Care label, as it might read: leave unattended and the fibres will mat; comb gently and expect it to purr. That is the actual temperament of Groomling, one of five knitted creatures in Soft Companions by Katrijn Westland, a Swedish School of Textiles MA graduate, who showed the project at this year’s Dutch Design Week.
Morphling by Katrijn Westland
The festival chose the theme R.A.W., short for Rebel Authentic Worth, and over nine days it gave space to designers who would rather test an idea than polish it. A room of textile animals that breathe and fidget suits that brief well. Katrijn started from loneliness and from how little attention we pay to the cloth against our skin, which has been touching us since this morning without once being thought about. Her question was what happens to that closeness when the fabric starts paying attention back.
Morphling by Katrijn Westland. Video
The answers are very knitterly. Conductive yarn is twisted into the wool, so a creature senses a stroking hand through its own structure, with no sensor stuck on top. Latex chambers sit beneath the surface and make the knit swell and collapse like a sleeping animal. Felting and dissolvable yarns leave the surface hairy and slightly wild, brushed until it stops looking machine-made. Everything is dyed with plants...
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Further Information:
Katrijn Westland Soft Companions at Dutch Design Week
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Image Credits:
Lead: Driftling by Katrijn Westland. Courtesy of the artist.
All further images as credited in captions.