Nelli Singer Awarded Two Reputable Prices for her Master Thesis »Living Beings«
Example of the knitted active structures. The design and geometry of the stitches within the knitted structure are responsible for the different reactions at increased moisture content Copyright: Nelli Singer 2020
Our warmest congratulations to theTextile Designer and Cluster Guest Researcher Nelli Singer who has been awarded two prestigious prices at once for her Master thesis »Living Beings«. She received the Materialica Award 2021 of Munich Expo and additionally she is the winner of the ein&zwanzig Design Newcomer Award of the German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung) and will be exhibited at the Design Week in Milan in June.
The thesis »Living Beings« explores the performative properties of wood through textile techniques and enviromental humidity. Wooden veneer is processed into thin filaments and knitted into multi-dimensional objects. When moist, the cellulose based wooden fibers swell and make the textile structure move. The material wood, which may appear to us as rigid and passive, starts to perform and exhibits its temporal and active dimensions. The work was supervised by Cluster Member Christiane Sauer.
Additionally Nelli won the TaDa Residency. The TaDA – Textile and Design Alliance - residency program promotes the encounter between contemporary art practice and traditional and innovative textile production in Eastern Switzerland.