Thread Threads (2020)
Thread Threads is a platform for giving voice to designers, makers, consumers, and clothes themselves. Thread Threads is intended to inspire a more intimate relationship with cloth and greater material stewardship.
Through production of art, observation of the fashion industry from within it, and primary research regarding fashion culture, I arrived at Thread Threads - a solution informed by an understanding of people and objects. While my process focused on cloth valuation, many of the ideas apply to the contemporary attitude toward all non-art objects. The following explorations - although varying in medium - are to be viewed as a unified process toward a final design solution.
CLOTH INTIMACY IN SOCIETY
I began my exploration of existing cloth intimacy and the lack thereof through an art piece called Untitled #5. Here I consider the valuation disparity between the contemporary art world and the marketplace.
CLOTH INTIMACY IN SELF
After considering the relationship society as a whole has with cloth, I began considering my own relationship with cloth. Each day for a couple months I drew one article of clothing and reflected on its value to me. I found that the pieces I held dearest were the ones that held the most stories.
CLOTH INTIMACY IN INDIVIDUALS
After looking within, I began wondering if people around me valued certain articles of cloth in a similar way. I conducted interviews focused on beloved, functional cloth and witnessed the intimacy others shared with certain articles of cloth.
reintroducing cloth intimacy
What I found through my personal and primary explorations was the potential for widespread cloth intimacy in society. I identified storytelling through cloth as a bright spot (something that “is working” as defined by Dan Heath) to build upon. With this in mind, I developed Thread Threads, a platform for documenting and sharing the stories of everyday cloth.
Pre-launch we are curating a curious combination of content encouraging followers to begin to consider the stories their clothing may tell.
Questions? Comments? Please get in touch!