This piece was installed in Aldwych Tube Station, the Strand, London in 2003. In the statement about this piece Waltener writes:Doilies are like dreamcatchers, each knot holding a thought, a memory. The sum of these make up the history of a place.
This is such a beautiful thought, and so true about knitting as a craft. Every stitch is a symbol of a moment and so much thought and care and reflection is put in, whether your project be for yourself or someone else; which I think is a feeling that comes to many knitters as they get more involved in their craft.
Much of Waltener's work revolves around this idea, in his bio for the UK Hand Knitters Association he says, "beyond the aesthetics of knitting, I am interested in the social dimension of the craft, people exchanging stories, recollections and memories when knitting together". His work also deals with the balance of knitting in the larger discussion of art vs. craft and the idea of high art vs. low art. More of Waltener's fiber and mixed media installations can be found here, and I really recommend checking them out.
The next thing I have to share is also lace-centric and really interesting. Lace in Translation is a project between 3 art and design studios working to share their own interpretation of The Design Center at Philadelphia's collection of traditional lace designs by the Quaker Lace Company. The three European and Canadian teams, Demakersvan a studio based out of Rotterdam, Cal Lane a Canadian sculptor, and Tord Bootnje a Dutch industrial designer, are showing their takes on this historic art at The Design Center until April 3, 2010.
This is Demakersvan's interpretation, a 16 panel, 152 foot lace fence made of galvanized PVC coated wire.
Sculptor Cal Lane cut, welded, and painted her inspiration into a 1000 gallon oil tank and burnt a traditional lace design into the lawn at the Center.
This is Tord Boontje's contribution to the project, the first is an installation of Sofa Aramide and Dynema Fibers with powder coated steel, the second is a Raffia lace curtain.
More information on this project is available on all of the designers and teams websites as well as at the Lace in Translation home page.
A strange coincidence that all of these lace based projects would find me this week, if you receive our emails you may know that we are on a bit of a lace frenzy as of late. We recently received word that the famous Estonian lace book Haapsalu Sall (Haapsalu Shawl) by Siiri Reimann & Aime Edasi would be translated and printed in English available early next year. We are taking pre-orders for the second shipment of this beautiful book right now, the first were reserved almost immediately.
The next thing I have to share with all of you today is courtesy of Jenny, our graphic design wonder, De*Nada is a line of chic knit accessories founded by Virginia Blanca Arrisueño, who cites the culture and traditions of her Peruvian heritage as her inspiration.
The Challah Braids
The Eternal Roped and Skinny Fringe
The Eternal Web and Ladies GlovesI really like this line, none of the patterns look as though they would be too difficult to figure out and make your own, and it's a really good example of well photographed knitwear.
The final thing I have today is this really interesting headband, also found by my friend Amanda, by the French accessories designer benoit missolin :
Pom-poms! I really love how fun this is, and how easy it would be to make! Can you believe they charge $194?! A pom-pom maker costs about $8. Outrageous! I'm really glad she showed me, I have a few girlfriends who should be expecting pom-pom headbands for Christmas (only maybe I'll make mine a little smaller).With that, I leave you all until next time. In light of the holidays, there will be no Fashionknista next week, but check back the week after for a new post. Until then, stay chic, blogfans!
-Lindsay
1 comment:
Merry Christmas. Love the blog. It is very interesting and inspiring every week.
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