ABOUT THE PROJECT:
Piece by Piece, One Square at a Time by designers and tailors Mia Lisa Spon and Nadine Burkhardt is a shared expression towards the importance of passing on traditions and the freedom and joy of creative collaboration. Developed through their involvement with Pure Fabrications, a signature patchwork is produced from three variants of raw cotton – a fine perkal, a thick canvas and a dense canvas – each 10 x 10 cm section sewn together one by one to create an oversized sculptural form. Inspired by childhood memories of folding and constructing paper boats, Spon and Burkhardt’s reinterpretation spreads out over four metres in length – constructed from 25 sqm of fabric and 4500 metres of thread – with its soft fabric form held rigid through the use of fabric hardener that provides the finished work with a paper-like texture.
Material and dimensions:
Raw cotton fabric, thread, fabric hardener.
25 sqm
Year:
2023
PHOTOGRAPHY BY:
Anders Sune Berg
VIDEOGRAPHY BY:
Benjamin Lund
LONG DESCRIPTION:
Working between individual projects and their larger collaborative studio Pure Fabrications, patchwork has become a signature motif within the output of Mia Lisa Spon and Nadine Burkhardt. The technique pulls from the historical perspective of coming together to create a shared form, whilst allowing the duo to focus on up-cycling of material, with their patchworks utilising leftover fabric swatches from other projects. Piece by Piece, One Square at a Time demonstrates the versatility of the patchwork construction, transferred from garment design into a spatial defining sculptural piece. Focusing on the construction of this fabric boat much like a traditional patchwork within the home – the final form is merely the bi-product of the shared journey taken to produce it. The textile sculpture conceptualises value as the sharing of techniques and experiences, in turn devaluing traditional functional or economic signifiers. Through an instantly recognisable symbol of childhood, the piece promotes a shared, inter-generation approach to the continuation of craft traditions and skills.
DESIGNER BIO:
Mia Lisa Spon
Designer and tailor, born 1976.
Nadine Burkhardt
Designer and tailor, born 1987.
Whether working independently, as a duo or as part of their collective studio in Frederiksberg – Pure Fabrications, Mia Lisa Spon and Nadine Burkhardt approach design and craft through a meeting point of human behaviour and creative collaboration. Both trained as tailors and designers, their knowledge for their craft is combined with contemporary approach to materiality, with their work often identified through a patchwork of up-cycled leftover fabrics. A shared interest in traditional tailoring techniques helps initiate each project through the context of the material at hand, along with identifying the best way in which to shape and form each object. This detail driven approach is combined with the larger context of how their work will be used, uniting research into human behaviour with the cultural, geographical and political influences presented within each project. Whether producing work for the Pure Fabrications internal label, external collaborators or conceptual projects, their outcomes aim to transfer the presence of the human hand throughout the design and production process into garments and objects that express the time and care used in creating them.
NADINE BURKHARDT
EDUCATION:
2013: BA, Fashion Design, FHNW University of Applied Sciences Academy of Art and Design, Basel, Switzerland.
GRANTS AND HONOURS:
2023: Working Grant, Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark.
2022: Project Grant, Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark.
2013: Working Grant, Ikea Foundation, Switzerland.
2013: Nominated, Design Prize Switzerland, Switzerland.
COMISSIONS:
2022: Costume Design & Production, ELEKTRICITET by Hotel Pro Forma, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
2018: Lauryn Hill, Custom Dress for the Miseducation 20th Anniversary U.K. Tour, England.
MIA LISA SPON
EDUCATION:
2006: BA, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen.
1999: Technical & Industrial Tailor, Copenhagen Technical College, Denmark.
1997: Dressmaker, The Columbine School, Copenhagen, Denmark.
GRANTS AND HONOURS:
2023: Working Grant, Danish Arts Foundations, Denmark.
2022: Project Grant, Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark.
2013: Nominated, SPON DIOGO, International Wolford Design Prize, International.
2012: Winner, SPON DIOGO, Max Factor Talent Award, International.
2012: Shortlisted, SPON DIOGO, Citroen 5 Design Prize, International.
2011: Nominated, SPON DIOGO, New Talent, DANSK Fashion Award, Denmark.
COMISSIONS:
2023: Handmade Upcycled Collection, Anne Black Store, Copenhagen, Denmark.
2022: Re-Imagined Collection, Pure Fabrications, The Innoue Brothers, Ginza, Japan.
2022: Handmade House Collection, Pure Fabrications, Anne Black Store, Copenhagen, Denmark.
INSTAGRAM: