Aliki van der Kruijs developed a tablecloth that zooms in on the fluvial deposition of the river IJssel. She gathered data about soil drill points in the IJssel floodplains from the Alterra soil science team and the World Soil Museum in Wageningen. She translated the data from drill point BPK.235646 into a fabric, which uses different thicknesses of yarns to show the watercourse winding through the calcareous horizons in the river deposition.
Increasing and harder rainfall is forcing more water through river systems. To protect river regions against flooding, space is being made for rivers in 30 places in the Netherlands. The red shading in the tablecloth indicates the upper layers of the soil profile, and incorporates a twisted yarn to represent rust stains in the soil.
The blue shading indicates the average level of the groundwater while the dark blue layer shows the depth of permanent groundwater. The main colours and binding originated from a 1904 sampler (embroidery produced as a test of one’s skills in needlework) from the Olster Heritage Archives.
Van der Kruijs (1984) studied fashion design at ArtEZ Academy of Art and Design Arnhem and received her master’s degree in applied arts from the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam. Based in The Hague, she works on independent research projects, collaborations and commission-based work. She takes her inspiration from context and material research and operates at the intersection of art and design. Her work has been displayed in Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.
