Artist Patrick Carroll has used recycled yarn to create hand-knitted painting-style pieces for the Days textile exhibition at JW Anderson’s Milan store during Milan design week.
Carroll presented translucent artworks that look “as if they are paintings”, which were made using a 1970s flatbed domestic knitting machine and displayed on wooden stretcher bars – the skeleton of a traditional art canvas – in the store.
“My stuff is a little bit transparent – you can see the architecture of it all,” Carroll told Dezeen at the JW Anderson flagship store in Milan, where the work is exhibited in a show called Days.
“I was making clothing initially,” he explained, donning one of his own pink creations.
Carroll decided to apply his practice to artworks, designing pieces made from yarn salvaged from remainder shops that liquidate the fashion industry’s leftover textiles rather than sourcing new materials.
Recycled wool, linen, mohair, silk and cashmere all feature in the rectilinear works, which are finished in colours ranging from coral to aqua to ochre.
Like Carroll’s clothing, each piece was characterised by one or a handful of words lifted from sources including literature, existing artworks or the artist’s own writing.
The smallest pieces in the collection were displayed on gridded shelving while larger pieces can be found on various walls throughout the store.
When viewed together, the works were position to create a “modular chorus”, explained the artist, who encouraged viewers to form their own relationships with the words weaved into the textiles.
Days follows Carroll’s first collaboration with JW Anderson in 2022 when the artist designed seven knitted outfits for the brand. The clothes were worn by models posing on chunky blue plinths positioned outside the venue of JW Anderson’s Spring Summer 2023 menswear show in Milan.
“I think what makes the works a little bit unique is that they have legs in all these disciplines – fashion, design and art,” added Carroll.
Founded by Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, JW Anderson previously created hoodies and tailored shorts moulded from plasticine for its Spring Summer 2024 womenswear show at London Fashion Week.
Various other fashion brands have a presence at this year’s Milan design week. Hermès has created an installation that uses reclaimed bricks, slate, marble and terracotta to draw attention to the brand’s artisan roots while Marimekko has transformed a traditional Milanese bar into a flower-clad day-to-night cafe.
The photography is courtesy of Patrick Carroll and JW Anderson.
Days is on display from 17 to 21 April 2024 at the JW Anderson store, Via Sant’Andrea 16, Milan. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.
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