Memory

Memory is a creative work developed for the 2011 Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award. The intention of this award was to question and challenge the traditional notions of lace and generate new design concepts and applications of lace in a contemporary context. This juried award and exhibition attracted 700 global entries from 33 countries, where 130 entries were selected for exhibition and entry into the award. The diversity of the final entries reflects contemporary shifts in the creative arts where a range of disciplines, not traditionally associated with textile processes are adapting and applying these ideas in new ways. Included in the exhibition were innovators such as Joep Verhoeven (Netherlands) and Janet Echelman (USA). Memory has culminated from an interest in knitted lace techniques, the effects of materials on knitted structures and transparency and opacity in textiles. The explorative nature of the piece and the decorative nature of the outcome questions and introduces domestically machine knitted textiles as a medium for creating artefacts. The combination of traditional hand craft, such as crochet and machine knit using non-standard materials such as electrical copper wire, create layered areas of shadow play, and ethereal effects which respond to space and light. This theme echoes the current shift of multi-disciplinary designers who are exploring textile craft, textile making processes and materials in the development of new products, as seen in the work of Dutch designer Marcel Wanders and his use of lace making techniques in furniture products. The exploration of non-standard materials and pushing the boundaries of these on the domestic knitting machine has presented new possibilities for further investigation which can inform multi-disciplinary fields of design in the development of new concepts. Memory was the winner of the International Juried Award for the Traditional Techniques category, ($4000 award).