After extensive research into the backgrounds, applications, similarities and differences between handmade and machine embroidery, and numerous experiments in the TextielLab, BCXSY (Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto) decided to focus on embroidery on water-soluble backing for ‘New Perspectives’.
For a TextielMuseum commission, and inspired by their findings and experiences with handmade and machine embroidery, Cohen and Yamamoto developed new pieces on the TextielLab's computer-controlled embroidery machine. Pushing the technique’s boundaries allowed the designers to link past and present, tradition and modernity.
The resulting series of table linens consists of a tablecloth, table runner and placemats. These are accompanied by napkin rings with attachable letters, allowing the rings to be customised with the user’s initials. The work was inspired by the richly laid dinner tables depicted in 17th-century Dutch paintings and the festive feeling these evoke. Motifs such as artichokes, fruits, fish and shellfish were embroidered on pristine white table linen.
For the embroidery, BCXSY collaborated with the TextielLab’s product developer Frank de Wind. The motifs were embroidered on a water-soluble base. Once the base is dissolved, only the embroidered parts remain, creating a lace-like effect. Instead of traditional, more realistic illustrations, ‘New Perspectives’ uses three-dimensional designs sketched with perspective grids, which occasionally extend beyond the edges of the textile. The white embroidered elements seem to lie on the white fabric as well as blend into it.
BCXSY is an Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary design studio. Established in early 2007 by Boaz Cohen (Israel, 1978) and Sayaka Yamamoto (Japan, 1984), BCXSY carries out a wide range of national and international projects that emphasise personal experience, human interaction and emotional awareness. With an approach that is both playful and well-considered, BCXSY aims to surprise and inspire. In addition, BCXSY collaborates with a variety of craft workshops and commercial initiatives. Their work has attracted the attention of international galleries and museums, including the acquisition of the ‘Join’ screens by the Victoria & Albert Museum, M+ and National Museum of World Cultures, the ‘In Between’ glassware by the Shanghai Museum of Glass and the commissioned work ‘New Perspectives’ by the TextielMuseum.
‘New Perspectives’ was part of the Turkish Red & More exhibition, which featured work by Studio Formafantasma, Lenneke Langenhuijsen, Merel Boers and Minale Maeda.
Yearbook TextielLab, 2012
