The ‘crossover collective’ is a social machine that focuses on an ancient form of communication as social activity: collective embroidery. The machine was designed by Floor Nijdeken and on show during the tradeshow ShowUp, which was held in Amsterdam at the 2nd and 3th of February.

Like this focus on transfering knowledge or ‘heritage’ by interaction. Besides the fact that a lot of knowledge is getting lost by solely learning from books and nternet, there is less passing through of knowledge and inspiration by the seniors in the trade. Our society is also changing and people hardly communicate in real social exhange anymore. A lot of spotaneity is getting lost, which to me is one of the fun parts of life. Sitting together at this machine and sharing skills, stories, knowledge, having fun and having a little part of you left in an embroidered carpet. Couldn’t agree more with his slogan ‘collect memories, not things’.

Totally in love with the ceramics designed by Alissa and Nienke. The thing I love most about these cups is the soft blended color tones on which they state on their website:
‘We love crafts, colors and cups. This is coming together in a material experiment with pigment and porcelain; a research about the flowing of colors through liquid porcelain, resulting in a series of handmade and unique objects. Our cups might be messy, might be fixed, can be colorful or subtle, but are always created by the blending of the colored porcelain. The technique of pouring becomes visible in the final product and the moment of creation is frozen in the appearance of the cup. By following the colored patterns you discover the movements we made and get an insight in the process.’
It was so awesome to see this process live on show in the workshop of the VTwonen ‘Barn’ at the Woonbeurs 2013.