PRESENCE

NewsweatersbyÝrúrarí

Ýr Jóhannsdóttir is a textile designer who has been working as Ýrúrarí since 2012. Her pieces are mostly textile based, exploring the line between costume and casual wear. In recent years she has been increasingly concerned with sustainability, an issue reflected in her use of second-hand tangled sweaters given a new look through handmade decorations and mending.

The exhibition showcases new sweaters by Ýrúrarí based on experiments with various textile methods bringing stronger presence and value to unsellable sweaters from textile recycling centers. In harmony with her former work the sweaters are mended in a playful and humorous way lighting up the everyday.

Information on events and workshops connected to the exhibition can be found on fb and www.honnunarsafn.is

Sunday 30 April at 13:00 – Open workshop with Ýrúrarí.
Sunday 7. May at 13:00 – Guided tour with Ýrúrarí and the curators of the show  Niki og Yiwei from Studio Fræ  (partly in english).
Sunday 20. August at 13:00 – Open workshop with Ýrúrarí.
Sunday 27. August at 13:00 – Open workshop with Ýrúrarí.

Ýrúrarí’s work has been exhibited in Iceland, the US and Finland, and is included in the collections of Textiel Museum in the Netherlands, Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, the Museum of International Folk Art in New Mexico and the Museum of Design and Apllied Art in Iceland.

During the exhibition Ýrúrarí will work on a publication covering  previous projects and the techniques she uses in her work. The publication will be based on a sweater that will grow throughout the exhibition period with every step recorded to use as a visual reference on how to try out the techniques at home.

In 2020 Ýrúrarí’s first line of upcycled sweaters, Sweater Sauce, was nominated for the Icelandic design awards. The Sweater Sauce project evolved into ‘visible mending’ workshops in her open studio at Iceland’s Museum of  Design and Applied Art in 2021. The workshop has now travelled to various European cities in which participants personalize items of clothing and play creatively with mending techniques on their own knits.

Curators: Studio Fræ

Studio Fræ is an international design agency based in China and Iceland, the studio was founded by Niki Jiao and Yiwei Li who  finished their Master’s degree in Iceland University of the Arts. Based on understanding of culture and art in two different countries, they decided to establish a studio to explore more international culture exchange projects by creative method, such as Design Consulting, Branding, Product Development, Exhibition, Media and Publications. The studio has worked on projects with companies and productions such as Bioeffect, 66°Norh, fashion designer Magnea and HA magazine.

Photos: Studio Fræ

The exhibition is supported by Safnasjóður