On the 18th of April, we invite you to the opening of solo exhibition ‘La Chambre Bleue’ by Esther de Groot at the New Order of Fashion Lab. At 15:00 we will start with an artist talk in conversation with Esther and special guest Bas Kosters. Join after for music, drinks, and the playful workshop “Alter Ego”.
Program:
Doors Open: 15:00-15:15
Talk with Esther de Groot and Bas Kosters 15:15-15:30
DJ and Drinks: 15:30-19:00
Workshop led by Esther de Groot: 15:45-19:00
La Chambre Bleue
The La Chambre Bleue is an installation showcasing various textile expressions together to create an environment that invites reflection and conversation. Her inspiration came from the salons that were held by the elite in France in the 1600’s. Repetition, camouflage, and scale create a layered experience where visible and invisible, individual and collective, merge. A rendezvous for rejects, a place where behind the curtain becomes the main stage and where otherness prevails. Visitors describe her work as ‘surprising’ and ‘disorientating’.
Photo by Anwyn Howarth
‘La Chambre Bleue’ is a continuation of the research project ‘Salon des Refusés’, that de Groot started during a one year Post Master Programme at the textile department of Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts & Design in Stockholm. For this installation she’s repurposed her hand-dyed textiles made for, and commissioned by, New Order Of Fashion for Dutch Design Week 2024.
Workshop: Alter Ego
During the opening, we will also host a textile workshop focusing on otherness, where participants are challenged to embrace, magnify, and translate their personal, characteristic traits into a 3D alter ego. Participants will be learning and applying basic hand sewing techniques. Making use of a variety of textiles and recovered decorative ornaments to make 3D figures stitched together with needles, thread and stuffed. Get to know your flaws as your strengths in this playful, hands-on workshop led by de Groot.
About the designer
Esther de Groot is a Dutch artist whose work is characterized by an expressive visual language that is reflected through the intertwining of different fields as graphic design, illustration and textile sculpture.
Carried out in different forms, a recurring theme in her work is the role of the individual in connection to the practice of ‘keeping up appearances’ and the performative aspects of life. The concept of ‘otherness’ in relation to masquerade and performance can be seen as the key concepts to her artistic practice and research related to textile craft.
‘Salon des Refusés’ has been exhibited in Stockholm at Gustavbergs Konsthall and Index Foundation, as well as during Dutch Design Week in The Netherlands. Other works of her include for example ‘Shadows on the Atlantic’ at the Dutch Maritime Museum and masks for Bas Kosters’ ‘Love, Fuck Yeah’ collection showcased at Amsterdam Fashion Week.
Photo by Patrik Lindén