Painted, a Dutch designer collective led by Saskia van Drimmelen, Desiree Hammen (fashion designers) and
Margreet Sweerts (theatre maker), has been invited by Renny Ramakers to participate in the event ‘Pioneers of Change',
based on Painted Series, a series of garments grown from different hands.
Painted invited Pascale Gatzen, Dutch fashion designer living in New York and coordinator of IDC fashion,
part of Parsons the New School for Design, to collaborate with them.
Sharing the wish to work with masters in handicrafts they started to develop this project together.
The empty house on Governors Island is seen as a body and the various makers are dressing it by making
‘couture’ doilies -little treasures- to protect, to ornament, and to accentuate it.
The new collaboration of makers consider the house as a present and their gift to the house is their work.
Imagining a new first meeting between Native Americans and people from Europe, they envisioned an encounter
through the beauty of their traditional techniques and mutual respect.
Painted invited three Native masters in beadwork: Joyce, Juanita and Jessica Growing Thunder and are very proud
to share words and wisdom in making work on the island. For Saskia a long time wish came true!
Pascale had the wish to work with lace makers and invited Marie Rose Delahaye, master in lace making and geographer
and some of her students to work in the project.
Then to complete the list of invitations, Dutch friends were invited to join in this ongoing process, Erzsi Pennings; visual artist,
Emmeline de Mooij; visual artist and stylist; Sarah Aphrodite Stolwijk; fashion designer, and the New York based Nightwood;
Myriah Scruggs and Nadia Yaron, makers of reincarnated furniture.
PAINTED is known for presenting an off-schedule collection created by themselves and a sequence of invited designers
in league with Bulgarian artisans since 2006.
In a poetically utilitarian approach, Painted combines sharply stylized couture with handicraft intensive evocations of
traditional ceremonial garments. The unique pieces, made by many hands in fellowship, conjure up the notion and
spirit of an heirloom that can be experienced as you wear them.
Attire in progress that grows out of different autographs, Painted Series marries nearly forgotten techniques with
contemporary elements. Cord embroidery, needlepoint lace, bobbin lace all factor into the garments,
reflecting Painted’s conviction that newness doesn’t necessarily equal advancement and there is an imperative
to inventively revive and transform almost forgotten techniques.
Utilizing them in modern and often sumptuous clothing is Painted’s goal – finding their place in a forward thinking,
conscientious milieu. Painted wishes to further their mission to make clothes with materials of personal value to the client.
An interview about their experiences and desires in dressing culminates in a voyage of discovery for both Painted and the patron.
Their clothes are constructed so the making process is the actual design process, a kind of clothes far removed from
standardization – personalized, individualized pieces as a rule.
www.paintedseries.com
Pascale Gatzen is a fashion designer and one of the six designers of ‘Le Cri Néerlandais’ in the mid-nineties together with
among others Saskia van Drimmelen and Viktor and Rolf. They were the first Dutch fashion designers next to Orson& Bodil
to present their work on a catwalk in Paris.
Pascale is currently building a new alternative fashion curriculum in Parsons, the New School for Design, New York.
IDC Fashion is a concentration in Parsons’ Integrated Design Curriculum and an alternative to the well-known fashion program of Parsons, uptown. It utilizes a holistic experiential approach to educating students within the context of garments, identity, media and fashion.
“The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all the time who
eventually catch on to things.”
Students in IDC Fashion continuously create work, they are encouraged to experiment, to collaborate, to share, to go to creative places they have not discovered yet and to inspire each other. They test the results of their work by wearing it, presenting it, exchanging it in real life situations that bring them and their work outside of the classroom.
IDC Fashion is about sharing and creating in abundance, with love and confidence.
“Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.”
(quotes from Sister Corita)
www.pascalegatzen.com ; www.nativefunkandflash.com
Joyce, Juanita and Jessica Growing Thunder Fogarty are 3 generations continuing the longtime tradition within their family
to make beautiful beaded dresses and painted dolls.
Joyce Growing Thunders’ work in the tradition of the Assiniboine tribe is collected by museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the Museum of Native American in New York and collectors of native art.
Daughter Juanita is especially skilled at quillwork, which she characterizes as one of the first authentic Native art forms.
Jessica is a born master in beadwork and taught herself the techniques by looking at her mother and grandmother.
Her inventive spirit made her renew the traditional work by making spiritual circles in the background of the designs in beadwork.
She is famous for her beautifully made dance outfits.
Joyce, Juanita and Jessica often work on their pieces together, and by night and day, living with the knowledge of the spirits
surrounding us.
Marie Rose Delahaye is a graduated master in making lace and a geographer. She traveled to many places in the world and
everywhere she could work on the different techniques and styles in making bobbin lace.
She always loved to work on traditional pieces but is now curious to bring the old style and contemporary design together.
With her knowledge of the history of lace she also did a study for the Metropolitan Museum of art to find out when
the detailing in lace was added to a certain painting.
Nightwood specializes in reconstructed furniture and textiles to create hand crafted one-of-a-kind products.
Based in Brooklyn, they made all the furniture to fit the house and the porch. With a down to earth yet airy aesthetic and sensibility, Nightwood conveys a modern rusticity that emphasizes hand crafted one-of-a-kind products.
The two halves of Nightwood are Myriah Scruggs and Nadia Yaron.
They have been collaborating since 2003 and their vision is complimented and completed by each other’s work.
www.nightwoodny.com
