Bespoke for Benaki Museum

The Project: Bespoke for Benaki Museum is an ongoing project/collaboration with one of the leading museums in Greece. Its rich folk art collection forms a field of research unlike any other. The traditional pieces of clothing as well as the embroideries to be found therein have been a source of constant inspiration for us and our creative practice. In working with the museum and its brilliant staff, we can build on our research concerning the various patterns, the historical periods and areas from which they come, as well as their symbolisms, their colors and their shapes. Through this collaboration we aim to constantly create artifacts that are both up-to-date and evocative of the past: something modern out of eras gone by.

Who we worked with: Benaki museum boasts a vast collection of folk and contemporary/modern art. It is also a firm supporter of currently active designers and practitioners. Given access to its folk art collection, we carry out a process of observing and studying intricate items of clothing and homeware, singling out details and creating new, elaborate patterns that we then apply on modern objects. This latter process is always done with sustainability and traditional techniques in mind and in tandem with small, local workshops.

The items: The items we have produced during our collaboration with the Benaki museum are diverse and draw on a variety of techniques and sources of inspiration. Namely, we have created: