shop, so I decided to use the scraps. I put them together in large and small patches of rectangular shapes and squares. I started to pay attention to the walls in our Chicago
area, all of the markings on them. AFRICOBRA had made us missionaries to the community; we were doing art for the community. And I saw the walls as community message boards. I was struck by folks who tagged questions or propositions on the wall that someone else might answer. I thought, “Wow, this is hip.” As I was putting together this fabric I thought, “Let me see if I can make bricks in it.” I used velvet ribbon for my mortar, and began to paint and write graffiti as well as incorporating the posters with announcements that you would find. That’s how I got to Urban Wall Suit."
Jae Jarrell


Tuesday 14 March 2017

Lavinia Schulz and Walter Holdt






Minya Diez-Dührkoop's photographs of  Lavinia Schulz and Walter Holdt's expressionist dance costumes for "Technology" 1920. Lavinia and Walter were a creative couple who shunned material wealth and possessions and lived for dance and performance. Their lives came to a tragic and early end when, in 1924, 4 days before her 28th birthday, Lavinia Schulz shot Walter Holdt dead and then turned the gun on herself. Thirty of the couple's costumes were later discovered in Hamburg and are now in the permanent collection at the Museum für Kunst. Below is a video if them being used as part of the museums Moderne exhibition in 2012.

Sunday 12 March 2017

Marie et Rose-Alice

Beautiful elegance and practicality in the clothing of French children's design company Marie and Rose-Alice based in Calais., these handcrafted clothes are available here.

Friday 10 March 2017

Kiki Xue and the Peking Opera



Kiki Xue's incredible photograph series 'Peking Opera', featuring work by the design houses of Bottega Veneta, Etro, Blumarine and Emporio Armani. Styled by Xiao Mu Fanor the May issue of  Harper’s Bazaar China
                     

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Mariko Kusumoto





There is something magical about translucence, and Mariko Kusumoto's works are magical in that they are almost biological or astronomical. Worlds within worlds, they remind me of minute cellular organisms or planets Added to this the colours of confectionary and the qualities of glass marbles and they have the intrinsic pleasure of childhood discoveries in an extreme manifestation and sophistication of craftsmanship and beauty.
"My recent fabric pieces have developed with much experimentation and demonstrate an evolution from the properties of metal to something completely opposite.  During the experimental process there is sometimes a breathtaking moment; I ‘catch’ those moments and develop ideas from that point.  I like the softness, gentle texture, and atmospheric (e.g., translucent) quality of the fabrics I use.  In all of my work there is always the insistence on skill and craftsmanship." Mariko Kusumoto