Finding the Thread documents the process of learning to design and manufacture aprons, making an argument for the value of research through making.
Originally intended as a form of protection from the creative process, the apron transforms into a uniform for creativity, a catalyst for the generation of novel ideas.
The process is, in fact, progress, yielding tacit knowledge that becomes part of an ever-expanding tool kit from which to draw inspiration.
Finding the Thread
Matt Holben
The exhibition documents the journey design and sewing aprons and the unexpected things that were made along the way.
Painted red lines tie the seven different sections of the exhibition together.
Scans of early stitching tests.
Items were mounted to the wall using small pins.
This detail shot shows a variety of stitch lengths and widths.
Pockets of various shapes, materials, and techniques.
Layered pocket detail.
An apron designed solely for utility; the pockets were custom made to fit the tools required by letterpress printers.
Pocket detail, showing a quoin key (left), an ink knife (center left), a notebook from Globe Collection and Press (center right), and a quoin (right).
Experiments in specificity.
A crossbody dual pen holder.
The crossbody dual pen holder alongside a custom sized notebook holder.
Customizing an apron through a variety of holders that are attached using carabiners.
Pencil holders displaying a variety of pencils.
Digital layering of these screenprinting films demonstrates what the final printed product might look like.
Films used for screenprinting and a screenprinted sewing pattern (center).
What if the pockets aren’t functional? Screenprinted pockets on a canvas apron.
The illusion of wear and distress: textures that have been screenprinted onto the apron.
A view of the printed apron and the exhibition wall.