Hand writings in blue

Handwritings in blue. Nuno felt piece from wool, silk, and flax. Natural dyes: indigo.

A piece participated in The International Nantong Craft Biennale 2014, in China.

Fetishism in Fashion

Not so long after Svetlana Batura took photos of my felted kimonos on a man and I submitted these photos, I got a letter from Paris, to be more precise – from Edelkoort ETC, a company of a famous trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort.

 

The letter was an invitation:

“Please find enclosed a letter of invitation from Lidewij Edelkoort, the press letter, as well as images of the pieces we are most inspired by and feel are key to the expression of fetishism in contemporary fashion.  Would you please let me know if you would be interested in participating in this high-profile European fashion event, and if so, indicate if the attached pieces are available for consideration?” …

“Some of the designers who already accepted to contribute are: Walter van Beirendonck, Iris van Herpen, Rad hourani, Kei Kagami, Rick Owens, Bernhardt Wilhelm, Bas Kosters, Damir Doma, Joji Kojima, Aitor throup, Peter Movrin, Chris Sutton, Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Martin Margiela, Yingin Ying, Prada, Uma Burke, Gabriella Marina Gonzalez, Luuk Varkevisser, KYE,  Barbara I Gongini and many more outside designers.”

“Please let me know if you need any additional information at all, while I look forward to hearing back from you soon regarding your interest.”

 

My work was selected for their exhibition “Fetishism in Fashion” at M°BA. Of course I said yes. Who wouldn’t want to be in a company of Iris van Herpen, Rick Owens, Jean Paul Gaultier???

The exhibition is now on view in Arnhem, the Netherlands. If you are there you can go and enjoy. But you will not find my work there. Unfortunately the last minutes changes were like this:

“We also have received lower budgets and less exhibition space than we first were told, and so we are sorry that this has a restricting effect on things too.
Please know that the Li Edelkoort is a big admirer of your work and that this decision is only based on the exhibition as a whole rather than individual pieces that she loves.”

Well, I can still feel happy that I have been chosen by Li Edelkoort among others like Jean Paul Gaultier and that she loves my work. Good intentions

Food for the soul - marking the start of the Christmas Season

Some shots from hanging our mini exhibition "Food for the soul [Christmas]". Unfortunately I was not there, but...
We are going to prepare a virtual exhibition "Food for the soul", meantime, here is a preview of it:

This is my scarf - traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve pastry served with poppy seed milk

This is my dress - traditional Christmas Eve beverage - oat jelly

Another work by me, Vilte Kazlauskaite, - cape/hood/scarf - traditional Christmas Eve food made from wheet seeds, poppy seeds, nuts and honey

These are felt boots by Daiva Morozova - hot Christmas wine

And I am totally in love with this handbag by Ramune Toleikyte - smoke spiced herring

Another handbag by Jurgita Migoniene - traditional Christmas Eve pastry in poppy seed milk

Felt slippers by Inga Samusiene - traditional Christmas beverage - cranberry jelly

Felt collar by Aurelija Masiulionyte - Christmas bakery

Handbag by Donata Dumciuviene - freshly baked white Christmas bread

Felt slippers by Inga Samusiene - boiled potatoes served with hemp seeds and salt

Collar and accessories by Vaida Petreikiene - Christmas bread with dried fruits

Scarf and gloves by Aurelija Masiulionyte - cheese - a modern taste of Christmas

Another felt bag by Donata Dumciuviene - freshly baked black bread

Felt cape and shawl by Daiva Morozova - tangerines - its smell is in every home during Christmas Season here long ago since the times of Soviet Union

FOOD FOR THE SOUL. [CHRISTMAS]

FOOD FOR THE SOUL

[CHRISTMAS]

Felt exhibition

An exhibition of functional felt objects – as a collection of traces of traditional meanings in this modern world of globalization.

At first glance it is just a simple game of eight felt makers - Daiva Morozova, Viltė Kazlauskaitė, Ramunė Toleikytė, Inga Samušienė, Donata Dumčiuvienė, Aurelija Masiulionytė, Jurgita Migonienė, and Vaida Petreikienė. Felters, playing with felt surfaces and colours that remind you of a smoke spiced herring or “kūčiukai” – traditional Lithuanian pastry served with poppy seed milk, or cranberry jelly, or hemp salt with boiled potatoes… A subject of Christmas food and variations of common fashion accessories.

However, after getting deeper into every exhibited object and its story that underlie simple lines of felt, you realize the meaning of collating felt and Christmas food by the felt makers of this exhibition.

Christmas food symbolizes respect and consonance, it is food that unites all living family members and guests from the world beyond – souls of our ancestors. Authors of the exhibition refer to a belief that souls of the ancestors hold onto plants, hair and wool…

Drawing their inspiration from ancient traditional meanings of Christmas food, authors complement it with modern touch of this celebration, symbolically connecting wool as a sacred shelter of souls and blessed food for all living and dead, wind, cold, and bees. Authors of the exhibition, using modern felting techniques, invite us to “feast” and rediscover the meanings of this holly period of time even in such (at first glance) common and casual cosmopolitan fashion accessories – felt objects with special purport.

And a little preview of one of my works for this mini exhibition - eco friendly dress, dyed with plants. It is inspired by traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve food - oat jelly.

“Kalėdzienė”

Funkcinių veltinio objektų paroda – senųjų prasmių pėdsakų kolekcija šiuolaikiniame globalėjančiame pasaulyje.

Iš pirmo žvilgsnio tai tik paprastas aštuonių veltinio meistrių - Daivos Morozovos, Viltės Kazlauskaitės, Ramunės Toleikytės, Ingos Samušienės, Donatos Dumčiuvienės, Aurelijos Masiulionytės, Jurgitos Migonienės, Vaidos Petreikienės žaidimas veltinio paviršiais ir spalvomis – čia primenančiais dūmų skonio silkę, čia kūčiukus, aplipusius aguonos grūdeliais, čia spanguolių kisielių ar kanapinę druską su bulvėmis. Kalėdinio stalo tematika bei įvairios kasdienių aksesuarų stiliaus variacijos.

Ir vis dėlto, įsiklausius į kiekvieną parodos objektą ir istorijas, slypinčias už paprastų veltinio kontūrų, galima suvokti, kodėl autorės parodoje gretina vilną ir Kalėdinį maistą.

Kūčių ir Kalėdų stalas, simbolizuojantis pagarbą ir santarvę, – tai vaišės, apjungiančios ne tik gyvuosius šeimos narius, bet ir svečius iš anapus – protėvių vėles. Autorės remiasi tikėjimu, jog protėvių vėlės linkusios prisilaikyti augaluose, plaukuose ir...vilnose...

Semdamosis įkvėpimo iš senųjų šventinio stalo prasmių, autorės įneša šiuolaikinio švenčių prieskonio, simboliškai apjungia vilną– sakralų vėlių prieglobstį ir šventas vaišes gyviesiems ir mirusiems, vėjui, šalčiui ir bitėms. Naudodamos modernias veltinio technikos galimybes, autorės parodos lankytojus kviečia „vaišintis“, iš naujo atrandant šventojo laikotarpio prasmes net ir tokiuose iš pirmo žvilgsnio kasdieniuose kosmopolitiško stliaus atributuose - savaip įprasmintuose veltinio objektuose.

Felt United exhibition gallery is online!

Remember International day of felt and Felt United project? Well, finally its gallery is online and you can look at the photos of felt events all over the world here.

Felt United

So it finally happened. First International day of Felt and Felt United project has been completed! Funny, I don't feel like telling a lot about this event. Not because there was something wrong, vice versa - there were so many good, warm things, many mystic signs, lot's of kind hearted conversations, good impressions, feelings, consciousness, insights, lessons to learn and ideas for the future that it feels I just want to keep it inside my heart for a while, hiding and cherishing that little sparkle that makes me feel warm inside...

Yet I will say that the felted Sun we made brightened all the grey sky in there... and I will share lot's of photos of that day.

Photos by Victor Morozov
Photos by Vaida Petreikiene
Photos by Armidas Pronosovas
Photos by Kestutis Migonis
and some of my photos

And the article in Lithunian news site Delfi

Preparation for Felt United

As you might remember I blogged about international day of felt Felt United once. Finally I can announce what Lithuanian group of felters is going to make and where.

There has been lot's of discussions, many beautiful ideas, many ups and downs until we found IT. Summarizing the long path we walked: Felt United colours for this year yellow-orange-red suggested something warm, like fire, shining and bright like the Sun or stars in the sky. We also wanted to make something very Lithuanian, very Baltic... And show it in a symbolic place...

The answer to all this was - recently reconstructed Baltic Zodiac and the Sun that is going through all the signs during a year. You can read a very interesting article about Baltic Zodiac here and I am going to mention just the names of those signs:

1. Fishes (Pisces)

2. Sheep skin (Aries)

3. Rider (Taurus)

4. Twins (Gemini)

5. Bird of the Moon (Cancer)

6. Bird of the Sun (Leo)

7. Crane (Virgo)

8. Scales of the sky (Libra)

9. Deer with 9 horns (Scorpio)

10. Spearman (Saggitarius)

11. Goat (Capricorn)

12. Horse (Aquarius)

The installation will be made in a symbolic place - Ethnocosmological museum in Moletai, under a big glass dome with an idea that the felt installation is to be seen for people on Earth as well as the whole Universe.

Photos

Photos

There is still a lot of preparation work to be done until the opening of the installation on October 3d at 4pm at Ethnocosmological museum in Moletai but there is a little preview of the sign I was making - sheep's skin - with an idea of mythological golden wool. Dyed with plants of course :)

More details to come!

Felt United - a call to participate on International Day of Felt

Last week I received an email inviting to participate in the event Felt United on the first International Day of Felt, October 3d, 2009.

Elis Vermeulen (The Netherlands) and Cynthia Reynolds (Norway) are organizing this event and are calling all felt artists around the World to participate. I said "yes" for Lithuania!

"The theme for this year will be a slice of the colour wheel, yellow through red.

People around the world will be surprised by finding yellow felt on doorsteps, orange felt birds in parks, children wearing red felt vests and husbands carrying bright felt bags to work. There will be felt in museums and felt in markets. There will be felt groups organizing open days and workshops.

...felt in trees, on cars on bicycles and on mountaintops.

This is an open call to felters around the world who have not yet heard about FeltUnited. We are asking felters everywhere to participate on October 3rd, 2009.

Display your felt - on your front door, in the park, along the road or on your car. Anywhere your heart desires... be wild! Have fun! Let the world see what you make".

Love it!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2009 spalio 3 d. – pirmoji tarptautinė veltinio diena, kurios tema – spalvos  geltona-oranžinė-raudona. Ir mes, t.y. Lietuva, dalyvaujame! :)

Design for a Living World

Some say that using sustainable and eco-friendly materials for designing has become a fashion. Though it's not. It has become essential and the only way for survival. It's not a fashion, it's a natural way of living.

"Design for a Living World asks us to think about the products we use - where they come from, how they are made and the impacts they have on our planet.

The Nature Conservancy invited ten designers to create new objects from sustainable materials sourced from around the world. Wood, plants, wool and other organic materials were transformed into intriguing objects, revealing extraordinary stories about regeneration and the human connection to the Earth's lands and waters. Together, designers and consumers can reshape our materials economy and help advance a global conservation ethic by choosing sustainable materials that support, rather than deplete, endangered places."

"Design for a Living World" was another great find I came across browsing the internet and its exhibition is on view from May 14th through January 4 at the Cooper-Hewit National Design Museum in New York.

These are just some designs to admire:

fsc-certified red maple - striking pieces of furniture from red maple by Maia Lin:


'I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. It is about making people aware of nuances, changes in depth, and height-perceptions at a very subtle level-and focusing on a new way of looking at their surroundings, at the land"




chicle latex - Maya forests, Mexico - Dutch (!) designer Hella Jongerius:


"I'm a designer who uses a lot of ingredients to get to a product - not only form, but also history, tradition and contemporary inspiration".



bamboo - China - Ezri Tarazi:


"Rather than use the material as a surface, our project enhances the material to become and object in itself".


vegetable ivory - micronesia - Ted Muehling, jewelry designer.

organic wool rug tiles (yes, FELT! It is knitted from a felted thick yarn) - Dutch (!) designer Christien Meinderstma:

"A lot of the value of a product lies in knowing where it comes from, how it grows, and in what amounts."

Visit the Nature Conservancy site to read and see more.


As a felter myself I tend to choose natural and sustainable materials. Though I know I am not best at it - I am not sure of the processes used to prepare some of my wool I use for felting, but I am proud that I also do buy organic raw wool from the first hands - the sheep keeper. And this year I have discovered wonderful sustainable material I love to use in my felts now - banana fiber.

(Yes, it would be perfect if I was raising my own flock of sheep and were using local plant fibers for my felts :) )

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Eko” nėra mada, tai natūralus gyvenimo būdas.

“Design for a living world” – dar viena įdomi paroda New York’e , kuri skatina susimąstyti apie medžiagas, kurias naudojame – iš kur jos ateina, kaip jos gimsta ir kokią įtaką jos turi mūsų planetai.

10 kviestinių dizainerių, pasitelkę medį, vilną, augalus ir kitas organiškas medžiagas kūrė intriguojančius objektus, pasakojančius apie atsinaujinimo galimybes, žmogaus ir Žemės ryšius.

Savo darbuose visuomet naudojau natūralias medžiagas, taip pat ir organiškas, tokias kaip iš pirmų rankų pirktą vilną, kuri nėra mačiusi jokių pesticidų bei kitos chemijos, arba atsinaujinančią maisto pramonės sub-produktą - medžiagą – bananų šilką. Visuomet traukė natūralių medžiagų taurumas ir tikrumas.  (Kaip ir nedrąsios svajonės apie savų avių, laisvai besiganančių savose pievose, vilną…)

Archeology of the Future: 20 Years of Trend Forecasting

I really get astonished at the creative souls and outstanding trends in design of one particular nation in this world. DUTCH! I am interested in modern design and architecture, and when something catches my eyes, it is usually created by a Dutch! No exception was this find of an exhibition with a very intriguing name - Archeology of the Future- 20 years of trend forecasting with Li Edelkoort.
Edelkoort is one of the world’s most renowned trend forecasters and she was born in the Netherlands!

 

Archeology of the Future is a seven part exhibition, simple labels with accompanying visuals
BODY & SOUL / GLOBAL & LOCAL / FLORA & FAUNA / URBAN & RURAL / ARMOUR & AMOUR / ABSTRACTION & NARRATION / NIHILISM & HEDONISM.




Fourteen trends reflecting key lifestyle movements of the last twenty years, from 1990 to 2010. The exhibiton also includes a variety of design, fashion and photography from around the world and other treasures from Edelkoort's personal archive.

27th March - 31st May '09

Designhuis Eindhoven
Stadhuisplein 3, Eindhoven, NL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Olandai – išskirtinė tauta, kuri visuomet stebina savo kūrybiškumu ir originalumu.
“Archeology of the Future” – 20 metų dizaino, mados tendencijų paroda Eindhoven’e, Nyderlanduose.

Fashioning Felt 2

Anyone who is not in New York right now but is willing to see at least a bit of this fascinating exhibition, please have a look here:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Video iš tarptautinės parodos “Fashioning Felt” New York’e, 2009.