Back to Previous PageLace In Translation
Welcome to Lace in Translation, an exploration by three contemporary international art/design studios, whose works are often inspired by traditional lace imagery.
These European and Canadian art/design teams explored the historic Quaker Lace Company collection of The Design Center at Philadelphia University for inspiration, and were commissioned to create new, site-specific works for installation in the Center’s galleries and on its adjoining grounds. The exhibition runs September 24, 2009 – April 3, 2010.
Meet the Designers
Demakersvan - Commissioned Design Studio
Working out of Rotterdam, Demakersvan (“the makers of”) is a Dutch design house founded in 2005 by Jeroen Johan Verhoeven, Joep Verhoeven and Judith de Graauw. Its work is not limited to one category or style. Rather, this firm’s diversified portfolio includes architecture, furniture and product design for museums, architectural studios, furniture manufacturers and fashion companies, as well as self-generated projects.
Dutch design is world renowned for its conceptual, almost art-like products. Though Demakersvan often operates like an haute couture fashion house, designing inspirational single works, it also strongly believes that, in the end, the work must be made available to a larger audience.
Cal Lane - Commissioned Artist
Cal Lane is an internationally acclaimed sculptor having won prestigious awards, media accolades and extensive curatorial attention over the past decade. She was the subject of a full-length New York Times article in December 2007 – one among many other articles that ran in publications such as: Art Forum International, American Craft Magazine, The Village Voice and The New Yorker, to name a few. This past year, Lane’s work has been mounted in seven exhibitions including the show at New York’s Museum of Art and Design, Lace and Subversive Knitting. Lane was recently awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize and the Canadian Council for the Arts award.
Tord Boontje - Commissioned Designer
Tord Boontje was born in The Netherlands. He studied industrial design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven from 1986 to 1991 and received a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art, London (1994). In 2005, Boontje moved from London to Bourg-Argental, France, where Studio Tord Boontje is now located.
Boontje’s design philosophy is based on “a belief that modernism does not mean minimalism, that contemporary does not forsake tradition, and that technology does not abandon people and senses… Although the use of technologies and material properties is never celebrated, and is always subsumed within the final product, there is nonetheless a conscious insistence that the Studio’s work employ the latest production and material technologies in pursuit of its vision”.