Woolfiller . The art of Repairing
If your favorite cardigan was ruined because of a moths attack or a nasty stain, there’s a new solution that will transform you in an artist and a specialist in the art of repairing. Ever since Heleen Klopper has created Woolfiller (a brand new way to repair woollen jumpers/cardigans/jackets and carpets), nasty holes won’t be anymore a problem for those who love their sweaters. Woolfiller not only represents a more responsible approach to living, but also a way to give new life to our beloved sweaters through a tool which allow us to express creativity in the easiest and possible colourful way.
I met Heleen at Pigr in Milan, in one of her tour exhibition and I was very impressed by the ease with which she was explaining her invention, so simple but at the same time effective. Heleen was awarded by Doen Materiaalprijs 2009, a prize which is usually given to innovative use of materials, the invention comes as a kit that allows people to mend holes by applying wool felt fibres with a needle. The technique is protagonist not only of saving dying clothes, but on giving life to old stuff in a very personal and creative way. I never took a needle in my hand, but this believe me, can be very smart, I cannot help to think how many things I could draw through some wool and a needle.
Following a brief interview of Heleen
A funny way to picture the concept
M: How did you start?
Heleen: It started with the Repair Manifesto of Platform 21. The call for designers to come up with new repair methods inspired me to have a sharp look at a hole in my cardigan.
M: How the idea was born?
Heleen: Woolfiller was born out of a need to repair a hole in a woollen cardigan. The edges of such holes are rarely clean-cut and they are often surrounded by ladders, fraying or worn patches. The differences in thickness and the openness of the structure make felt the ideal solution for mending. Felt, being non-woven, attaches easily to any open structure. Fillers made for materials like wood consist of fibres and a chemical binder. Felt is different: it attaches mechanically by means of minuscule scales. Where once there was a hole, there’s now a new piece of fabric.
M: Which are your past experiences and how have they mixed with your new project?
Heleen: I have just been working with master students of the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. They have designed ‘defects’ in the clothing of their favourite architects followed by clever and wonderful repair solutions. A new ‘repair’ project is about a man with a collection of worn-out woven blankets made by his (in the meantime) 95 years old mother. It will be about repairing/conserving and it is an opportunity to make a portrait/story of this man, like I did with the Cadillac-project.
M: When did you start to do the Woolfiller tour?
Heleen: The first ‘on tour’ abroad was with Platform 21 to New York. A delegation of designers and makers from the exhibition Platform21 Repairing travelled to New York in September 2009 to inject new life into an old period house. This formed part of the Pioneers of Change project: a presentation of contemporary Dutch Design held on Governors Island in New York.
M: How do you choose places where to perform?
Heleen: I have the great luck to be invited by inspired people.
M: Do you think your invention can change the way of mending sweaters?
Heleen: Definitely. It’s easy, even for people with two left hands, and it invites people to be self-reliant and creative.
M: In the future we may see dots on every sweaters, can it become a sign which overcomes the brand?
Heleen: When something is broken people dare to do new things, also with colours. But, maybe for a change we could organise the ‘most-invisible-Woolfiller-repair-contest’!
Thank you Heleen!
Morethanlove
