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A PLAIN GET TOGETHER

February 2021

‘We would like to invite you visit our window exhibition,’ wrote the textile designers Sofie Genz, Linnea Holck, Sofia Hagström Møller and Anja Puggaard Hansen aka Plain Weavers in an email last week.‘“At the Table” is our first collection, it is a series of woven textiles: tablecloths, table runners, place mats and napkins. In the exhibition we present the textiles in use and show you what they would look like on a set table.’ With high expectations, I ventured into the shut-down city to look at table settings through the window of a shop in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district.
High expectations, because I know three of the four makers from other contexts and know that their work is exceptional, and also because I knew that they had produced designs at the weaving mill Kjellerup Væveri, which was featured in HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 2.

I am always happy to celebrate the people who help preserve local skills and knowledge about the use of materials and who, in the most beautiful way, combine a design vision with quality materials and production methods. That contributes to the foundation for continued design and product development and for maintaining our status as a design nation.

Plain Weavers a my table
Plain Weavers pursue the same mission

The four Plain Weavers all trained at The Danish Design School (now Royal Danish Academy – Design).

I know Anja Puggaard Hansen because she has worked in Karin Carlander’s studio (whom you can read about here). So has Linnea Holck, who also teaches at the weaving school in the city of Greve, south of Copenhagen. Sofie Genz I have encountered because she sells hand-woven bags in the Tomato Studio Store. Sofia Hagström Møller is a textile artist and a new name to me.

Pulling together, the four designers have established a joint textile design studio. It makes sense for them to develop their own brand as a framework that gives them influence on the outcome throughout, from the first sketch to the final product shoot. However, their joint mission goes beyond product design: they also aim to demonstrate and realize the potential of a local production process. Keeping things local makes the process easier to manage, in this case despite the fact that much of it took place during the Covid shutdown, which meant that they had to rely in part on telephone calls and zoom meetings, as they explain when I visit. In addition to enjoying the window display, I am also invited in and allowed to touch and handle the textiles.

In addition to presenting the finished products and table settings, the exhibition also shows the hand-drawn design sketches and woven samples – an interesting look at the process leading up to the end result.

Their design has classical references and takes me on an enjoyable trip down memory lane, and yet … And it is this ‘and yet’ that makes them relevant. Three crisp chequered colour and structure variants that may draw inspiration from earlier designs but nevertheless have their own unique and contemporary justification. Plain Weavers make a virtue of the fact that all the napkins, place mats and table runners are cut from the same fabric, and because the report is so long, no two pieces are quite the same. This variation invites you to play with the pieces and find your own favourite combination – something that is difficult to do in the web shop that, in addition to the exhibition, is their only window to the world. Hopefully, they develop a good solution to that just as I hope they will find a more elegant way to hem their products. The prototypes I was able to touch and handle are excellent designs, and the weave is beautiful, but I think they lack the exquisite finish that would make for a really exceptional product. Whatever what, Plain Weavers´ first collection is worth paying attention to,

”Vi vil gerne invitere dig til at komme forbi vores vinduesudstilling”, skrev tekstildesignerne Sofie Genz, Linnea Holck, Sofia Hagström Møller og Anja Puggaard Hansen alias Plain Weavers i en mail i sidste uge. ”‘At the Table’ er vores første kollektion, den består af en serie vævede tekstiler: duge, bordløbere, dækkeservietter og servietter. Med udstillingen viser vi tekstilerne i en brugssituation og skaber en oplevelse af det dækkede bord”. Jeg begav mig forventningsfuld ud i den nedlukkede by for at se på borddækning gennem ruden til et butikslokale på Nørrebro i København.

Forventningsfuld var jeg, fordi jeg kender til tre af fire fra andre sammenhænge og ved, at deres niveau er højt, også fordi jeg vidste, at de havde produceret på Kjellerup Væveri, som optrådte i HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 2.

Jeg vil gerne til enhver tid hylde dem, som sørger for, at vi helt tæt på, rent geografisk, værner om færdigheder og viden om, hvordan man håndterer materialer og på smukkeste vis forener en designvision med materiale og produktion og  sikrer  at vi også fremover kan designe og produktudvikle og blive ved med at definere os selv som en designnation.

Sådan tænker Plain Weavers også

De fire Plain Weavers er alle uddannet på Danmarks Designskole (Det Kongelige Akademi)
Anja Puggaard Hansen kender jeg til, fordi hun har arbejdet hos Karin Carlander (som du kan læse om her). Det samme har Linnea Holck, hun underviser desuden på væveskolen i Greve. Sofie Genz er jeg stødt på, fordi hun sælger håndvævede tasker i Tomato Studio Store. Sofia Hagström Møller arbejder kunstnerisk med tekstiler, hun er et nyt bekendtskab for mig.

De fire vil fællesskabet og har etableret sig som tekstilt designbureau. Det giver mening for dem at bygge et eget brand, en ramme som gør det muligt at påvirke og medbestemme fra første skitse til sidste produktfoto. Men de har også en mission, som rækker ud over at fremstille produkter, de vil  pege på og udnytte det potentiale, der er i at have lokal produktion. I dette er en del af processen er foregået under coronanedlukningen og derfor delvist pr. telefon og zoom,  fortæller de, da jeg får lov til ikke bare at kigge på vinduer, men også at komme indenfor og mærke på varen.

Udstillingen viser naturligvis deres færdige produkter og deres borddækning, men også de håndtegnede skitser som ligger til grund for deres designs og alle væveprøverne. Et fint kig ind i processen.

Deres design har klassiske referencer og tager mig på en behagelig tur “down memory lane” og dog, og det er “og dog”, som gør dem relevante.
De tre  ternede farve- og strukturvarianter har nok  hentet sin inspiration i noget, som er set før, men de har også deres egen nutidige berettigelse. Plain Weavers gør en dyd ud af, at alle servietter, dækkeservietter og bordløbere klippes ud af samme metervare, og fordi rapporten er lang, bliver ikke to stykker helt ens. Variationen inviterer til at lege med og til at finde sin egen favoritkombination. Noget som er vanskeligt gjort i den webshop, som efter udstillingen er deres eneste vindue. Det finder de forhåbentlig en god løsning på lige som jeg håber, at de finder en lidt mere raffineret måde at sømme på, de prototyper, jeg har haft i hænderne, er virkelig godt design og i en rigtig fin vævning, men en sidste finish, som kunne gøre produktet rigtig lækkert, savner jeg. Uanset hvad, Plain Weavers første kollektion er et godt supplement til, hvad der ellers er at finde på markedet.

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