SALON/Big Bang: Conny Groenewegen at the Oude Kerk

SALON/Big Bang: Conny Groenewegen at the Oude Kerk

 

With a Big Bang I was born and saw the light, immediate and irreversible.

Everything that came after seemed to be slow, slower, slowest compared to the urgency of that one first moment. That moment was decisive for what was to follow and it still leads me the way through abstractions as time and space as an internal compass.

In Primary Explorers I show one black dress, a jumpsuit and a black smock with a reflective trousers that will also be figuring in a video. The designs result of a few slow processus like knitting and seamlessly connecting the parts by hand before felting them. This way of working shows in the layering of the fabric and in the final compact shape of the garments. They seem to have absorbed time and will absorb the gaze if you give it time. Then it is about absolute light and darkness in the visual language of reflection and again absorption. (connygroenewegen.com)

About: Conny Groenewegen (1973) explores the evolution of ideas at the interface of fashion, technology and design.

While being fascinated by the technical and societal implications of the industrialisation of

fashion design, her work is always a reflection of the human measure. The tension between

mechanisation and handwork, industry and artisan, is clearly observable in her designs.

Collections, selection: "Rupture", laser cut contours and incisions in abstract 3d lace patterns. Giving insight in the consequences of optimizing mechanised pattern cutting.

“Alchemy”, transformations of earthly materials like wool and silk into new elements of style and devotion. “Primary Explorers”, opening show at the Tokyo Fashion Week, spring 2013.

Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award winner —2011 Conny Groenewegen teaches ”design and fashion” at several (inter)national fashion and design institutes.