Hella Jongerius Interlace, textile research
Throughout summer 2019, Lafayette Anticipations invites the Dutch designer Hella Jongerius. She uses the building’s performative qualities to transform the interior space into a vast, constantly shifting loom; a giant textile studio, open to the public. Hella Jongerius is one of international design’s most influential figures. Working from her Jongeriuslab in Berlin, her theoretical and experimental research explores multiple themes, often addressing the significance of colours and materials. The project she has imagined for Lafayette Anticipations is centred around textile and weaving.
In the world of fast fashion, textiles have become a throwaway product. This exhibition questions how we consider textiles within our lives, and the cultural, social and economic implications of textile production and consumption today.
Over recent decades, we have become less aware of how our textiles are made, while artisanal production techniques are being lost. Industrialisation, mechanisation and globalisation have taken textile production away from individual understandings.
Interlace exposes the viewing public to the textile production process in order to create awareness, re-valuation and appreciation for textiles. It shows what consumers don’t usually see: the research and experimentation, the tools and materials, the trial and error that are as important as the result itself.
Throughout the three months of the exhibition, the public will be able to see new textile pieces being woven in the gallery space.
In addition, a symposium to be held at the Foundation on September 6th (9.30-6.30pm) will discuss weaving techniques and technologies, as well as the social implications of modern textile production. It will bring together designers and design historians to present and discuss their research and material investigations. The day is organised around three broad topics: “From the vernacular to the technological”, “Material culture and the locale” and “Sensuous design”.
A risograph booklet (from the “Carnets” Collection) printed at the Foundation and a catalogue will accompany the exhibition. The catalogue is designed by Irma Boom, with contributions from Hans Den Hartog Jager, Alice Rawsthorn, Anne Röhl and Christel Vesters. It is composed of several notebooks published partly on site during the exhibition. They can be acquired separately or assembled in a single book in September 2019. It also includes a glossary of terms linked to textile and Jongeriuslab’s research.
