wool felt and textiles

Joseph Beuys (Part 7/7)

2010-12-23T12:38:00.001-08:00

and finally the last one : )

Joseph Beuys (Part 6/7)

2010-12-23T12:38:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys (Part 5/7)

2010-12-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys

People asks me what does it mean?
I can only say It means nothing, at least it means nothing in your understanding of meaning because art is not there to be understood. Art is the thing where you have to identify yourself because art contains elements of creativity which also exist in your being, all the use of the senses

Joseph Beuys: on Multiples

2010-12-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys's activist strategies found their most obvious expression within the realm of objects in his commitment to the production of multiples.

At the heart of Beuys’s practice was a particularly European form of multiples in which two- and three-dimensional objects are issued in editions.

Marcel Duchamp pioneered the concept when in the 1930s he began producing boîte-en-valise (box in a suitcase), a portable miniaturized compendium of sixty-nine of his most well-known works. In the 1960s he authorized the fabrication of an edition of his 1910s “readymades,”

Proliferation of artists' multiples in the 1960s and 1970s had a variety of motivations and explanations, revolving around a desire to liberate art from an elitist straitjacket.

Multiples supplanted the individual artist by a collaborative production team and ideally, the individual consumer by a mass audience perhaps unable to afford or relate to the products of the modern art market.

Thereby making them more widely available and abolishing the idea of the “original” work of art. In myriad formats, Beuys’s multiples were intended to be widely circulated and cheap to acquire, ranging from small-editioned objects to mass-produced political flyers and postcards, in materials as different as felt, wood, found objects like water bottles and tin cans, instruments, records, film, video, and audio tapes related to performances, these 572 works, rich with allusions to his biography and personal iconography, provide a complete picture of his diverse oeuvre.

Everess 1968. Multiple of two bottles, one with felt, in wooden box with rubber stamp

additions

Fernsehscheiebe (TV Disc) 1968 felt disc with stamped paper on woodboard

SCHLITTEN (SLED) 1969B wooden sled, felt, fabric straps, flashlight, fat, oil paint, string

Ja ja ja ja ja ne ne ne ne ne (Yes yes yes no no no no ) 1969 Layered felt with recording tape, 32 minutes

Filzangung (Felt Suit) 1970 felt The felt suit is not just a gag. It’s an extension of the sculptures I made during my performances. There, felt also appeared as an element of warmth, or as an isolator, Felt was used in all the categories of warmth sculpture, usually in connection with fat. And it’s derivative of that… Ultimately the concept of warmth goes even further. Not just physical warmth … another kind, namely spiritual or evolutionary warmth or a beginning of evolution.

Bruno cora-tee per la lotta continua vera (Bruno Cora-Tee for the True Continous Fight) 1975 bottle containing herb tea with a sealed top and printed label in a glazed wood box

OSTENDE on the beach or in the dunes a cube shaped house therein the Samurai Sword is a Blutwurst PLINTH 1970-82. Rolled felt in three parts, dried meat, metal, string, and glass display case, Dimensions variable

How the Dictatorship of the Parties Can Be Overcome 1971. Multiple of plastic shopping bag containing printed sheets, some with rubber stamp additions, and felt object

Institution and Noiseless Blackboard, with book Joseph Beuys Multiples 1971

Feldbett , 1982 field bed, electrical accumulator (copper, iron, wood), felt blankets installation

Samurai-Schwert (Samurai Sword) 1983. Multiple of felt and steel

ohne Titel (aus PLIGHT) , 1985 felt

Plight 1985 rolls of felt , piano

Jan Verwoert on Joseph Beuys: The Boss (e-flux)

2010-12-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

.... excerpt

1. The Questionable Authority of the Artist as Healer

One revealing example of an art historical interpretation of Beuys’ oeuvre that is wholly under the spell of the artist’s authority is found in The Cult of the Avant-garde Artist by the American critic Donald Kuspit.¹ Kuspit reads Beuys’ entire practice through the image of the shamanistic healer that Beuys projected to the public, portraying him as the last representative of the venerable tradition of avant-garde artists who believed their task to be one of helping humanity to heal the alienation of modern life (in Kuspit’s view, Warhol’s consent to alienation sealed the decline of that tradition). As evidence for this interpretation, Kuspit quotes two programmatic statements by Beuys: “My intention: healthy chaos, healthy amorphousness in a known medium which consciously warmed a cold, torpid form from the past, a convention of society, and which makes possible future forms.”² And in conclusion: “This is precisely what the shaman does in order to bring about change and development: his nature is therapeutic.”³ Now, the concept of healing raises a series of questions: whom does Beuys claim to heal? And of what? By what means, and by whose authority? Kuspit answers these questions succinctly: the Germans, of the trauma of national collapse, and through the healing energy of an original, pagan creativity that he taps, for them, by virtue of his authority as healer.
Kuspit then proceeds to interpret National Socialism as an expression of exaggerated faith in technocratic rationality (and hence as an exemplary symptom of modern alienation), arriving at the conclusion that recovery from the pathologies of this strain of rationalism can only be achieved by liberating a Dionysian creativity of the very sort Beuys claimed to have released. Kuspit writes: “The Germans had to be cured of their pathological belief in the authority of reason, which they readily put before life itself.”⁴ Beuys, the shamanistic healer, is thereafter portrayed as the antithesis of Hitler, the technocratic dictator: “Beuys was warm where Hitler was cold.”⁵ This interpretation is bizarre. Nevertheless, it unfolds the logical implications of the concept of healing that Beuys established. The figure of the healer is messianic in nature, and is therefore of the same ilk as the messianic leader of men. A direct comparison therefore seems obvious. On somewhat closer inspection, however, this juxtaposition necessarily leads to a result that directly contradicts Kuspit’s interpretation. The messianic goal of healing modern man of his alienation by tapping primordial forces does not distinguish Beuys from Hitler but links them. The assertion that the German people could be cured of the maladies caused by the decline and decadence of modern culture through the rediscovery of their mythical, pagan (allegedly “Aryan”) creative powers was, after all, the core of the ideology by which the National Socialists justified their claim to power. The motto “Am Deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen” (The German spirit shall heal the world) was taken to articulate the association of the idea of healing with just such an ideology.⁶

However, the fact that, in the course of history, the idea of healing came to be associated with this particular ideology does not discredit Beuys’ approach to it per se. The motif of mythical healing—the notion that a rediscovery of a mythical creativity would offer a cure to the alienations of modern society—has occupied a central position in modern social criticism since early Romanticism (at the latest).⁷ In this form and function the motif can be found in the work of many modern thinkers artists, including (as Rüdiger Sünner has shown) Friedrich Schlegel and Nietzsche, as well as Helena Blavatsky (one of the key figures of modern occultism, the founder of theosophy, and an inspiration for Rudolf Steiner).⁸ If Beuys was enthusiastic about Celtic myth, for example, and saw James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake to be the expression of the buried mythical, spiritual creativity of—as he literally says—“Indo-Aryan” culture, it is certainly reasonable to assume that his use of the term stems from authors such as Blavatsky.⁹ Channeled through authors such as Adolf Lanz and Guido von List, Blavatsky’s teachings were, however, also a source of inspiration for Hitler and Himmler, who developed the racial doctrine implicit to some extent in theosophy into a justification for their “völkisch” (racist and nationalist) doctrine of national recuperation.¹⁰ One application of the concept of healing cannot be directly reduced to the other. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that, seen in the context of the history of ideas, the idea of modern culture’s return to the supposedly mythical powers of a premodern culture was the impulse behind both Romantic projects to reform life and National Socialist ideology. That this ideological aspect is never really questioned or even acknowledged by Beuys and his orthodox interpreters (such as Kuspit) exposes the limits of the interpretive discourse Beuys established: he never submitted his own key concepts to a critical, historical analysis.

While he frequently dipped into the history of ideas for his discourse, Beuys did not apparently feel compelled to consider the fact that ideas have specific histories—ones that, in certain instances, might make it necessary to reject them, and the traditions they have come to stand for. In his artistic practice, however, the critical reconsideration of traditional forms was at the heart of his approach. The postcard work Manifest (Manifesto, 1985) offers a poignant slogan for this. In handwriting it reads: “Manifesto the error already begins when someone is about to buy a stretcher and canvas. Joseph Beuys, November 1, 1985.” The absence of a similarly critical approach to tradition in Beuys’ use of theoretical concepts may not ultimately be that problematic in terms of the content of the particular ideas he cites. What does have a significant bearing on the politics of Beuys’ overall practice is his adoption of a speaking position that is inextricably bound to the articulation of certain ideas precisely because this position is traditionally justified by these ideas: the position of the messianic speaker whose mythical authority is justified and authenticated by the invocation of the idea of primordial healing powers. The use of the concept of healing is thus synonymous with the creation of an unquestioned—and, by virtue of its superior justification, also unquestionable—position of power. However, if Beuys’ liberating approach to conventions of sculpture and to the possibility of art in general is understood as evidence of a critical attitude, it seems only fair to assume that the creation of such an unquestionable power position can hardly have been his primary concern. In positioning himself as a speaker, then, it would even appear integral to Beuys’ practice to distance himself from the power mechanisms at play.
No doubt, the desire for healing was an important motif in Beuys’ oeuvre. The question is whether the specific way in which he dealt with this desire in his work does indeed have a considerable artistic and historical significance, not because Beuys succeeded in being or becoming the healer he purported to be, but precisely because he (whether consciously or not is hard to say) allowed the inherent contradictions of the concept of messianic healing to become manifest within his work. One example to start with is Beuys’ complex interpretation of the motif of the Messiah in Zeige Deine Wunde (Show Your Wounds, 1976). In the Christian tradition, the act of showing the wounds is the gesture by which Christ reveals himself to his disciples as the resurrected Messiah. Strictly speaking, therefore, there can only be one person who is entitled to show his wounds: the Savior himself. The title of the work, however, is an appeal addressed to another person. Beuys here effectively changes the monologue of messianic revelation into a dialogue and thus multiplies the available speaking positions: anyone who feels addressed by the appeal is here invited to adopt the messianic position. This moment of multiplication is in fact also the primary formal characteristic of the installation. All of its elements are doubled. The central elements in the work are two stretchers on wheels, underneath each of which a zinc box and an empty glass vessel are placed. Anyone who encounters death or healing here does not do so alone. Death or convalescence is presented as an existential experience in which our lives come to mirror each other. The claim to uniqueness associated with the role of the Messiah is thus eroded linguistically in the title and literally in the space of the installation.

jon verwoert - e-flux

'Show Your Wound' was an installation created by Beuys in 1974-75 in a bleak pedestrian underpass in Munich. Elements used there can be seen in these negatives; a pair of dissecting tables and the heads of two iron agricultural tools, mounted on wooden sticks. The wound was a recurring theme for the artist. On a personal level it referred to injuries he received in the Second World War, his breakdown in the 1950s and his heart attack in 1975. More generally, he used the idea to reference events in Germany's past and the divide between Eastern and Western cultures.

Mixed media
107.00 x 79.00 x 5.00 cm
ARTIST ROOMS

National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008

Joseph Beuys (Part 4/7)

2010-12-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys (Part 3/7)

2010-12-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys (Part 2/7)

2010-12-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys - Infiltration for Piano 1966 / The Skin 1984

2010-12-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

"... everything in the scale in the possibilities is involved from noise to concept,the sound of the piano is trapped. The piano is an instrument to produce sound, when not in use is silent but still has sound potential. When no sound is possible the piano is condemned to silence.

The relationship to the human position is the red crosses of emergency, if we remain silent. We fail to make the next evolution step.

Such an object is intended as a stimulus for discussion and in no way is to be taken as an aesthetic product it is vital that human kind should slowly learn to speak.

Everything must be expressed, negatives even those beyond language." Joseph Beuys

http://www.ubu.com/film/beuys_transformer.html (min 40)

Joseph Beuys (German, 1921-1986), Infiltration homogen für Konzertflügel (Homogeneous Infiltration for Piano), 1966, piano covered with felt and leather, 100 x 152 x 240 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

Joseph Beuys, Die Haut (The Skin), 1984, felt and leather, 100 x 152 x 240 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

Sheep in the snow, Joseph Beuys 1952

2010-12-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Joseph Beuys
Sheep in the snow 1952

There are very few accounts of this piece, in fact in most books it is not mentioned.

'Sheep in the snow' is part of his early works what is surprising is how often it is omitted as it alludes to the material he would later use in his most known pieces.

In this stage of his work, felt is represented rather than used in itself: a representation.

Joseph Beuys had not integrated probably into his work the idea of the substance and the materiality of the actual materials as sources of meaning, process and knowledge that later on he made part of his healing practice, discourse and teachings.

Joseph Beuys (Part 1/7)

2010-12-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Exhibition "REALITY LAB," from November 16 to December 26 @ 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

2010-11-15T10:26:00.000-08:00

Issey Miyake and his REALITY LAB. team are proud to announce their first project, “132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE” : a modern solution by which to make clothes and industrial products based upon the mathematical principle of origami as well as clothing technology. It was shown for the first time in Tokyo on August 23 and 24, 2010.

http://mds.isseymiyake.com/im_en_news/

The 132 5 Issey Miyake collection is based on a range of clothing that unfold from two-dimensional geometric shapes into structured shirts, skirts, pants and dresses in a similar way as origami. The title explains the notion: 1 refers to a single piece of fabric, 3 to a three-dimensional shape reduced to 2-dimensions, and 5 refers to the fifth dimension, which Miyake describes as the moment the garment is worn and comes to life “through the communication among people.” Ten basic two-dimensional patterns make up the collection, the eventual garments being decided by the lines the patterns are cut along and their position.

The project is a collaboration between Miyake's lab and Japanese computer Scientist Jun Mitani, who developed software that allowed him to construct three-dimensional origami forms from a single sheet of paper. Miayke's goal was to create dresses and skirts from a single piece of cloth. Instead of cutting and sewing, the fabric would be folded with sharp, precise, permanent creases — like those of origami — based on Mitani’s computer-generated formulas.

When folded, the garments are pleasing flat round geometric shapes such as stars and swirls. When unfolded, they become multi-faceted angular tubes that can be worn as day dresses, cocktail dresses or a long skirt. Miyake wanted the garments to be as sustainable as possible, so he choose to work with fabrics made of recycled plastic bottles.

http://www.infrabodies.com/132-5-by-issey-miyakes-reality-lab

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, as a venue to consider roles of design in the society, hold Exhibition "REALITY LAB," from November 16 to December 26. According to the exhibition director, Issey Miyake, the job of a designer consists of "a continual search for means by which to turn ideas into reality for those who can use them- in other words, a 'REALITY LAB'." Using this concept as a starting point, the exhibition's goal is to challenge, explore and celebrate the infinite "possibilities of creation."

The Japanese art of manufacturing, or of making things, is renowned worldwide for its precision. It is the fruit of an application of knowledge and experience, combined with handwork and an aesthetic consciousness. At present, however, the manufacturing industry in Japan is facing increasingly grave issues: the loss of talented workers, poor production, and shrinking resources due to the global environmental crisis. How can design provide a solution to these problems?

Issey Miyake has a long-standing history of forging relationships with and encouraging production and plants all over Japan. As a result, he has been able to work in tandem with many of these companies to experiment with new processes and technologies that have always resulted in the new and exciting products that his followers have come to expect. The exhibition will introduce the works by designers, artists, scientists, and companies who came together in the process of his research. Our goal is to provide an opportunity to reflect together upon the nature and possibilities of design that are revealed within the process of creation.

http://www.2121designsight.jp/en/program/reallab/about.html

Japanese designer Issey Miyake has long been a fashion innovator. Since handing over daily design duties at his Tokyo fashion house in 1997, Miyake has spent his time exploring new ways to make clothes more efficient, ecological and accessible while remaining stylish and modern. Today, he leads the Reality Lab, a consortium of young designers that, as he explains, “challenges, explores and celebrates the infinite possibilities of creativity.”

On September 7, Miyake unveiled the lab’s latest project — 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE — at the Galerie Kreo on the Left Bank in Paris. The title explains the notion: one piece of fabric, a three-dimensional shape reduced to two, and the fifth dimension, which Miyake describes as the moment the garment is worn and comes to life “through the communication among people.” (In physics, the fifth dimension is a hypothetical extra dimension after the three spatial ones and the fourth, which is time. Some astrophysicists argue that the fifth dimension may be the universe that we live in.)

http://www.2121designsight.jp/en/program/reallab/about.html

Lygia Pape, Central Exhibition 53rd Venice Biennale 2009

2010-10-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

"Imbued of art's regenerative mission," the artists of Rio de Janeiro's Grupo Frente united in 1953 under the banner of what critic Mário Pedrosa hailed at the time as a new "freedom of creation" for art understood as a "vital, independent activity."(1) A founding member of the Frente ("the Front"), alongside artists including Ivan Serpa and Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape emerged at the forefront of the Brazilian avant-garde of the 1950s. Rejecting representation and naturalism, the Frente artists gravitated toward the principles of concrete art and geometric abstraction first introduced to Brazil at the São Paulo Bienal of 1951. Influenced by Mondrian's Neo-Plasticism and the aesthetic principles of the Bauhaus, brought to Brazil in the person of Max Bill, Pape and others found a powerful point of departure in the constructive rigor, formal sequencing, and serial geometries of concretism.

The Frente artists would eventually diverge from the more severe formalism of São Paulo's Grupo Ruptura, whose 1952 manifesto first set out the values of concrete art in Brazil, evolving the objective language of abstraction gradually toward the participatory experience of form. The creative freedoms explored by the Frente group anticipate the emergence in 1959 of Neo-Concretism, a movement embraced by Pape, Lygia Clark and Oiticica for its privileging of subjectivity and phenomenological experience. Perhaps best known for her Neo-Concrete works, Pape experimented freely with medium and process during those years, producing the marvelous Book of Creation, which through the viewer's interaction reveals the story of the world's creation through form and color, and the Neo-Concrete Ballets, which inventively combined performance, sculpture and film.

Pape showed in Frente group exhibitions in 1954 and 1956, and her work from this early period already suggests the directions in which she would move by the end of the decade. Pape's wooden reliefs take their cue from concretist precepts, witnessed in the formal sequencing of the set of black squares in the present work, for instance, and in the clear distinction between those squares and the orange background. Here, the rhythmic order of the identical black squares simultaneously echoes the shape of the orange square and suggests a departure from the constraints of that form. The centripetal energy of the diagonal between the squared-off clusters of black squares is set in dynamic tension with the opposing diagonal, which in turn suggests the perceptual integration of the artwork into its surrounding space. The internal tension between the forms and their background, from which Pape started, cedes to the new tension between the object-hood of the work and the space in which it exists. "These reliefs are incorporated in the wall (real space) as if they were part of it," Fernando Cocchiarale explains. "Their optical and tactical integration is created through a chromatic artifice." In the present example, the orange square contrasts with the white of the gallery wall in the same sense that the smaller black squares stand out against the orange background, resulting in what Cocchiarale describes as a "perceptive feeling of continuity, which makes the reliefs look like a geometric protuberance on the walls of the exhibition space."(2)

Pape's interest in integrating the artwork more organically with the external world would reverberate throughout her career, as she variously explored the formal, expressive and social dimensions of art. Her works from the Frente years, such as the present relief, positively suggest the beginnings of her aesthetic project in the constructive ideas of geometry and their projection into the space of the world.

Abby McEwen.

1) M. Pedrosa, quoted in F. Gullar, "Frente Group and the Neo-Concrete Reaction," in Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, São Paulo: DBA, 1998, 146, 148.
2) F. Cocchiarale, Lygia Pape: Entre o olho e o espírito, Porto: Mimesis, 2004, 63-4.

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5203731

Pape, Lygia (1929-2004)

np status

2010-10-04T14:59:00.003-07:00

...loose words knotted themselves to asphixiation !!!!!!!!!

Mayahuana Lamps by Toyo Ito for Yamagiwa

2010-10-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yamagiwa has supported Toyo Ito for his architectural lighting projects for many years yet the MAYUHANA is the very first collaboration for the product design development. A number of trials and errors were required in order to industrialize the MAYUHANA lamps, although the idea of collaboration launched more than a decade ago.

Today, there are a total of 14 types of MAYUHANA available from floor lamps to large scale pendant lamps. Toyo Ito has continued creating a variety of shapes and sizes of MAYUHANA lamps since its premiere of prototypes in Milan during the International Furniture and Lighting Fairs.

MAYUHANA series was created by reeling string around a mold the way thread is spun off a cocoon. The softness of the light reminiscent of a traditional Japanese portable paper lantern (Bonbori) is enhanced by the light coming through the double and triple shelters, and brings to mind the image of light depicted in the famous novel Junichiro Tanizaki's ''In Praise of Shadows''.

In the course of designing new additions, Ito mentioned that MAYUHANA does not refer specifically to Occidental nor Oriental design. It is both geometric and non-geometric. It is something he looks for in his architecture, where he is not restrained to existing boundaries

http://www.yamagiwa.co.jp/html_mail/press/F6/top.html

MAYUHANA GIANT(PE113) 　
by Nacasa & Partners inc,　
Spazio Vito Nacci, Milano，April 2009

PLENUM - DESCARTES

2010-10-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

Descartes's Mechanical Philosophy

According to French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650), the universe operated as a continuously running machine which God had set in motion. Since he rejected Newton's theory of gravity and idea of a vacuum in space, Descartes argued that instead the universe was composed of a "subtle matter" he named "plenum," which swirled in vortices like whirlpools and actually moved the planets by contact. Here, these vortices carry the planets around the Sun.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/heavens.html

Andreas Gefeller; The Japan Works

2010-10-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

The Japan Series are as interesting as the urban textiles under which we live every day and under which we travel. The urban has a textile scale which it can not be overlooked in this images. It is made present by switching its horizon from above to infront, the scale is also confronting as is one has never before seen such a thing, being that it is there always.

Textiles and photography and not related but a reading of it.

http://www.andreasgefeller.com/

The artistic work of Andreas Gefeller comprises the series »Halbwertszeiten« (1996), »Soma« (2000), »Supervisions« (begun in 2002) and »The Japan Series« (2010).

The Japan Series was photographed in the context of »European Eyes on Japan« in the prefecture Tottori. In the series Supervisions, Gefeller employs a technically elaborate method to scan the surfaces of urban sites. By means of long-term exposure, the Duesseldorf based photo artist has captured a world of starkly utopian quality in Soma. Halbwertszeiten throws an intense light on people and landscapes in the near surroundings of Tschernobyl − 10 years after the nuclear catastr

Andreas Gefeller; Supervisions

2010-10-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

Andreas Gefeller is a photographer born, living and working in Dusserldorf, Germany.

There is a strong repetition of patterns and a methodical labor behind each image on his Supervisions series. Landscape and building alike are scaned and sewn together like a patch work quilt, seemlessly. Any trace of boundaries is blurred. The images are no less than 100cm x 100cm the resolution of the detail is surprising as you would think the image has been take from very far.

Tara Donovan Exhibition at San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art

2009-11-16T19:30:00.001-08:00

Organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, this is the first major museum survey of Tara Donovan’s work. The artist’s sculptural installations are based on the physical properties and capabilities of a single accumulated material. Donovan uses prosaic items including electrical cable, adding machine paper, straight pins, paper plates, and toothpicks. These materials are arranged in a manner that sometimes mimics the organization of geological or biological forms.

Tara Donovan, Untitled (Styrofoam Cups), 2008, Styrofoam cups, hot glue

Through this subtle and remarkably affecting presentation, drinking straws may suggest clouds and plastic cups may call to mind a brittle winter landscape. Part of the intrigue of Donovan’s practice lies in the way she is able to present a mass of unaltered, simple objects that do not disguise what they are while simultaneously suggesting a range of richly poetic associations.

http://www.mcasd.org/exhibitions/exhibition.php?EID=194

Predock Frane Architects

2009-10-20T21:07:00.001-07:00

Venice Bienale 2004

The working title “Acqua Alta” refers to the high tide water that floods the 1,000 yr. old sinking city of Venice up to 100 times a year. This tidal invasion of brackish water, affected by forces that range from the moon to local winds, is part of everyday life for the average Venetian. The city is routinely stained/invaded by these surges that at times reach as high as 2 meters above mean sea level. (flood of 1966) Venice is an improbable city - one that places human civilization directly in contact with natural and evolutionary forces.

Preliminary project description:
In plan our project is based on a “pixelated” field that evokes water patterns, marsh patterns and the complex patterns of piers that underpin the city. Approximately 5,000-6,000 points demarcating these patterns would be extruded in the form of filament line from floor to ceiling with discrete connections to floor and ceiling. Each strand of nearly invisible filament would be stained to a height around average adult eye level - referring to the highest tidal levels in Venice and to evoke a sense of sinking into a medium. Paths cut between denser islands of filament would allow for a rich spatial experience, placing the viewer in many different positions relative to the strings. Within an all white space natural light would be diffuse, flowing across the filament - at times highlighting them and at times reinforcing their invisibility.

2005 Yale University

Originally commissioned as part of a group exhibition for the 2004 Venice Biennale this scaled-down version built for the "Transcending Type" group show at the Yale School of Architecture, recycles and re-adapts the material and spatial ideas of the original piece, while exploring new possibilities for a larger architectural scale.

2006 Copper Hewitt National Museum

The model that we produced is intended to hover between the rich conceptual ground of the central valley and the actuality of the museum proposal. It is considered a re-visitation of an on-going investigation into an analogous project in which the Central Valley is the source material for deploying a process of "generative repetition". This methodology focuses on mapping specific existing morphologies, "actions", systems, and material conditions; then generating and forecasting new architectural results. These studies include: ground (manipulated ground vs. natural topologies), surface actions (cuts, transformations, etc.), hydrology (complex systems of water - from snow pack/rivers, rain and artesian wells), filigree (crops/agricultural landscape layer that hovers over the ground), and sky (algorithmic patterns, reflectivity).

Project Components:

Earth/ground plane - Intersections of natural conditions meeting regularized/gridded conditions, intersection of formalized architectural space and landscape.

Action plane - The conceptual surface where human and natural forces affect continuous transformation.

Filligree/hydrology - This component literally stitches together the ground plane to the series of upper layers.

Graft - This horizon layer acts as an implied dividing line between the lower grounded gravitational elements (ground plane) and lighter, hovering pieces (sky plane).

Sky/ceiling - Algorithmic patterns that suggests the ephemeral fleeting nature of the sky.

2008 Pomona College

Our installation for the Pomona College Project Series maps and curates the body of land roughly contained within portions of Southern California's Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties known as the Inland Empire. Looking through the lens of Google Earth, as though from a spaceship observing the intimate processes below, we have focused our observation of this de-centered suburban landscape upon a generic set of building types that are situated within the complex interdependency of dwelling and commodity distribution. Our project emerges as a version of a "supply and demand" diagram that is extracted from the locality of the Empire's terrain.On one end of the IE's found building spectrum is a vast aggregate of bedroom communities, and on the other, a select and limited set of massive regional depot centers which are pushing new boundaries in terms of scale and distribution potential. In between, a hidden web of relations and flows (transport, storage, exchange) defines the most current and aggressive form of 21st C. global capital distribution and consumption.
Our working methodology of "generative repetition" curates a set of existing local circumstances into new projects that are not only representational and indexical but projective. Like DJ's sampling from an array of sound, our interest as designers lies in strategies that deal with the vast territory of the pre-existing; viewing this mass of dynamic material as a way of making new worlds. Not only an indicator of scalar and quantitative relationships, Inland Empire intentionally isolates a chain of relations that is normally unseen and physically distinct. Through this reformation, new questions, understandings and spatial configurations emerge: Where does the space of architecture end and city/landscape begin? Can the volume of buildings reach a tipping point where a new type of space emerges? Which building type is enabling which? Is the image content of architecture relational and proportional to scale and use? Are there underlying logics and geometries that structure and define these relations? Can these be made visible?
The installation itself consists of six building types caught in a typical chain of commodity distribution set in a 1:1 scalar relationship. These abstracted "boxes" are suspended by 376 lines of nylon filament which are analogous to the flows of freeways, boulevards and streets. Accompanying the suspended models, a graphic pattern on the side walls conveys a 1/10th proportional quantitative relationship of houses to mega distribution centers (75,000 houses: 1 mega distribution center). From the top of the gallery space, a model of the 1.7 million square foot regional depot building (the largest in the Inland Empire), hovers like a threatening spaceship over the other building types: local depot, big box retail, mini mall, apartment and single family house. While each building type is abstracted to convey its basic architectural language (skylights, etc), there is a movement from imageability (house) to genericism (depot) - a further conveyance of that which is visible and laden with projected appearance vs. that which is pure machine.

www.predockfrane.com

Do Ho Suh

2009-10-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Do Ho Suh was born in Seoul, Korea in 1962. Interested in the malleability of space in both its physical and metaphorical manifestations, Do Ho Suh constructs site-specific installations that question the boundaries of identity. His work explores the relation between individuality, collectivity, and anonymity.

http://www.lehmannmaupin.com

This silk homes bring to mind the spider webb. Silk in this instance and so elaborated as to make the times of walls, windows and homely details almos falling to the ground as for its delicate materiality. The translucency as a homely quality challenges our notions of the form, that of housing, or stairs and floors. What holds us together seems as fragile as it really is yet by holding us long enough we like to think of them as everlasting. The fabrics made out of threads convey the individual and the collective, his shift and play with the one and many is constant through out his work. Yet if you pull one the whole thing may fall apart.

The man made of many strings and many suits; as one arrives to this moment having worn many suits we are made of many us and we are held together by those memories and lived experiences, the people that have gone by are also here and we all hold a string tied to those gone.

Really beautiful work.

1942, New York - Mile of String, Marcel Duchamp

2009-10-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

In 1942, Andre Breton organised a retrospective exhibition of Surrealist art in New York: First Papers of Surrealism. For the vernissage Marcel Duchamp created this installation – a gigantic web – called the Mile of String. He and Breton furthermore arranged for a number of children to ball in the room thereby making it very difficult for the guests to see the paintings.

The gallery space, such a predetermined expectation. And Duchamp stays as the first to play on expecatations and challenge every inch of them. From then on what we see are replays of what his first attempt produced. More soon ...

Sophia Dixon Dillo

2009-10-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

The Banff Center - Nadia Pacheco - HILANDO

2009-10-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Blurred boundaries as where the weave ends, begins or is constructed, a frozen moment of the construction of the weave; almost invisible, almost not there, dissappearing and appearing as one moves through out the room. What one finally grasps is retained as memory in the retina appearing outside the room as one leaves the installation room.

The room all white and through out the lines almost visible almost invisible. As you walk they appear and disappear. The lines come out as if the entire room was the loom. And the action that of weaving was in the process of, yet not here. Like frozen in time and vanishing. To look at the piece was almost impossible, was the room weaving and caught in action. Or was it time vanishing, evaporating and just leaving behind a vanishing memory that we carry outside the room as an imprint that last just a few moments to carry the piece away with us.The invisibility of the piece is interesting and how memory can be carried farther only to dissappear once more, and how a trace can be traced in our bodies as a reaction of our own internal responses and how our bodies try to adapt to ever changing conditions. What was there to see makes a very interesting question if there was hardly anything to see. Maybe the attempt to see makes the piece and not the piece itself.

MOCA - Ball_Nogues Studio

2009-10-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Feathered Edge is an installation by Ball-Nogues Studio; a site-specific project that uses thread, over 21 miles of colored strings configured in catenary curves span the gallery space to form a dynamic environment.Digital technology was used as a tool to conceive this installation in the MOCA PAcific Design Center the strings are magenta, cyan, yellow and black dye.

http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?id=415

Light passes through the skylight and reaches the floor. A trace that moves and dissappears through out the day. Light is made out of all the colors of the spectrum not only cyan, magenta, yellow and black. A reference perhaps to the light emitting device in which this piece was conceived and developed.

It is a fun thought your computer screen has melted through the skylight, don´t you think?

Ball Nogues Studio also mentions how the software will give you the map on how to build or construct something but yes its the craft that produces the actual materiality.

Hands on a light emitting screen or hands on the material; is how things get built. The software will do anything, sometimes the hardest thing is to figure out how to build it. The form with all its mathematical presumption is a natural one given that the strings and gravity react making catenary curves, not much formula but a planet spinning.

On view at MOCA Pacific Design Center until November 15th.

MINIARTEXTIL - ITALIA

2009-10-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

MiniArTextil is part of Art&Art annual exhibition held in Italy.

This year the exhibition will take place in the coming month of September. Each year a theme is explored curators and artists present the idea transformed or thought upside down.

I have looked into their archives and found some interesting images which unfortunately cannot pin down to which artist the piece belongs to. I have not found much related to wool as information is a bit scarce in the site but here are some images related to out textile concern.

www.miniartextil.it

I assume that the length of each string is exactly the same and that it is the holding structure which defines how far down each string reaches. Very simple yet the thinking is very refined. Makes me think of cause and effect, interdependence; you pull here and it reacts there. Plan and elevation tighly held as a response to the other. A line or a point?

BOTH

2009-10-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

Felted balls of wool make wonderful wall installations, rugs and textile structures.

Wool in its many outcomes; as industrial wool felt makes for structure and the felted wool balls are sewn to it in various ways.

Both's company statement is following the images from which you can see the production challenges of their creative enterprise met fully.

‘Both Textiles’ is a creative design partnership between Ruth Waller & Lee Hewett; their principle aim is to develop work that explores the use of the textural and structural potential of interior textile surfaces, producing bespoke artworks, products and installations that encourage tactile interaction.

All their work uses a mixture of materials such as handmade felt, industrial felt, sprung steel and wood to produce complex, beautifully tactile and richly textured surface structures.

‘Both Textiles’ currently produce a diverse range of work including wall installations, constructed felt rugs, cushions. The majority of their work is produced for use by interior designers, architects as well as supplying retail outlets, galleries and private clients.

All their work is individually created in a studio in Nottinghamshire using range of traditional craft techniques together with computer controlled production processes that like most of our work bridges the gap between past traditions and new technological developments.

www.iloveboth.co.uk

Amanda Levete's CORIAN® super-surfaces installation

2009-09-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Not felt this time. But a textile quality to the use of corian.

www.amandalevetearchitects.com

and here ... the stars !!!

2009-09-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

Tokujin Yoshioka

2009-09-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Tornado, Tokujin Yoshioka's installation at Design Miami 2007 was inspired in the natural phenomena the its title states. Transparent straws can be thought as large scale fibers that traced the passing high speed winds. Large scale fibers that do not tangle or a microscopic view of crystals.

www.tokujin.com

Danielle Gori Montanelli

2009-06-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Danielle thought herself a painter but became a silversmith. Her work mostly figurative and metal made in the silversmith craft suffered a sudden change as she distanced herself from the dangerous chemicals and procedures that relate to metal and silversmithing.
Felt found her or who knows she looked for it, and with that her process and result.
Creativity is never stopped we get as a lesson but can be driven by many different media.

http://studiodgm.com/home.html

Paola Lenti - FELT RUGS

2009-05-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Felt rugs

The aesthetic and functional characteristics of Paola Lenti’s signature Felt allow for the production of refined and enduring rugs, which are entirely assembled and finished by hand.

The almost tailor-like production, the variety of colours, dimensions and patterns in the collection allow for the creation of unique and one-of-a-kind rugs.

www.paolalenti.com

Untitled, 1976, felt by Robert Morris & Interview by Simon Grant

2009-05-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Robert Morris is perhaps the single most important figure for understanding the shift from minimal to postminimal art. As a pioneer of minimal sculpture during the early 1960s, Morris was one of the first artists to take into account the spatial and physical relationship between a viewer's body and a work of art. In columns, cubes, boxes, and L-beams, Morris's early works explored the body's interaction with specific objects and forms. As he explained in an interview with the critic E. C. Goossen, "I'm very much involved with that relationship towards things that has to do with the body's response."

By the late 1960s, Morris was already experimenting with what he termed "anti form." Turning away from the modular construction of his earlier sculptures, Morris began making works in materials such as felt, thread waste, and even steam in order to explore the unusual properties of these different media. In 1967 he began a series of works using industrial felt—seeing how it behaved when stacked, draped, folded, hung, cut into pieces, or dropped into a tangled heap. The following year Morris articulated the stakes of his new concerns in an Artforum essay titled "Anti Form," in which he stated: "Random piling, loose stacking, hanging, give passing form to the material. Chance is accepted and indeterminacy is implied since replacing will result in another configuration." What Morris was at pains to emphasize, in other words, is that a single "anti form" work holds the potential to take a different shape each time it is presented, based on the arbitrary behavior of the materials from which it is composed.

Untitled, 1976, is from the seminal Felts series. Although hung on a wall like a painting, this stubbornly tactile work compels both through its unpredictable form and its assertive physical presence, putting it in dialogue with National Gallery works by Eva Hesse and Richard Serra among others.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/3137422452/

Interview Robert Morris by Simon Grant (Tate Etc.)

SIMON GRANT: In the text ‘Indiana Street’, the wonderful essay on some recollections of your childhood growing up in Kansas, that appears in your most recent collected writings Have I Reasons, you wrote about a moment in the winter of 1935, when you were four years old, putting your fist through a window, and described your reaction as the ‘cardinal moment in my life’. Could you tell us more about this?

ROBERT MORRIS: It was a moment of fury and anger relieved by an act of bodily violence. No doubt I have lived a life of artmaking by transposing and sublimating a fury that has never abated and rises ever anew: an unending source of energy.

SIMON GRANT: In this piece you also write about various scenes from your childhood that seem to echo, unwittingly or otherwise, elements of your work. In the house of Pop Harrison you played ‘amid the heaps of coloured fabrics that Lucille sewed into dresses’. And you write that you ‘became fixated’ on the shape of a hardwood blackboard pointer that Gene McEuen gave you. And you recall the ‘that malevolent black mound’ of coal that was dumped at your house. I wondered if such memories fed into how you worked with materials in your work?

ROBERT MORRIS: Early childhood experiences have always been central to my art making.

SIMON GRANT: In 1961 you moved to New piece Passageway, in a loft on Chambers St, New York. Could you say a bit about how this work came about and why you made it?

ROBERT MORRIS: Forty-seven years ago I arrive in New York City and begin graduate studies in art history. Gradually I begin to make objects. The process of making accelerates and interest in art history lags. This rise of creativity is accompanied by increasing personal unhappiness. Marriage collapses. A certain mental energy and obsessive, single-minded concentration, bordering on a kind of possession, is addressed to questioning the premises of sculpture. This goes along with an increasing negativity toward and incapacity for personal relations. I move further into a kind of semi-autistic space which excludes the other. Such a space is familiar from childhood where it was constantly denied. Only the inanimate object is alive for me in these years, and making objects becomes my bulwark against the threat of the other, and every other is regarded as threatening, especially those who would try to get close to me. But I want more than the object. I want a totalizing, enclosing space within which I exist with the object. I want to fashion a conceptual, mental, psychological and physical space. I want to make a world within which I alone move amongst my objects. Reading Wittgenstein’s remarks in the Tractatus that “I am my world. (The microcosm),” my heart skips a beat. I make a 50-foot long plywood Passageway, which narrows as it curves. Two arcs of a circle converging. I wedge my body between the narrowing walls, which curve ahead and out of sight. I am suspended, embraced and held by my world. I listen to the faint sound of the hidden mechanical heartbeat I have installed over the ceiling of Passageway. There is nothing to look at here in this curving space which diminishes to zero. In this blind space whatever constitutes the “I” of my subjectivity evaporates and I think of that other remark of Wittgenstein: “The subject does not belong to the world: rather, it is a limit of the world.” Others who visit Passageway leave messages written on the walls such as “Fuck you too.” I repaint the grey walls once a week. In these years my large insecurities are guarded and held closely. Perhaps they are the sources and engine driving my capacity to create. Never again will I lose myself in such blind and self-sufficient spaces. Never after am I as unhappy and as exhilarated as in these years.

SIMON GRANT: You have described Passageway ‘is a kind of tomb’ and Box for Standing as ‘coffin-like’ and have said that there is something ‘paranoid’ about the grey plywood works of the 1960s. What did you mean by these comments?

ROBERT MORRIS: Art as a closed space, a refusal of communication, a secure refuge and defence against the outside world, a dead zone and buffer against others who would intrude.

SIMON GRANT: Before you came to New York, you were involved with theatre and dance, including the workshop of Ann Halprin, and you married the dancer Simone Forti. How did your wife’s work influence you at the time?

ROBERT MORRIS: Forti is the most brilliant woman I’ve known. Her investigations into “ordinary movement,” the employment of objects and “rules” to generate movement, her refusal of the narcissistic body, and the use of language in dance performance—all these things influenced me in the choreography I did. In more subtle ways, her strategic structural investigations involving the use of one set of things to generate results entirely different from the first set of intentions affected my work with objects and spaces. To put it in philosophical terms, perhaps such strategies with reference to intentionality stand as metaphors for the notion that naturalism does not extend to intentionality.

SIMON GRANT: You have eloquently described in various places, the movements of peoples bodies. You wrote that the iceman who used to ply his trade on Indiana Street – ‘his actions constituted a performance’, and elsewhere you wrote about the ‘swooping grace of my father’s movements’ in the Kansas stockyards. Did some of these sentiments feed into your pieces Arizona(1963) and Site (1964)?

ROBERT MORRIS: Yes

SIMON GRANT: You started making your felt pieces in 1967. How did these extraordinary works come about?

ROBERT MORRIS: I wanted to work in a way that would subvert a priori intentions. I wanted to find a way to generate unpredictable, indeterminate consequences. The first experiments were with ropes and rags, then thin felt, then heavy industrial felt. Of course I had proposed the work Steam before using felt.

SIMON GRANT: You have said that these pieces were made with a certain element of chance and gravity but they seem particularly shaped and formulated. How were the shapes decided?

ROBERT MORRIS: The early felt works had multiple positions—sometimes thrown on the floor or hung on the wall. But once the works were photographed nobody wanted to hear about alternative positions. And of course works on the wall are easier to deal with than things on the floor so the wall option became the preferred position. I suppose this illustrates Duchamp’s remark about how art quickly loses its aesthetic smell and becomes frozen and arid. Anyway some of the works involving many separate pieces could of course never be installed twice in the same way. These maintained their indeterminate status more than the works made of larger sections.

SIMON GRANT: You made several pieces using threadwaste, some that included mirrors. Why did you choose to use this material? Did it have any particular resonance?

ROBERT MORRIS: Threadwaste (multi-colored threads and bits of cloth) was saturated with oil and packed in the journal boxes of freight cars in the 1950s as a lubricant for the half-round bronze bearings in this primitive system (since changed to roller bearings). In the winter we switchmen would take handfuls of this oil-soaked threadwaste from a journal box, throw it in the little iron stoves of the tiny shacks located here and there in the freight yards, light it up, and in a few minutes the stoves would be glowing red and we would be warm.

SIMON GRANT: Your solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1970 was a landmark exhibition in many ways – straddling performance, sculpture and installation. And there was much emphasis placed on using industrial materials, using workmen on a level footing with yourself. (There is a photograph of you using a forklift truck during the installation.) What were your intentions with this exhibition at the time?

ROBERT MORRIS: The Whitney wanted a retrospective but I thought 1970 was too early for me to have one. There was a lot of resistance to doing the show as I did it. I don’t think I really had much comprehension of what I was doing. I just wanted large objects falling down all over the place, wanted to devise strategies for inducing chance to help determine the forms. And I think I must have also wanted a whiff of an arena of labour recalling all those past, dangerous, physical jobs I had worked at.

SIMON GRANT: Why did you decide to close the exhibition?

ROBERT MORRIS: I was at the time also in a group show at the Jewish Museum. This was the time of the American bombing of Cambodia. The artists voted to close that exhibition in protest. I felt I had no option but to close the Whitney show as well.

SIMON GRANT: The following year you had your first solo exhibition in the UK at the Tate (now Tate Britain). Here, the exhibition comprised of what was effectively a single work spread over 9000 square feet made of loosely assembled lumps and plates of metal, sandbags, timber beams sheets of plywood. Its curator Michael Compton described it as ‘a contemplative gymnasium’. What ideas were you hoping to put across with this exhibition?

ROBERT MORRIS: The works were based on progressive physical difficulty as one proceeded toward the end of the space. Objects to handle gave way to things to balance on and then to climb on or in. I wanted a situation where people could use their bodies as well as their eyes.

SIMON GRANT: Compton later wrote that he ‘wondered at the time whether the artist’s strategy had been to test the institution’s power and willingness to deal with art to the point where their limits would be defined…to make a political point’. What was your view at the time, particularly in light of the experiences at the Whitney?

ROBERT MORRIS: Michael Compton never wavered in his support of getting the show up as I had designed it. Of course once opened a lot of noise and physical activity were going on inside the then rather staid Tate Museum. I spent a month directing the construction of the works and then went home. Five days later the Tate called to tell me the show had been closed because the public was behaving ‘hysterically’.

SIMON GRANT: When you were at art college, Eugene Jamieson introduced you to surrealist technique and automatic drawing. Did he have any influence in the genesis of your ‘Blind Time’ drawings?

ROBERT MORRIS: I never made that connection between the Blind Time Drawings and Jamieson’s classes in automatic drawing some 24 years before, but it may have been there unconsciously all along. I have tried to address the elusive, exhilarating, threatening space of drawing blind in the essay “Drawing with Davidson.”

SIMON GRANT: In 1982, your style and method shifted – and you begun your series of paintings and watercolours encased in elaborately and intricately worked cast Hydrocal frames. The content of these works, featuring firestorms, skulls, seems dark, foreboding, even apocalyptic. How did this series come about?

ROBERT MORRIS: While my early plywood works mocked modernism, perhaps I finally woke up to how appalling it was to have addressed it at all. This thought freed me to do other things.

SIMON GRANT: What sources fed into the apocryphal content of this work? Was in it in some way, part ‘Ars Moriendi’, part message for our times?

ROBERT MORRIS: Sources? The 20th century. The one Elizabeth Bishop called “The worst so far.”

SIMON GRANT: Could you tell me a little about the impetus for the content of your recent works at Spruth Magers gallery, London?

ROBERT MORRIS: I just could not not make these four works. I felt forced to make them. I felt I had no choice. Maybe that is too dramatic an answer. It sounds like posing. But I felt I had to, in my little art way which affects nothing, deal with my shame and anguish… Something to do with the shame of our barbaric and genocidal American foreign policy.

SIMON GRANT: You once said that your repertoire is ‘confinement, paranoia, entropy, personal trauma’. How about now?

ROBERT MORRIS: Probably much the same.

SIMON GRANT: You have been variously described as a minimalist, performance artist, land artist, neo-Dada-ist, conceptual artist and expressionist’ Do these definitions mean anything to you?

ROBERT MORRIS: Nothing. Zero. What a list… I can’t help recalling here Nietzsche’s remark about constantly suffering for what things are called as opposed to what they are.

http://www.whatspace.nl/nieuws/robert-morris-the-felt-works.html

Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware at La Triennale di Milano

2009-04-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware

Kenya Hara; Exhibition Director introduces Tokyo Fiber´09 SENSEWARE that took part of LA Triennale di Milano from April 22nd to April 27th.

"Japan´s artificial fibers are a new SENSEWARE." Comparing Stone Age tools as a trigger for human creativity so does diferent media can trigger it further; technology, materials, structural or chemical innovations.

Hara asks one to "imagine how the new artificial fibers that have evolved through the aplication of high technology will spur humans to a new wave of creation. Some fibers are as fine as individual cells, some are more pliant than rubber and some are electrically conductive... " Tokyo Fiber exhibits the outcome of the creative process involving this new fibers, it includes, architects, designers, artists and creative people with a creative input willing to innovate in the fibers domain and bring forward new possibilities

"The exhibition representes an intersection of technology, materials and talent, all oriented towards the future manufacturing."

One of the intents is to stimulate the senses, but Hara mentions than more than the senses an excitement for the future will be sensed. ??? The future can be felt according to Hara.

The materials and technology have a rather cold look about them, it will take a closer look to find out how the senses are stimulated.

http://tokyofiber.com/en/

Drawing and stitching. The Idea of the North at 210 Gallery an artist run gallery in Brooklyn NY

2009-04-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

The idea of the north works by Cyrilla Montzer and her statement about her work.
Pencil on industrial wool felt hand sewn with silk thread.

Work with Felt 2006-'08

Would I had seen a white bear! (for how can I imagine it?)

I have been pondering this absurd statement from Gertrude Stein’s The Life and Opinions
of Tristram Shandy. In confronting the ridiculous, I am motivated to make work.

It is also true that a small wooden polar bear has found its way to my worktable in the last
year. It had belonged to my Aunt Fritzi, who got it in Alaska. Polar bears are solitary
creatures. They traverse continents, working their way to becoming extinct.

The first three-dimensional body of work I made with cream-colored industrial wool felt
was titled Polar Bear Glove Song. The felt is close to the color of polar bear fur and
reminds me of snow, a bear’s natural habitat. Both insulate and make quiet.

Like Polar Bear Glove Song and the freestanding More saints seen, the new felt pieces in

the warm snow series are stitched together by hand with lustrous pale grey silk thread.
And like the earlier work, the new three-dimensional pieces are self-supporting; there are
no armatures or additional supporting materials. The new pieces, however, are larger,
increasingly rectilinear, and closer to the ground. As a group they form a 'settlement' of
building blocks, each a necessary aspect of a collective whole. The new series has also
begun to include flag and banner-like wall pieces in which shapes are cut out and then
inlaid (and stitched) into position not unlike marquetry. They are a means to mark the
territory.

Felt is a non-woven textile made from the compression of a tangle of animal fur and
behaves in unpredictable ways. To sew it into geometric forms or to stitch shapes within
eachother is to go against its natural inclination to buckle, stretch, droop, and torque
(which brings in an element of chance). I am attempting to push felt to do what it doesn’t
want to do while maintaining its integrity as a material.

www.cyrillamozenter.com

woolfelt by p_inc

2009-04-18T22:17:00.001-07:00

Really cool bags made out of industrial felt and hand stitched.

www.woolfeltbypinc.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PHOLALAB
http://goodsie.com/store/5409

HUT up BERLIN

2009-04-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Felting in one of a kind beautiful objects, all handcrafted in the traditional way from pure wool. From home and office accessories, to baby clothes, hats, scarves, adult clothing and decorative items. The designs are simply clean and have a warmth in them that enhances the tactile quality of the material, usually in solid colors but with witty elements; some funny, cute or unexpected thread that will pull a smile of you.

All handmade things that easily challenge the modern without being cold designs.

Hut up is showen as part of the Hewitt Copper Museum exhibition on Felt currently open.

www.hutup.de

Hella Jongerious / Maharam / Nike

2009-03-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Maharam’s unique interpretation of the AF1 introduces a silhouette constructed of Layers, a textile created by the Maharam Design Studio in collaboration with Dutch industrial designer Hella Jongerius. Layers, produced in single and double layered variations in 100% wool felt, uses sophisticated full-width embroidery equipment played against artisanal hand-cutting to create patterning, resulting in an “industrial
craft” hybrid. This already complex textile was further engineered to meet the specific needs of the AF1. The result represents a multi-disciplinary undertaking, bridging disparate aspects of industrial design including sports technology, textile design and the conceptual avant-garde.

Arounna Khounnoraj

2009-03-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

bookhou was co-founded by John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj in 2003 to showcase their individual and collaborative works emphasizing handmade natural materials and small production pieces.

She is dividing her time between her textile designs and her artwork where she explores sculpture, drawing and printmaking. Both her artwork and textile designs explore pattern and image.

Erwan & Ronan Boureoullec - on Kreo exhibition by Laurence Salmon

2009-03-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Kreo Exhibition 2008 For Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec, working with galleries is a chance to breathe outside the usual constraints that characterise their enthusiastic contribution to industrial design.

Their need to go “over the top” shows their almost childlike joy in escaping the ties that bind them when working on a brief. The unique proportions of these new pieces are free from existing typologies and domestic conventions. They free themselves from defined and definitive shapes.

The Bouroullec brothers travel between the known and the unknown, moving in an « in-between » space that still leaves plenty of room for practical use.

The disturbing, long black lamp, invents a pivoting principle that leans on the ceiling. It moves like a living organism, like a three-headed hydra. The exaggerated diameter evokes the imposing size of Venetian chandeliers.

The moulded polyester tables, with their synthetic appearance, are huge monolithic shapes that are barely off the ground. Their white and unreal aspect makes them seem like floating ice floes.

The sofa – can we still refer to it as such ? – is a black box, one of the elementary shapes that Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec love so much. The intriguing shape (3m x 2m) makes us wonder about the true nature of the object. Is it a piece of furniture or an alcove? The pile of covers clears any doubts about its function: it is a place of comfort, a shelter for rest and retreat, a sort of spatial parenthesis.

Just as impressive in terms of dimension (4m wide, 2.20m high), the screen is more of a « fabric wall » than a mobile separation. One is seduced by these patches of wool in abstract, geometric, stitched shapes in clashing colours. The design of the aluminium chassis on which these huge wool covers are “placed” reminds us of a saddle maker’s workshop with skins hanging on metal trestles.

These four objects do not constitute a collection by any means as they were all designed at different times. However, they do represent the constant research of the Bouroullec brothers into the notion of the “quality of the atmosphere”. The use of fabric is one answer. In this case, it is a vehicle for colour, and the huge, flat, monochrome surfaces bring to mind abstract paintings.

After having explored a more pointillist and vibrant touch with the fabric tile Kvadrat, the two designers are today experimenting with the strict and lyrical rhythm of collections and fitted shapes, associated with layers of colour. Ettore Sottsass said “Colour is life”. Ronan Bouroullec ironically says that “colour is as complicated as life”. In any case, the two brothers refuse to invent any kind of theory on the subject.

They tame colour with method, letting themselves be guided by their intuition. This is a delight and an open door every time as their aesthetic visibly gathers strength.

Text by Laurence Salmon, January 2008.

http://www.bouroullec.com

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec - site quoting" "

2009-03-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

"We’ve never manufactured anything ourselves. As far as we’re concerned, design is a two-handed business, in which we do the designing and someone else does the manufacturing.

Department stores "For a company, selling is the final stage in the processing of an object. As the ultimate goal, it does a certain amount to inform the project as it develops. We’re concerned with this question, and at the same time it’s physically distanced from us. Once the project has passed the last stage of its development, companies take responsibility for commercialization. For some, like Habitat who sell through their own chain of stores, the context is quite clear, while for others, like Teracrea, distribution is based on department stores that are often characterized by their diversity. In spite of everything, throughout the whole of the project, we pay a lot of attention to the issues of commercialization. Often simple rules are laid down, connected, for example, to ease of storage. Sometimes, through a more elaborate scenario, and our efforts to understand and respond to the wants and desires of consumers, a project can evolve into a truly useful solution.

"We draw on sketch pads, or pile up sheets of paper. We work on several projects at the same time, some only in their initial stages, others being retouched for the last time.
A sketch can have any scale that you wish to give it. Often, as you run through a sketch pad, a line may represent one centimetre of a piece of plastic, then on the following page it can signify one metre of a piece of polystyrene. The sketchbook is the collection of different work contexts, from industry to craft, large-scale to small. And so, from one page to the next, one drawing simply guided by the hand can evolve from a piece in polystyrene to a well-crafted jewel.
The polystyrene « Clouds » and the jewels are both born of the same logic: they are the proliferation of a shared abstract form, like a growing plant, stubbornly repeating its structure of nodes. The clouds are designed to grow in an architectural space. Jewels rest on the skin.
The project of a wall for a shelter is based on the multiplication of a tiny three-dimensional motif. This piece, which resembles a small branch, is injected in polypropylene. Simply, with different colours and various alternate connections, we have managed to create an irregular skin. In this instance the repetition generates a certain visual complexity."

"We’re interested in beauty. It’s a complex subject: to forget about function, to produce an object solely for the eye. A still life.
The still life is built in two dimensions. First of all it is based on formal qualities of proportions and colours. Secondly, it works through more cultural, symbolic referents. The doubt lies in reaching a finished image.

Sounds, lights (Bruits et lumières) "Both sound and light have this special quality of being impalpable, of having no visual essence. They are purely ‘temporal’ in the sense that they leave no trace of their passing. We are delineating components, emitters of light and sound, whose forms are essentially technical. Therefore we design a shell whose shape has to evoke an energy that it cannot contain. In this respect, a logic based on forms following functions (like a jug handle) goes out of the window. Perhaps we should start with the « Parlo »: a trophy designed as the image of a victory that you must often conclude with a speech. Indeed, it is about giving a shape to something that is merely a recognition, trying to create an object that provokes a certain exuberance. This megaphone – being but a fascimile – is lined with felt like a piece of Hermès leatherwork.

Situations "A situation is played out just as much in accordance with our mood as with our material surroundings. Sometimes our work is concentrated more specifically around the attention that we pay to the user. On the one hand an object is guided by its functionality, on the other, its typology often contains certain rituals and habits. Often the mere suggestion or accentuation of a prehensile quality, or the use of a material charged with history, allows us to go beyond a functional situation in order to attain a kind of savoir-vivre. ... This chapter doesn’t discuss multifunction. Rather it tries to evoke the way in which hand and body balance between the functionality of tool use and more sensitive reactions, linked to culture.

A monochrome "Traditionally, the materials of the objects surrounding us are chosen and organized around their ability to respond to particular needs. It’s often a fairly complex matter to find a single material that is capable of responding to all the requirements of the object. We have designed pieces in such a way that they are monochrome, their visible material is plain. Choosing uniformity makes the object simpler for the eye and erases the details. Strangely, this has the effect of rendering it all the more undefined. ... Thus everything is unified, the table with the vase, the mirror with the console.
Monochrome is a way of connecting uses and different limitations, linking both the technological and the habitual.

Skin (De la peau) "Skin is the surface of the object.
While the materials around us are becoming increasingly standardized and finishes are becoming more and more uniform, work on skin strikes us as being of prime importance. It allows you to intrigue the eye, making the perception of an object stranger than it would be if you were able to read its form and material in a simple manner. We’re not particularly interested in decor. We were rather thrown by Sommer’s proposition: to create a motif for carpet tiles, 50 x 50 cm, to cover a floor. Certainly the result is formal, but this sequence of lines, when the pieces are placed together, causes the boundaries between the carpet tiles to disappear and the effect somewhat resembles a chess board. Here, skin serves to coalesce, to unify.
It’s almost the same game with the project for the dinner service for the Prefecture of Strasbourg. It concerns how one connects different objects that are, moreover, made up of different materials.
And then there’s the mirror, a reflection-object."

Assembly (Un montage) "Being able to assemble pieces yourself often means being able to make decisions, to assess your real needs.
Primarily we’re interested in ease of assembly because it forms the basis of the future of an industrial project. For a set of shelves, for example, this is fundamental in terms of the logistics of manufacturing and distribution. This ease of assembly, along with modularity, opens up an area of autonomy for the user, which isn’t there with pieces that are complicated to build. Simplicity of construction forces you to go back to simple gestures, to common sense, to a universal skill.

Walls and roof (Des murs, un toît) "Taking the « Lit Clos » bed and the « Disintegrated Kitchen » as our starting-point, we embarked upon research in which we increased the traditional scale of furniture .
This research is primarily articulated around the formation of walls and, more generally, around those elements that structure the space. While the bed and the kitchen were still more specifically function-based projects, we gradually found ourselves coming closer to more indistinct designs relating to walls and roofs. Work on this scale actually implies a certain restraint. We are very critical of proposals that attempt to cover all the functions of a given situation.
These projects just try to create sensitive boundaries: being beside, behind, below. They aim to give the space a feeling, a direction, to make the user more sensitive to a particular place. And so the function of these places don’t belong to us.
The « Parasol Lumineux » lamp attracts people just as a hearth does when you walk into a home. The feeling of finding yourself below a roof, which is itself below a ceiling, attracts and brings people a greater intimacy. The space is created by an immaterial context, connected with that sense of ‘being below’.
The « Cabane » simply defines a perimeter, and thus an inside and outside, because it escapes typologies suggesting a particular use, returning to the simple idea of the boundary.
Our technical culture isn’t the same as that of architects. In these designs we’ve transferred a skill connected with furniture-making, in that we’re using ‘light’ techniques. Light, when you bear in mind that after all a sofa arrives complete, in a cardboard box. Light because they don’t require a particular skill on the part of the user, unlike the more traditional materials and machinery of building work. Ease of assembly is fundamental, giving the user a certain autonomy, even on this scale.
As to the « Clouds », the « Suspended Trellis », the « Cabane », it may be that our work operates on the level of a series of motifs, on the creation of various different motifs for the domestic environment. It is a simple reaction against the tendency towards uniformity in the quality of the walls, floors and roofs that surround us.
Following this path has led us to a complete yet floating house. So it remains an unanchored object, it could be located elsewhere. "

North Tiles (Les Tuiles) The Kvadrat showroom is structured by textile walls made of independant « Tiles » assembled together via an ingenious folding system.

The North Tiles sytem was conceived specifically for the textile showroom activity. It aims at highlighting the various textures and materials of Kvadrat’s collection by dressing the spot with sensuality and warmth.

Moreover, it grants a certain flexibility and a wide range of possible evolution to the showroom. The extreme easiness of the pieces’ assembling to build walls leaves Kvadrat free of changing the configuration and the atmosphere of the place.
Then, the doors themselves are conceived as self-supporting and mobile modules like « furniture-boxes » that can be moved easily. Accesses, corridors and transitions can be changed, thus making the general architecture of the space fully evolutive.

But the North Tiles system is also a new way of building walls with independant modules in the tradition of Algues and Twigs. It is the realisation of some long-incubated ideas about constructing soundproofing spaces with textile.
Conceived like sorts of scales, the North Tiles can follow infinite shapes, be they organic or geometric. Thus, the high modularity of this system allows to consider multiple applications in order to build autonomous and soundproofing spaces.

The industrialization process of the tiles is surprisingly easy and fast : 20 seconds only are needed to mould the hard foam core between 2 pieces of material. With the assembling simplicity of the tiles, anyone can consider creating variable-geometric surfaces, building walls with a soft and rythmical aesthetics and thus creating astoning places with a muffled atmosphere.

www.bouroullec.com

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

2009-03-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec. Their trajectorie is described in their website and how they have worked with Capellini, they designed the exhibition for Issey Miyake when A-poc line of clothing was launched, vitra, kvradat to name a few of the important names their talent is set at work.

The work they have done in regards to fabrics is intimately related to weaving in a very interesting way. They have been creating modules that can be repeated showing the entire kravdat catalog as a wall system. Their modules do not exactly are woven but intermesh at different points, by now severl systems have been created and can be used as installations, walls, roofs, partitions, human shells. Modular chaotic yet organic and intensely repetitive.

www.bouroullec.com

WOOL by the International Year of Natural Fibers -ONU

2009-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

What is it?

Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated, and the first textiles were probably woven from their fleece. Today wool is still the world's leading animal natural fibre: its complex protein structure is responsible for unique characteristics and properties ?such as exceptional resilience and elasticity - that synthetic fibres just cannot match. Wool varies from super fine Merino fibre similar to cashmere, to very coarse hairy wools. The diameter of the fibre determines its final use and value - some 37 percent of world production is classed as fine wools, 22 percent as medium wools, and 41 percent as coarse wools. Two thirds of the wool harvest is used in the manufacture of garments, and about one third in carpets, upholstery and rugs. Industrial uses of wool - such as in insulation - accounts for about 5 percent of the total.

Who produces it?

Wool is produced in about 100 countries from a global flock of more than one billion head of sheep. Major producers are Australia, Argentina, China, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom and Uruguay. Depending on the country and region, wool producers range from small farmers to large scale commercial grazing operations.

Lietus

How is it produced?

Sheep are usually shorn once a year in the spring/summer months, although in some countries shearing may take place as many as three times a year. Where production systems are advanced, the wool is rigorously tested to determine properties and different grades are packed separately. The second step in the production chain is so-called "early" processing, in which the wool is scoured to remove grease and dirt, then carded and combed. The semi-processed wool is then spun into yarn for use in fabrics, knitted garments or hand-knitting wool.

How much is produced?

FAO estimates annual wool production at around 2.1 million tonnes a year. Australia produces one fifth of that total, while China, New Zealand, Iran, Argentina and the UK each produced more than 50 000 tonnes in 2005. Exports of greasy plus scoured wool amount to around 800 000 tonnes annually. Like cotton, much of this is imported by processing countries for manufacture and subsequent re-export.

What are the prospects for wool?

Being a luxury fibre, demand for wool is sensitive to economic trends. The current global economic slowdown is expected to affect wool negatively, particularly by reducing demand in China, the world's biggest wool market. Also, falling oil prices may reduce the cost of synthetic fibres. To compete with synthetics, the wool industry continues to invest in new technologies which have made wool more attractive to consumers (e.g. crease resistance and washability) and given it a wider range of uses, such as "active sportswear".

www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/wool.html

www.iwto.org

15 Natural Fibers - Inernational Year of Natural Fibers - Onu

2009-03-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Natural fibres are greatly elongated substances produced by plants and animals that can be spun into filaments, thread or rope. Woven, knitted, matted or bonded, they form fabrics that are essential to society.

Like agriculture, textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the dawn of civilization. Fragments of cotton articles dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and Pakistan. According to Chinese tradition, the history of silk begins in the 27th century BC. The oldest wool textile, found in Denmark, dates from 1500 BC, and the oldest wool carpet, from Siberia, from 500 BC. Fibres such as jute and coir have been cultivated since antiquity.

While the methods used to make fabrics have changed greatly since then, their functions have changed very little: today, most natural fibres are still used to make clothing and containers and to insulate, soften and decorate our living spaces. Increasingly, however, traditional textiles are being used for industrial purposes as well as in components of composite materials, in medical implants, and geo- and agro-textiles.

In this section we present profiles of 15 of the world's major plant and animal fibres. They range from cotton, which dominates world fibre production, to other, specialty fibres such as cashmere which, though produced in far smaller quantities, have particular properties that place them in the luxury textiles market.

Plant fibres

Plant fibres include seed hairs, such as cotton; stem (or bast) fibres, such as flax and hemp; leaf fibres, such as sisal; and husk fibres, such as coconut.

Animal fibres

Animal fibres include wool, hair and secretions, such as silk.

Abaca - Once a favoured source of rope, abaca shows promise as an energy-saving replacement for glass fibres in automobiles

Coir - A coarse, short fibre extracted from the outer shell of coconuts, coir is found in ropes, mattresses, brushes, geotextiles and automobile seats

Cotton - Pure cellulose, cotton is the world's most widely used natural fibre and still the undisputed "king" of the global textiles industry

Flax - One of nature's strongest vegetable fibres, flax was also one of the first to be harvested, spun and woven into textiles

Hemp - Recent advances in the "cottonization" of hemp fibre could open the door to the high quality clothing market

Jute - The strong threads made from jute fibre are used worldwide in sackcloth - and help sustain the livelihoods of millions of small farmers

Ramie - Ramie fibre is white, with a silky lustre, and is one of the strongest natural fibres, similar to flax in absorbency and density

Sisal - Too coarse for clothing and upholstery, sisal is replacing asbestos and fibreglass in many composite materials

Alpaca wool - Alpaca is used to make high-end luxury fabrics, with world production estimated at around 5 000 tonnes a year

Angora wool - The silky white wool of the Angora rabbit is very fine and soft, and used in high quality knitwear

Camel hair - The best fibre is found on the two-humped Bactrian camels of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia, and baby camel hair is the finest and softest

Cashmere - Cashmere is exceptionally soft to the touch owing to the structure of its fibres and has great insulation properties without being bulky

Mohair - White, very fine and silky, mohair is noted for its softness, brightness and receptiveness to rich dyes

Silk - Developed in ancient China, where its use was reserved for royalty, silk remains the "queen of fabrics"

Wool - Limited supply and exceptional characteristics have made wool the world's premier textile fibre

When is a fibre "natural"?

The International Year of Natural Fibres celebrates fibres produced by plants and animals. It does not include modern man-made artificial and synthetic fibres such as rayon, nylon, acrylic and polyester. Tree fibres are not covered by the International Year, but will be one focus of the International Year of Forests in 2011.

http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/index.html

International Year of Natural Fibers 2009 - ONU

2009-03-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Why are natural fibres important?

Some 30 million tonnes of natural fibres are produced annually. Natural fibres form an important component of clothing, upholstery and other textiles. Many of them also have industrial applications - in packaging, papermaking and in composite materials with many uses, including as parts in automobiles. In many developing countries, proceeds from the sale and export of natural fibres contribute significantly to the income and the food security of poor farmers and those working in fibre processing and marketing. For some developing countries, natural fibres are of major economic importance: for example, cotton in some West African countries, jute in Bangladesh and sisal in Tanzania. In other cases, fibres are of less significance at the national level but are of major local importance, as in the case of jute in West Bengal (India) and sisal in north-east Brazil.

Why an International Year of Natural Fibres?

Since the 1960s, the use of synthetic fibres has increased, and natural fibres have lost a lot of their market share. Producers and processors of natural fibres face the challenge of developing and maintaining markets in which they can compete effectively with synthetics. In some cases, this has involved defining and promoting market niches. In others, where their natural advantages allow them to compete effectively with synthetics, basic research and development is needed to facilitate the use of natural fibres in new applications.

The main goal of the International Year of Natural Fibres is to raise the profile of these fibres and to emphasise their value to consumers while helping to sustain the incomes of the farmers. In addition, the International Year will:

promote the efficiency and sustainability of the natural fibres industries;
encourage appropriate policy responses from governments to the problems faced by natural fibre industries;
foster an effective and enduring international partnership among the various natural fibres industries.

Who decided that 2009 would be the International Year of Natural Fibres?

The idea came from a meeting of fibre producing and consuming countries in FAO. At the request of FAO, the declaration of 2009 as International Year of Natural Fibres was made by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 December 2006.

Who will coordinate the International Year?

There is a coordinating unit in FAO, but a great many other organizations and people will be involved. An International Steering Committee, with representatives from various fibre organisations, consumer bodies, and funding agencies, will meet from time to time to guide the programme. Most of the activities will be organized by IYNF partners, some at the international level, and many more within individual countries.

What will happen in 2009?

The programme of events is now filling out. One or more large international conferences will be held. There will be displays and fashion shows and many other events in many countries, run by a variety of different national organizations.

www.naturalfibres2009.org

European Felt Festival

2009-03-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

European Felt Festival
Town centre of Felletin
FELLETIN (Creuse - FRANCE)
May 1st - 4th, 2009

The year 2009 has been declared «the International Year for Natural Fibres » by O.N.U, and the first Felt Festival will be held in Felletin, Creuse (France), from may 1st to may 4th 2009.

A real craze through Western Europe already, this will be the fisrt ever event of the kind in France. Born from cooperation between women felt-makers and the wool industry support committee, it will be the second wool event organized in Felletin. A local group of crafts designers are taking part in the development of the wool industry ans its skills, which involves felting quite naturally.

The felt festival wishes introduce the public to a large range of felt products and to its different uses in textile, art or industrial productions. Due to its varied and easy uses, felt is becoming very popular in creative leisure activities.

The professionnal side of this felt festival will be centred on training sessions and exhanges with other european networks of felt-makers.

“Felt in the House” Challenge (truncated)

Conditions of participation, Techniques and Theme: The challenge is open anyone: Feltmakers, Artists, Craftpeople, Designers using wool felt in their creations. Exhibitor will be selected for the quality of their work. All techniques are accepted. Every exhibitor can present a maximum of 2 works.

The theme of the challenge is: "Felt in the house, felt in all the rooms."
The exhibition will explore the varied use of felt in the house: Decoration, Design, Architecture, Home furnishing ...

http://fiberartcalls.blogspot.com/2009/03/european-felt-festival.html

Handmade Nation - Museum of Contemporary Craft

2009-03-19T00:27:00.001-07:00

Museum of Contemporary Craft
presents Handmade Nation
April 3 & 4, 2009

Join director Faythe Levine for the Northwest premiere of Handmade Nation, the documentary companion to the book Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design. Artists featured in the film include Mandy Greer, Jenny Hart, Nikki McClure, Portland’s own Susan Beal Jill Bliss, and dozens of other crafters nationwide. The companion book published by Princeton Architectural Press features photographs of the makers, their work environments, their processes, their work and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them. Local contributors include Susan Beal and illustrator Kate Bingaman-Burt.

www.contemporarycrafts.org/hmn/index.html

Handmade Nation:
The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

By Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl
Published by Princeton Architectural Press

Today's crafters are no longer interested in simply cross-stitching samplers or painting floral scrolls on china. Instead, the contemporary craft movement embraces emerging artists, crafters, and designers working in traditional and nontraditional media. Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching has revolutionized the embroidery industry. Each year Nikki McClure sells thousands of her cut-paper wall calendars. Emily Kircher recycles vintage materials into purses. Stephanie Syjuco manufactures clothing under the tag line "Because Sweatshops Suck." These are just some of the fascinating makers united in the new wave of craft capturing the attention of the nation, the Handmade Nation.

Faythe Levine traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos. For Handmade NationAmerican Craft Magazine, Garth Johnson of Extremecraft.com, Callie Janoff of the Church of Craft, Betsy Greer of Craftivism.com, and Susan Beal, author of Super Crafty, supply a critical view of the tight-knit community where ethics can overlap with creativity and art with community. Handmade Nation features photographs of the makers, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them. Handmade Nation is a fascinating book for those who are a part of the emerging movement or just interested in sampling its wares. (along with the documentary film of the same name, coming in 2009) she and Cortney Heimerl have selected 24 makers and 5 essayists who work within different media and have different methodologies to provide a microcosm of the crafting community. Participants in this community share ideas and encouragement through websites, blogs, boutiques, galleries, and craft fairs. Together they have forged a new economy and lifestyle based on creativity, determination, and networking. Twenty-four artists from Olympia, Washington, to Providence, Rhode Island, and everywhere in between show their work and discuss their lives. Texts by Andrew Wagner of

www.contemporarycrafts.org/hmn/book.html

FELT by Willow Mullins

2009-03-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

From nomads' tents to poodle skirts, from car parts to Christmas tree ornaments, felt is one of the world's oldest and most understated textiles. Felt has developed simultaneously in multiple cultures, and often its origins are lost. However, far from having been supplanted by new fabrics, not only has felt retained its traditional uses among peoples around the world, but it has also seen a revival of popularity among today's hand feltmakers, craftspeople and fashion designers. This book follows the journey of felt through time, space, and purpose by pulling into focus a series of snapshots of different felting traditions.

Beautifully illustrated, Felt covers the wide-ranging history and development of this most unassuming but ubiquitous of fabrics from the earliest archaeological evidence in the mountains of Siberia to the groundbreaking works of contemporary fiber arts and sculptors.

About the author

Willow G. Mullins received her BA in Folklore from Brown University and her MS in Textile History and Conservation from the University of Rhode Island. She has worked as a textile conservator, and is now working on her PhD in Folklore at the University of Missouri, Columbia with an emphasis on material and visual culture and postcolonial theory. Her current research interests include the embodiment and representation of personal and cultural identities, intercultural interaction, and the ethics of representation and global aid.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 – The History of Felt
Chapter 2 – The Making of Felt
Chapter 3 – Felt in Central Asia
Chapter 4 – Felt in the Middle East, Turkey and Hungary
Chapter 5 – Felt in Europe
Chapter 6 – Felt in Western Art
Chapter 7 – Felt Everywhere
Chapter 8 – The Meanings of Felt
Bibliography

Abitax Japan

2009-03-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hand felted and simple design.
Have only three items on felt but all details are worked out on without flaws. The focus goes on cell phones, digital cameras and keys; all colorful solutions. No statement just the objects on themselves, practical and ever lasting to protect your gear.

http://abitax.co.jp/

Helene Picard

2009-03-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

On paintings and costumes that is the work of Helene Picard. Her strokes seem to be those of the fabrics which themselves contrast highly for their statical apparition when not worn, when hanging there empty of their characters and live elements. Her connection with one and the other seems to be that of movement, when stroke is blurred the fabric, the costume, the dress is there hiding behind in speed.
The felt costumes are those characters of a tale maybe from her exhibition "Hybrid Beings" , "Costume for a coleopterous", "Costume for a horse" and modular Costume. As empty skins and motion as background; one has to become the missing element or wondering where is it a coleopterous that big that fits the suit.
Empty skins of a bestiary, how wonderful and they all fit your size.

www.helenepicard.com

Felt process on Fashioning Felt (Turkmenistan)

2009-03-18T21:13:00.001-07:00

Interesting images have been posted at the Fashioning Felt blog on the process of making felt.
The images have been taken in 2008 in Turkmenistan showing one of the oldest procedures on how to make felt rugs with moisture, heat, friction by wrapping the wool like if it was sushi and striking it repeatedly. The images talk for themselves, for now we will only post a link.

http://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/Fashioning-Felt/process

LAMA Stuido / Yvonne Laurysen and Erik Mantel

2009-03-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

LAMA studio, a design company that develops and produces textiles for use in architecture and interiors. Design develops through experimentation and research on how cellular structures are constructed. Textiles as surfaces to experiment the three dimensionality of a plane. As cellular structures to cover entire floors and ceilings the scale changes completely when one thinks of the real structure in which it was inspired giving us an insight into what it is that can be found beyond our human reach and into a smaller one, that of the cellular or molecular. Inspiration on nature through science ends up bringing how we are made up at a bigger scale while challenging our notions of how fabrics and textiles should be constructed and what materials they are made of that may have some different use in the industry: industrial wool felt and mono filament are the two main contributions used for interiors by LAMA studio.

Cell rugs is the most succesful product of Lama Studio currently used in corporative environments, public, residential and the exclusive Airbus A350. The Cell rugs are made of industrial wool felt stirps. The rug can can be order to lite up LED lights and/or swavrozky reflective stones. Integrating textiles and LED technology, the patterns no longer have amere aesthetic use but accentuate paths and flows of circulation of walking transients in any imaginable fashion as LED technology could be computer controlled to light different or several paths. Lighted wooled surfaces fabricated by making the most of the industrial wool felt density and thickness, by gluing together strips of different widths and colors creating beautiful patterns. The heirachy of a weaved textile is over turned no longer axis x and y but all strips are in the same axis allowing the rug to be rolled and be custom sized without ever breaking the pattern.

Holoskin is a three layered knitted fabric. Black monofilament layers on the front and back layer, with white monofilament in the middle. The effect, well have a look at the images it is hard to tell and would love to see it and touch it. Hardly used for a soft environment or anything that appeals the touch. But monofilament is a wonderful material which allows light through with some like a spider web. Wonder how it looks and feels. As a product it is very interesting as fishing line or mono filament is hard to weave and slippery, plus transparent.

LAMA studio latest fabric is called FUrore. Industrial wool felt is cut in a honey comb pattern. It has fur on one side creating a flexible, furry textile. The lambs are on desguise wearing synthetic fur. Wicked how the industrial look gets changed in a snap.

LAMA studio, serious design taken to real and professional dimension.
Yvonne Laurysen and Erik Mantel are LAMA studio.

http://www.lamaconcept.nl/index.html

Knitted Worlds by Design nl

2009-03-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

No longer just the domain of old ladies, knitting can be expressed as a political, cultural, social and ofcourse artistic form as seen in the exhibition KNITTED WORLDS.

By Editor Design.nl / 05-03-2009

Knitting is persistently associated with leisure activities of elderly ladies. The exhibition KNITTED WORLDS in the Audax Textile Museum Tilburg shows another side by presenting installations and objects, experimental fashion, photographic and video work by artists and designers from Europe and the United States. The theme of the exhibition is the visualization of political, social and artistic questions.

Artists like Rosemarie Trockel from Germany and the American Elaine Reichek, but also a younger generation opted for knitting in order to target clichés concerning cultural identity, sexuality and the position of women in the visual arts.

Trockel became known with her knitted paintings and conceptual dresses. In the machine-knitted canvas Cogito, ergo sum (1988) Trockel subtly plays with quotations from art and philosophy. Reichek mainly expressed critical comments on the representation of socially marginalised groups. Also politically biased is the work of the American sculptor Dave Cole and the German artist Annette Streyl , who investigate the meaning of political symbols. The work of the British artists Jayne Parker, Kelly Jenkins and Jimini Hignett concentrates on the body as politicised and sexualised entity. With the aid of computer guided machines Jenkins produces brightly coloured knitting, inspired by advertisements in porno magazines. Hignett visualises the twisted image of sexuality developed by women under influence of the media.

Knitting as a second skin and experiments with materials and texture play a major role in the work of Nanna van Blaaderen, Daniera ter Haar, Maria Blaisse and Karin Marseille. The Sunflowers (2004) by Maria Roosen and the bright red Kitchen (2007) by Désirée de Baar are powerful, poetic images demonstrating the sculptural possibilities of the knitting technique. A hushed beauty is to be found in the monochrome knitting by the Norwegian artist Heidi Kennedy Skjerve and the spatial objects made of knitted copper wire by Karin Marseille.

Material and texture are striking aspects in the work of Dutch designers in KNITTED WORLDS. For her graduation at the Design Academy Eindhoven Greetje van Tiem under the title Recycling Daily News (2007) spun newsprint into yarn, from which to construct a knitted hassock. Christien Meindertsma used inch-thick yarns for the production of her vegetable-dyed Urchin Pouf (2006). The knitted cylinders by Bauke Knottnerus´ Phat Knits (2008) form large seating elements. For the Pillow Pouf (2008) by Petra Vonk & Janneke Hooymans the former developed delicate knitting in the museum’s Textile Lab. The knitted, three-layered fabric HOLOknit (2007) by the designer duo Yvonne Laurysen and Erik Mantel, together LAMA Concept, is fine-meshed and elegant with three-dimensional effects under a special lighting.

Knitting is not only a source of inspiration for artists and designers but is also booming in popular culture. In Europe during recent years tens of Stitch´n Bitch knitting cafés after American example have come into existence, staging discussion evenings and happenings. In the exhibition and on the website of the Textile Museum visitors can acquaint themselves with these activities through selected sites. There is also a weblog, where news and contributions by artists, designers and museum staff can be found. All visitors are invited to react on the weblog and the exhibition.

Artist Anne Reijse has been asked to develop a project for visitors, which will take shape in the museum as work-in-progress parallel to the exhibition. The starting shot will take place during the opening.

Two participants in the exhibition Knitted Worlds will give inspiring workshops on knitting. On 12 May Petra Vonk will conduct the workshop Layering in knits. Knitted fabrics will be combined with transparent and lace fabrics, creating new, special fabrics. The second workshop Folding knits will take place on 14 June. Under supervision of Karin Marseille the participants will experiment with knitting made of wool and copper thread. For more information see: www.textielmuseum.nl.

In the Textile Shop of the museum knitted accessories are for sale, including a product specially developed by designer Christien Meindertsma. Visitors can also find books on knitting and the publication Knitted Worlds. The design for the exhibition and the accompanying publication are by C. Henkdrikx/ SuopuLab and Annemarie van den Berg.

Image 1: Daniera ter Haar, Soft Intensions, 2007
Image 2: Nanna van Blaaderen, Wool (serie In movement), 2007. Photography: Nanna van Blaaderen

http://www.design.nl/item/knitted_worlds

Wool it be

2009-03-07T15:13:00.001-08:00

Wool it be is Oliwia Drozd a Belgium located designer.
A "creative mind" at work.

Her work in felt has an organic simplicity of that which is made by hand yet posseses a quality of design which usually handmade objects and craft lack.

The tactile qualities of the wool are mostly enhanced yet domesticated and loosely and briefly set free a little here and a little there.

The furry and animal hair is colorful and playful as the colors are strikingly strong. The designs are interesting as they are not cold, precise or sleek but organic yet thoughtful and mostly fun.

The things she makes feel, which is what makes them appealing, They feel carefully designed, incorporating chance, improvisation and the craft of a skilled felter willing to experiment.

From hats, and hats with scarves, scarves, to skirts and necklaces and bags of intestine like threads, to vests, to full costumes and dresses to wool selling for roving this all makes wool it be.
http://www.woolitbe.be

M + K Filze Factory GmbH by m+k

2009-03-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

As a specialist for technical felts we develop and produce customised products based on woolfelt, needle felt and needle fleece in small series and hight volumes for all branches and application areas.

In addition we offer hight-quality color & designer felts based on 100% new wool in plenty of brilliant colours and realise individual concepts of architects and interior decorators for upscaled living- and interior ambiance, promt and flexible.

There is hardly any other group of materials that has such a wide range of properties and applications as felt. Unnoticed by most users, wool and needle felt is a major factor in the operability and convenience of many devices, machines and vehicles.The enormous variability of appication is the result of the diverse capabilities and properties of this material.

For instance its hardness can ve varied between “wadding softness to hammer hardness”. It can be supplied in virtually any shape and colour, and can be made to be flame resistant, self-adhesive, slip-proof and hydrophilic as well as many other properties. Various processes can combine felt with fabrics, foams, films and other components.

www.filzfabrik.de

Molo felt rocks & DIY felt rocks & Ronel Jordaan South African felt rocks

2009-03-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Felt rocks are sculptural pieces, made from 100% pure wool felt - solid all the way through! felt rocks are sold in sets of 6 hand selected rocks, including one rock that has been split in half to reveal the solid wool interior. The felt rocks are packaged in a natural wool felt bag that can be re-purposed as a fashionable and useful hand bag. The rocks vary in shape in size, but average about 4-6 inches across.

Part discovery, part invention, felt rocks in their raw form are lumps of felt formed as a byproduct in the industrial process of making felt polishing wheels for optical lenses. Small bits of wool fluff gather more and more felt fiber, growing like snowballs, as they tumble around in a big drum with the polishing wheels. Each wool fiber is a tiny hollow tube with burred sides. In the felting process, with steam and pressure, these little hollow tubes become entangled with each other forming a strong bond without any glues or binders. Like rocks formed by the tumbling action of a river, each piece takes on a unique shape. The pieces are selected, processed and finished through a series of steps, with some being hand dyed and other left in natural shades of warm white and grey wool felt.

http://www.molodesign.com/en/products/felt_rocks.html

DIY felt rocks by Derek & Lauren @ Design Sponge

here’s what you’ll need:

wool roving
a bowl of hot soapy water
drying rack or towel

1. separate a generous handful of wool roving and loosen the fibers by gently pulling them apart with your fingers.

2. gather the wool into a loose ball that is about twice the size of what you’d like for your completed rock, and dip it into a bowl full of hot soapy water. (to create a decorative line across the face of the rock, wrap a strand of white roving around the ball before dipping.)

3. the wool will immediately begin to shrink up. once it has fully absorbed the water, remove it from the bowl and continually pass it back and forth between your hands until it has cooled. re-dunk and repeat the process until the wool has reached the desired rock size and density. during this process you can try to encourage the shape of the rock, but we found that most of the shaping takes place in the next step.

4. rinse your rock with cold water. Gently squeeze out the water and begin shaping the rock with your fingers. repeat rinsing and shaping a couple of times until you are happy with the form of your rock.

5. place on a drying rack or towel and let dry overnight.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/02/diy-wednesday-felted-rocks.html

Ronel Jordaan

Ronel Jordaan, a textile designer for 28 years is mainly inspired by nature and gives free reign to her imagination using felt as a preferred medium. This utilitarian material has been used for centuries and is made of wool fibres that interlock as they are rubbed together.

Thanks to its malleable texture, the felt she combines occasionnally with other natural fibres such as cotton or silk gives Ronel the freedom to create anything she can imagine.

Her product range includes rock cushions, scatter cushions, screens, curtains, throws, scarves and pebble carpets. Ronel has also trained a group of women in the art of felting. These women produce the designs with her and have now started creating their own designs with her help.

http://www.roneljordaan.com/

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to Present “Fashioning Felt” by 7th space

2009-03-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will present the exhibition “Fashioning Felt,” a comprehensive overview of the varied uses of felt in contemporary design, in the first-floor galleries from March 6 through Sept. 7, 2009. The exhibition will feature more than 70 felt works from a range of fields, including fashion, architecture, product design and home furnishings.

Organized by Susan Brown, assistant curator in the Textiles Department, the exhibition will begin with historic examples of felts, showcase innovations in handmade felts, present the issue of sustainability through the re-use of waste wool and felt and explore the recent adoption of felt by a wide variety of architects and designers, from Gaetano Pesce to Tom Dixon.

A highlight of the exhibition will be site-specific installations by two of today’s leading hand-felters, Janice Arnold and Claudy Jongstra, who create an incredible range of surface textures through the inclusion of wool from sheep with different coat qualities and experimentation with natural dyestuffs and other techniques, such as felting through silk. At Cooper-Hewitt, Arnold will create a palace yurt, inspired by the traditional dwelling of the tribal leader, in the museum’s conservatory. The yurt will have a ceremonial entrance, and the surrounding glass walls and ceiling of the conservatory will be draped in a soft, felted material of Arnold’s creation. For the exhibition, Jongstra, a Dutch designer, will create two distinct semicircular environments out of her renowned handcrafted, long-haired felt, made with wool shorn from her own herd of sheep.

“Felt has played an important role in nomadic cultures for millennia and this exhibition will explore its origins and bring the material fully up to the present,” said Director Paul Warwick Thompson. “By examining both the conventional and nontraditional uses of felt over time, the exhibition will spotlight its unique characteristics and provide an extensive look at this ancient material with modern appeal.”

Made from a renewable resource, the manufacturing of felt is low-impact and virtually waste-free; it is made simply by matting together wool fibers with humidity and friction. The methods of matting felt vary widely, from handmade versions created by violently slamming a fleece roll against the ground to industrial felt produced by mechanically rubbing together wool fibers, but all involve extreme agitation and pressure in order to compact and shrink the felt.

Unlike other fabrics made from wool, which are built up stitch by stitch and row by row through practices such as knitting and weaving, felt has no internal structure. The manufacturing process is readily customizable, and the finished product has a versatility rarely found in other materials—it can be made flexible and translucent or very dense and hard; it can be cut without fraying and molded into three-dimensional forms. Felt also provides protection against extremes of temperature and is naturally water repellant, windproof and fire retardant.

Known since at least the Neolithic period (9000 B.C.), felt is believed to be the first man-made cloth. It was the single most significant material for the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and was used to make everything from clothing to the flexible, collapsible dwellings known as yurts. To illustrate the diverse uses of the material, as well as the continuity of the felt-making technique throughout history, the exhibition will feature animal trappings, carpets and shepherds’ cloaks.

As a raw material, felt offers endless possibilities for designers today. The past 15 years have been a period of intensive experimentation and innovation in the craft, and the use of felt has expanded outside of traditional areas to include everything from fashion accessories and costume design to architecture, home furnishings and product design.

Fashion designers such as Yeohlee Teng and Christine Birkel have embraced felt as a material because it can be manipulated into three-dimensional forms, while still maintaining a soft, textile-like surface. On view in the exhibition will be seamless dresses from artist Andrea Zittel’s “A-Z Personal Uniform Series,” which are formed directly from fiber in three-dimensions, with all color, shape and ornament being executed in the felt-making process; as well as works by Birkel, who creates forms organically by felting through sheer, lightweight fabrics and controlling shrinkage to create necklines, armholes and waists in a process known as nuno felting, rather than constructing garments using traditional dressmaker techniques such as darts, pleats and gathering.

In furniture design, textiles are typically relegated to use solely as upholstery, but a dense felt can be firm enough to provide support and structure, while maintaining soft surface qualities. Highlights of the works on view in this area include Søren Ulrick Petersen’s “Swing Low” cradle, whose cocoon-like shape muffles noise and keeps out drafts; Louise Campbell’s origami-like “Bless You” chair; and Pesce’s “Feltri” chair, wherein the back and arms of the chair take shape entirely from the thick, sculptural quality of the felt.

Industrial felt has emerged as a popular construction material in recent years due to its performative qualities of thermal protection, vibration absorption and sound damping, which make it ideal for use as acoustic tiles and wall and floor coverings. The exhibition will spotlight a number of innovative works in this area, including Tord Boontje’s “Little Field of Flowers” carpet, in which six different leaf shapes are die-cut from felt and loomed into a woven carpet, and LAMA Concept’s “Cell LED” carpet, which features LEDs inserted behind the felt nodes in the carpet to provide a long-lasting, low-energy and visually pleasing light source.

The exhibition also will address the issue of sustainability, featuring felts made from partially or fully recycled materials. Felt makes a very short trajectory from raw fiber to finished product, creating fewer opportunities for material waste, and with the burgeoning interest in green design, this most primitive textile is emerging as an exciting “new” material. Among the works on view that are created from recycled materials are Odegard’s “Striped Felt” carpet, which is created by embroidering together the waste from various solid-color, cut-edge felt carpets, and Molo’s “Felt Rocks,” a by-product of a process for hardening high-density industrial felts.

The final gallery of the exhibition will feature videos that document the felt-making process, as well as a variety of touch samples.

http://cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/Fashioning-Felt/

Felted Wool Sculptures - Stephanie Metz

2009-02-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Needle felting is mostly a craft making technique; a smaller scale of how industrial wool felt is produced. In industrial production thousands of felting needles mat wool into a flat, uniform and dense fabric. This same technique can be done by hand with one needle creating diferent forms or three-dimensional objects. The technique is labourious and usually one where you are sure to get your fingers pinned over and over by the felting needles which are long, barbed and extremely sharp as to allow the fibers to mix and bond.

Felted Wool sculptures made by needle felting is the latest work of Stephanie Metz, a northern bay californian artist. Her skill at this technique stems out of a talent that has been worked out and developed by practice. Different media have been approached in her training and experience; printmaking, painting (fossil studies, landscape, citylandscape), figure drawing and sculpture.

Teddy Bear Natural History, Overbred Animals and Animal Studies are the titles of these Felted Wool series of works. A certain death smell is presented yet the nature of the material makes it ambigious and contradictory; the senses and the mind get puzzled while confronted with these cozie aberrations of nature.

Danger, mutations and overbreed animals along with teddy bear skulls are portrayed in Metz´s anatomical studies. Wool itself a natural fiber grown from sheep holds some of the mystery of this uneasiness; as abnormal or deformed fauna are created out of animal hair and not a petrified material like marble, stone or bronce. Solid yet pourous and slightly furry these figurative and realistic representations appear as classic anatomical studies and traditional sculptures that while preserving some of the correct proportions and beauty notions challenge those same notions by presenting them in abnormal transformations of excess or lack.

Teddy Bear Natural History confronts the image of childhood and death. Death itself can be played with and understood of as a natural process present even in the imaginary life of a stuffed toy. This particular work shares some lines along with the current japanese boom of deathly but cute dolls and toys but also brings out a relationship with the stuffed animals kept for conservation in museums, getting them so close as to bring out a sense of uneasiness with the teddy bear toys used in everyday life by kids; deprived of their own cycles and treated as petrified animals for play presenting themselves as normality, security and immortality. Metz presents them as bones; the end of their life cycle as petrified stuffed creatures.

While appealing to the senses the pieces confront your tactile instict with the realization of the subjects as freak, awkard and contrary to life. Whether abnormal cycles of nature or genetic mutations produced synthethically one is confronted with natures order of things shifted and therefore our own order of things along with our role and participation within nature.

www.artbysteph.com

HIROCOLEDGE by Takahashi Hiroko + Interview A New Tradition that Blends into Modern Times by PingMag

2009-02-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

"HIROCOLEDGE is a product brand directed by an artist, Takahashi Hiroko."

.
Kimonos one of the most traditional japanesse garments which is still commonly used. For Hiroko her approach intends to bridge with tradtion as a starting point; from a culture which is important to notice she belongs to and she grew up with. "The beginning of a new tradition", she states were kimonos since ancient times have had as signature of patterns, be they sewn, embroidered or dyed. By learning clothing and dyeing techniques, Hiroko developed her product brand.
New patterns; circles and dots, all graphic and with a pop look in them. The graphic approach for Hiroko is where she found the possibility of actualizing a design already embeded in the japanese culture for more than a hundred years. She calls it a meeting point where the Japan that she lives today, present-day meets Japan in the past while launching itself to the future; this she calls it her main strength. The ability to stamp her art work with an actual signature. The importance of tradition in her work is carefully balanced and most respect to the traditional techniques and craftsmen that have left this legacy is accounted for making her work come out of history and not detached from it.
www.shophirocoledge.com

HIROCOLEDGE: A New Tradition that Blends into Modern Times by PingMag

I know that you are involved in diverse creative activities, but what exactly do you define your title as?

At the moment, I call myself an “artist” so that people can perceive me in a broader and freer sense, but to be honest, I haven’t been able to find a title that is right for me. I don’t differentiate my works of art and products as separate things; I approach them equally as different means of conveying my message.
So tell us about your brand, HIROCOLEDGE.

I see HIROCOLEDGE as an artistic activity. I want people to touch, feel, and enjoy works of art just as they do with products. I suppose they are both means of conveying the backgrounds of making things.

Items from HIROCOLEDGE have particularly striking modernistic patterns, but is there anything you are particular about when it comes to the patterns?

As you may know, there are patterns that were created especially for Yuzen dyeing, so in the old days unique Japanese patterns must have developed hand in hand with the craftsmanship. But even though dyeing skills have evolved, the development of patterns has stopped. I suppose the fact that the kimono is no longer the everyday wear of Japanese people is part of the reason, but in nature, I feel that patterns that reflect the era should continue to evolve together with the skills. At the moment, I am challenging myself by seeing how much originality I can express with the minimum elements of black and white, circles and straight lines, and the shape of the traditional kimono. In this era of expressions with freedom, I’m making it a point to limit the available elements, and aiming to make things in a lean way that reflects the times. Because it’s a flat garment with large surface area, there should be lots of things I can do with it.

That’s a wonderful aspiration. I hear that you frequently visit many regional factories. What is your opinion on the materials and manufacturing skills?

Regarding the materials and skills, I think there are things that you can change, things that you cannot change, and things that you mustn’t change, but I always consult my craftsmen during the process. When I draw an initial rough sketch, I first show it to them, and then we consider the available options together. Design comes after that, but it’s not unusual to be told, “I think we can do it, but I’ve never done it before.” However, challenges might lead to a new step, so I do make tough requests to the craftsmen from time to time.

Can you give us an example of a work that was born out of the challenge and the efforts of the craftsmen?

I once designed a Nishijin obi in simple black and white, but weaving usually causes the colors of the crossing threads to blend into each other. So it was extremely difficult to show pure black and pristine white, but the craftsman kindly stopped all his other work and spent almost 3 months experimenting with techniques, and the obi was completed after much trial and error. When it was finished, I heard that many people in Nishijin came to have a look at it, which was unprecedented at the time.

The craftsman must have been happy with his new discovery too.

Yes, the sense of accomplishment was especially big for both of us, so there is a special attachment to it. The craftsman is really happy whenever this obi is introduced at various occasions.

Incidentally, the movement of rediscovering Japanese traditions and bringing them back in a new form is increasing considerably. How do you feel about such trends from an objective point of view?

Personally, I am also included in such trends, but I find that breaking down fixed concepts while preserving the areas that shouldn’t be changed is an extremely important thing. For example, I often see collaborations by students and traditional craftsmen, but the works produced from there seem to be heavily influenced by classical patterns. By that I mean that many people are too influenced by the past; it seems like they are mired in it.

I don’t exactly feel that my design is consciously Japanese, but I’m really happy whenever foreign people who look at my work say that my pattern is Japanese, because I think it’s natural that a pattern made by a Japanese artist should feel Japanese. That’s perhaps why some people say that my kimonos blend naturally into the modernistic spaces of today’s Japan.

I feel that today’s design is expected to provide substance. If you become too conscious of the superficial elements in your pursuit for a Japanese design, then it often becomes an awkward design. But if you have a better understanding of the roots of manufacturing and the backgrounds of how that item came to be born, then it should give you a different picture. I think Japanese items that fit into these modern times will then be created more naturally.
And finally, what is the message that you are trying to convey through HIROCOLEDGE?

I want to make things in such a way that everyone involved in the item, including the people making it and the people using it, will all be happy. There is an underlying presence of history, skills, craftsmanship, and tools for everything, but it’s naturally quite difficult to sense such things. And if you think about the global environment, now is an era where unnecessary things shouldn’t be produced at all. That’s why as a creator I want to convey such messages, while cherishing the process at the same time. And by sensing such things, I think the feeling of treasuring something will come to the user too. But that doesn’t mean that the background of making things is the sole paramount factor either. After all, the impact of the appearance is crucial, as it won’t even be picked up if it can’t attract people’s attention. Because we live in an era with a lot of products, I want to make things that would make people want to pass it down to others in the future.

Designer of HIROCOLEDGE, Hiroko Takahashi.

With so much passion for your creative activity, you must have a great relationship with your craftsmen.

Yes, many of the craftsmen that I work with come from the same generation. They have great skills as professionals, but compared to older craftsmen approaching their 80s they still lack in experience. But young craftsmen kindly feel that we are going to grow together. I share the same feeling, and hope to increase our experiences together.

Hiroko, thank you very much for your time today. We look forward to seeing your collaborative partnership with the craftsmen give birth to many more wonderful Japanese works!

http://pingmag.jp/2008/12/12/hirocoledge/

wool felt and textiles

Joseph Beuys (Part 7/7)

Joseph Beuys (Part 6/7)

Joseph Beuys (Part 5/7)

Joseph Beuys: on Multiples

Jan Verwoert on Joseph Beuys: The Boss (e-flux)

.... excerpt

1. The Questionable Authority of the Artist as Healer

Joseph Beuys (Part 4/7)

Joseph Beuys (Part 3/7)

Joseph Beuys (Part 2/7)

Joseph Beuys - Infiltration for Piano 1966 / The Skin 1984

Sheep in the snow, Joseph Beuys 1952

Joseph Beuys (Part 1/7)

Exhibition "REALITY LAB," from November 16 to December 26 @ 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

Lygia Pape, Central Exhibition 53rd Venice Biennale 2009

np status

Mayahuana Lamps by Toyo Ito for Yamagiwa

PLENUM - DESCARTES

Descartes's Mechanical Philosophy

Andreas Gefeller; The Japan Works

Andreas Gefeller; Supervisions

Tara Donovan Exhibition at San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art

Predock Frane Architects

Do Ho Suh

1942, New York - Mile of String, Marcel Duchamp

Sophia Dixon Dillo

The Banff Center - Nadia Pacheco - HILANDO

MOCA - Ball_Nogues Studio

MINIARTEXTIL - ITALIA

BOTH

Amanda Levete's CORIAN® super-surfaces installation

and here ... the stars !!!

Tokujin Yoshioka

Danielle Gori Montanelli

Paola Lenti - FELT RUGS

Untitled, 1976, felt by Robert Morris & Interview by Simon Grant

Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware at La Triennale di Milano

Drawing and stitching. The Idea of the North at 210 Gallery an artist run gallery in Brooklyn NY

woolfelt by p_inc

HUT up BERLIN

Hella Jongerious / Maharam / Nike

Arounna Khounnoraj

Erwan & Ronan Boureoullec - on Kreo exhibition by Laurence Salmon

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec - site quoting" "

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

WOOL by the International Year of Natural Fibers -ONU

What is it?

What is it?

Who produces it?

How is it produced?

How much is produced?

What are the prospects for wool?

15 Natural Fibers - Inernational Year of Natural Fibers - Onu

Plant fibres

Animal fibres

When is a fibre "natural"?

International Year of Natural Fibers 2009 - ONU

Why are natural fibres important?

Why an International Year of Natural Fibres?

Who decided that 2009 would be the International Year of Natural Fibres?

Who will coordinate the International Year?

What will happen in 2009?

European Felt Festival

Handmade Nation - Museum of Contemporary Craft

Museum of Contemporary Craft presents Handmade NationApril 3 & 4, 2009

Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

By Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl Published by Princeton Architectural Press

FELT by Willow Mullins

About the author

Contents

Abitax Japan

Helene Picard

Felt process on Fashioning Felt (Turkmenistan)

LAMA Stuido / Yvonne Laurysen and Erik Mantel

Knitted Worlds by Design nl

Wool it be

M + K Filze Factory GmbH by m+k

Molo felt rocks & DIY felt rocks & Ronel Jordaan South African felt rocks

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to Present “Fashioning Felt” by 7th space

Museum of Contemporary Craft
presents Handmade Nation
April 3 & 4, 2009

Handmade Nation:
The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

By Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl
Published by Princeton Architectural Press