The Feel the Yarn thread (pun intended…) that started last Friday closes today with an overview of the students' work. As you may remember from posts that regarded the previous edition, this competition takes place every year during the Florence-based yarn fair Pitti Filati and focuses on promoting Italian yarns while sponsoring young talents from institutions based all over the world.
Students who take part usually end up keeping in touch with the spinners that sponsored them and quite often meet further manufacturers or get internships at fashion houses and companies.
It is actually admirable the way the students stand next to their designs and offer explanations to visitors about the various techniques they employed and the yarns they picked. It is instead a shame the fact that people in the upper echelons of the yarn fair organisation do not seem to give it enough importance.
Hopefully they will change attitude and maybe introduce two special awards next time, one assigned by ordinary visitors and one by a technical jury (with an internship attached…) just to add even more credibility to the event.
Eight institutions took part in this year's competition, with a total of 19 students (we already analysed designs by Eri Nato, E Wha Lim, Keung Mei Yee and Ka-ho Cheung).
All of them (please point with your mouse on the picture and you'll see the file name with the designer's name and surname) presented their own interpretations (two designs for each students) of the main themes for the 2014 edition of the competition – Earth, Stone and Frost.
Matilda Norberg from the Royal College of Art, this year's winner, moved for example from stratifications of rocky materials, gravel, clay, crystals and cooled off lava. She mainly worked with a range of solid and glassy yarns by Industria Italiana Filati juxtaposed to porous and grainy ones. Also the silhouettes and textures of her designs were inspired by stones and minerals.
Camille Hardwick (Kingston University, London), also moved from stones, but mainly explored granitic landscapes and beehive stone configurations replicated through intarsia patterns in lime green (Zegna Baruffa yarns).
The depth of caves concealing precious stones and the process of dowsing to locate ground water, buried metals and gemstones, was the main inspiration for the designs created by Matteo Domenichetti (Politecnico di Milano) who vitrified the yarns (by Giorgini Silvano) he employed or plasticised some parts of his knits.
Geological analysis was also on Alessandro Bruno's (Politecnico di Milano) mind, though his designs (made with yarns by Lane Cardate) revolved on a palette including lime, dove, and dark grey and featured quite a few interesting three-dimensional elements and motifs that hinted at the evolution of rocks.
Volumes and three-dimensional surface motifs characterised the two designs by Theresa Brinkmann from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology of the Hochschule Niederrhein, one of the largest universities of Applied Sciences in Germany.
Brinkmann played with concepts of protection and freedom: the former was infused in a chunky dress with voluminously armour-like elements around the shoulders; the latter was symbolised by a more delicate white design (Filpucci yarns).
Earth was interpreted in different ways by various students: Maria Brimelow (Kingston University, London), opted for overprotective garments with yarns by Filati Be.Mi.Va. accessorised with balaclavas to give the idea of the monumental power of nature.
Kumiko Ikehara (Bunka Fashion College) looked instead at distorted and stratified elements in nature, hinting in this way at complicated human emotions, and used luxurious yarns by Loro Piana.
The aerial view provided the main inspiration for Caroline Sell's (Hochschule Niederrhein) designs (yarns by Gi.Ti.Bi. Filati) that integrated a series of jacquard patterns.
One design was based on the agricultural exploitation of the land and the other on the motifs and patterns created by pressed ice.
Hybernated nature, cliff cracks and splits, ice glaciers and icy formations inspired instead the plastic elements cracking through the knits (yarns by Di.Vè) designed by Miya Budaeva (Hochschule Niederrhein).
The plastic elemets looked 3D printed and seemed to create more convincing effects on the white look.
Ayako Ohta (Bunka Fashion College) fantasised instead about a traditional kimono made of ice made with a light mohair yarn by Lanificio Oliva.
Frost was represented by foamy materials in Min-Hsuan Weng's (Royal College of Art) pieces.
The secondary inspirations – Chinese styles from the 17th century and the blue ink illustrations, reminiscent of Qing dynasty porcelain pieces, of children's book The Blue Bird by Fiona French – provided the fairy tale aura and the soft colour palette with sparkling elements (yarns by E. Miroglio).
Traditional elements and costumes proved strong inspirations for some of the students involved.
Yu Yangyang (Beijing Institute of Technology) moved for example from the Miao people and employed yarns by Linsieme Filati.
Known from their embroidering and weaving skills and for the intricate patterns of their clothes, the Miao inspired Yu Yangyang an owl and a fish dress in bright colours and beaded and appliqued elements.
Chinese paintings of serene mountain valleys and landscapes covered in snow were instead the main inspiration behind Yuqi Cai's architectural designs.
Yuqi Cai used yarns instead of ink to recreate her snowy and at times childish landscapes.
The designs were made by layering mohair yarns by Igea and mixing partial knitting and handknitting.
Both the pieces were accessorised with desirable bags shaped like buildings with plexiglass handles symbolising snowy roofs.
Students from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts offered two different interpretations of modern women.
Dorothea Birnstiel's jumpsuits (Pinori yarns) representing lava and frozen land were inspired by a futuristic amazon-like woman; Selina Peyer (New Mill – Fashion Mill yarns) told through her knits the story of a wild female wolf clad in a chain-mail armour, symbolising an independent contemporary woman fighting against life adversities, a sort of character that may have been borrowed from a story à la Angela Carter.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Related articles
Rispondi