Special project
Written in Thread
Written in Thread is a series of collectable textile art. The exhibition showcased at RMB Latitudes Art Fair in May 2024. The collection features unique or highly limited edition artworks primarily produced by and in collaboration with Something Good Studio by artists Maja Maljević, Ditiro Mashigo, Renée Rossouw and Lulama Wolf. All of these artists have collaborated with the Studio in the past.
In some cases monumental, in others experimental or unusual, Written in Thread enters a new terrain for the Studio, pushing the boundaries of how to define textile pieces. Each work is an expression of the artist’s output in a novel way — for some completely different to anything else they’ve produced in the past — composed of a profound yet quiet story, written in thread.
In our search to define what these artworks are, we've settled on the term “soft sculpture” — which perfectly expresses the way in which these are flexible and gentle objects, created with sculptural textile engineering.
Works from the collection
Renée Rossouw
Communal Landscape
This woolen wonder is the first of our textile art series. It is a project close to our hearts. The artwork is an adaptation of Renée Rossouw’s original wooden sculpture titled ‘Communal Landscape’ which intrigued Something Good Studio founder Zydia’s curiosity during a visit to Renée’s sunny art studio in Cape Town.
Renée explained that she created the wooden sculpture from wood off-cuts during lock-down time. The artist made it her mission to purposefully use materials on hand to create something beautiful from ‘nothing’. The concept of the artwork exists as a ‘failed’ self-portrait, depicting shapes of a woman’s body.
The architectural artwork with its 3D reliefs sparked Zydia’s interest and she envisioned it as a majestic textile piece whilst staying true to Renée’s initial intention of creating it by hand using environmentally friendly fibers.
Maja Maljević
Tactile Memory
This one-of-a-kind soft sculpture was dreamt up in collaboration with fine artist, Maja Maljević.
Maja worked with Something Good Studio in ways that challenged her rigorous dedication to paint and printmaking. Our studio translated Maja's playful work in textile for the first time in the form of blankets and rugs. In addition, we’ve also had fun with a small collection of handmade ceramic works.
Maja’s small collection of unique, non-functional ceramic sculpture is what piqued the interest of this textile piece. Our vision was to transform her ceramic sculpture into a textile sculpture. The process was intriguing and required some serious textile engineering. We’ve flattened Maja’s ceramic work by means of a photograph turning it into a two dimensional surface. From there, we collaged elements of the photograph to create a new composition — like building Tetris. Thereafter, we brought three dimensional elements back, staying true to the original ceramic work, using different heights and textures that tufted wool allow to create a sculptural work with a totally different outcome.
Lulama Wolf
Feasting of Echoes & Savouring Silence
In a pair of textile pieces, Lulama Wolf’s depictions of complex human relationships are recreated in a very different way to her canvas-based creations, reimagined in mohair.
Lulama and Zydia have collaborated on mohair pieces in the past in the form of rugs and wall hangings, but here they push the medium further, once again playing with texture, softness and depth. Lulama has become well known for her deep pigment techniques referencing vernacular architecture, and presenting proof of life.
In these new textile pieces, she departs from her iconic contorted figures to focus on still life. She creates an intimate space and scenario — dinner for two, with two still lives of wine glasses, a decanter and a jug that are reinvigorated through the texture and tactility of mohair fabric. Here, the edge of each artwork is easily undefined, the still-life objects escaping from the rectangle parameters of the work, imbuing these everyday items with a sense of corporeality.
Ditiro Mashigo
Kala
Zydia first worked with artist and textile designer Ditiro Mashigo and her fashion design company Serati Ltd when the two collaborated on an experimental series of unique blankets in 2019. “We created a tactile range,” said Zydia at the time, “with the intent of evoking the spirit of love, joy, peace and nostalgia”. Ditiro returned to work with Something Good Studio on Written in Thread, presenting the textile installation titled Kala, a word that means tree stem, and also refers to kalana which is the Sotho word for the umbilical cord. Kala, which the artist has worked on intermittently for two years, is composed primarily of clothing: her own, some of it manufacturing waste and some sourced from the fashion industry. Ditiro’s work — both ready-to-wear and not — has integrated upcycling offcuts from the fast-fashion industry, engendering a beautiful and sustainable practice. She skillfully combines and fuses these discarded, personal and often undervalued items, tracking back in a meditative spirit the paths and connections that bind her and her maternal lineage.
