October 28, 2013

Natural Dye + Wax Print + Sweaters

= Dutch Design Week 2013






Last week I visited the Dutch Design Week (DDW) two times and both times I went to see the Vlisco Unfolded* exhibition at the IGLUU. They showed their fabrics as hanging banners over the ceiling like they freshly rolled out of the machines and the beautiful creations they made for their campaigns. There were tables full of sketches and drawings, walls full of their epic campaign photos, animations and a replica of their archive with the impressive sample books. I made a ton of photos, so I will dedicate another post to them with more about this wonderful exhibition. Congrats Vlisco!





The first day, Wednesday, I went to TAC. TAC always has great (alternative) exhibitions and events, so I was looking forward to their view on Dutch Design. The place was packed with young and original designers. Every designer had its own space to do with it as pleased. In this way the way it was showed matched the designed product. I was most surprised by The Colors of Orange.
The Colors of Orange** is a collaboration of three designers. Eugenia Morpurgo (IT), Amélia Desnoyers (Fr) and Olivia de Gouveia (PT) tell the unexpected story of the carrot. The bright orange vegetable hides a family rich in shades and tonality. They use the color to dye fabric in this case a digital wax printed cloth that they later made into a bag. I loved their Labratorium set-up, the reverence to Vlisco and that they made a nice, simple cotton bag that I could take home with me, just lovely! (earrings by BLOK)



Wednesday was a gloomy day, but when I visited Garden Mania the sun shortly broke through. I was there a while back, but they were closed then, I already liked the big construction bags full of plants and furinture made out of pallets. For the DDW they made a program with the title "Re: La plante; un poéte. Le jardin; un maison".
After my carrot dyeing wax print surprise at TAC, I was even more surprised when at Garden Mania they were painting fabrics with Marigolds, the husks of walnuts, elderberries and other things from their garden.
Am I detecting a natural dye trend?




Friday my parents went to the DDW, so I joint them for lunch and to see Vlisco Unfolded again. In the afternoon I had an appointment at the Van Abbemuseum. I'm helping creating the newest acquisition of the museum, Laurent Mareschal's Beiti, a temporary tiled floor made ​​of spices!
I was to early for the appointment, so I made a fast visit to their DDW exhibition "Self Unself".
The collected knitting of Loes Veenstra, presented by Christien Meindertsma is definitely my favorite.
Since 1955, Loes Veenstra has knitted more than 550 sweaters. Until recently she had them stored in boxes, in the attic of her home on 2nd Carnisse Street, Rotterdam. The sweaters have never been worn.**** Christien Meindertsma designed the book "Het Verzamelde Breiwerk van Loes Veenstra uit de 2e Carnissestraat" and now shows a selection of the sweaters at the Van Abbe.
Another strong work in "Self Unself" is Wolwearen . Wolwearen is a series of seven blankets made by people with a mental or physical impairment. Pieter Smit designed looms that reflect the psychological and physical possibilities of the operators. "Beauty springs from the impairments of the weaver."
The exhibition "Self Unself" at Van Abbemuseum is till the 17th of november. And Laurent Mareschal's Beiti is part of the "Once Upon a Time... The Collection Now" that opens this Saturday!

* See also www.v-inspired.vlisco.com/vlisco-unfolded and my post "Vlisco Unfolded"
** More about The Color of Orange on www.cargocollective.com/thecolorsoforange
*** More about Garden Mania on www.gardenmania.nl
**** See also "Flasmob Truien van Loes" on YouTube

3 comments:

Mien B said...

I loved the exhibition !!!

Angela said...

I wish I could have seen it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Sabine Bolk said...

You're welcome, thank you for commenting!