Katharina Ludwig

DEFENSIVE MECHANISMS FOR THE URBAN BEING

Kathy — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:19:52 +0000

In years of evolution, and due to new technologies, science and medical innovation, the human being lost his natural enemies. But instead of seeing this as an advantage, man now starts to threaten other men and to live in fear of each other. Through this, a huge amount of psychological stress can occur, which again leads to diverse diseases of civilization, e.g. phobias, anxiety states, persecution complexes.
I designed a series of bags for people who feel threatened in our society. The bag is something carried/worn close to the body and is an extension of ones private space, which plays the biggest role in relation to social phobias.

The bags are a sort defensive weapon, not visible as such in the ﬁrst place, but which can be applied when feeling threatened. They work as a peaceful defense, without physical violence, but by enhancing or stabilizing ones private space.

The pink bag can extend to about two and a half times its size so you can hide yourself inside it, to escape the mass of people surrounding you.

Material: cotton, elastics, leather

The skirt is constructed out of pockets and can camouﬂage you as a tree when lifted over the head. The pockets form the leaves of the crown and your feet symbolize the trunk. The skirt also forms a space around your upper body, shielding you from the outer world.

Material: cotton

The leather bag with wheels is a tool to get in touch with the ground and ﬁnd orientation, get grounded. When letting go the handles and holding on the to textile part, the bag stretches down to the ground and can be pulled alongside on the wheels.

Material: leather, knitted elastic yarn, wheels

HOSTING PARASITES

Kathy — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:19:41 +0000

A human relationship is to a certain degree either symbiotic or parasitic. It always consists of giving and taking, so the partners in a relationship are parasites and hosts at the same time.
I made small parasites which can be attached to the body. They blur the borders between parasite and host and adapt the parasitic way of connecting themselves to their host. In this way they have a physical influence on the body. In their appearance and behaviour they should be on one hand uncanny and confronting, but on the other hand intriguing and beautiful in their own way.

Many parasites suck the blood of their hosts. Inspired by cupping I got the idea of attaching the parasites to the skin by the use of a vacuum. The single “suckers” can be worn as kind of brooch. The skin under the glass cup gets sucked in and forms a little bump, which turns red after a while. The necklace works the same way. It consists of ten small cups with pumps, which are connected by a very thin silk cord. They can be attached individually anywhere on the skin, and shape the necklace this way.The pumps don’t hurt on the body, but they leave marks when wearing them for a longer time. These marks form a temporary, decorative legacy of the parasite.

Material: latex, cotton-wool, glass

The hand-pieces imitate bodies of parasites, which when worn, turn your fingers into their limbs. You can put them on like gloves or hand puppets. They are made out of skin coloured textiles with foam filling and incorporate into your hand or fingers. By their colours, materials and structures, they merge with the rest of the body, while still looking unfamiliar and strange.

material: fabric, latex, beads, tapioca, horn

The porcelain pieces are inspired by parasites which get under your skin. The series consists of four different sized segmented porcelain bodies, inspired by maggots, which can be tied to different parts of your body by a silver cord. The silver cord twines into the folds of your skin and fat and repeats the structure of the parasite on your body (“…wie die Made im Speck”, German saying). After removing them, they leave imprints on your skin.

Material: bone china, silver

SOFT WARDROBE

Kathy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:12:59 +0000

The soft wardrobe is supported and shaped by the strength and volume of the things put inside.
Its walls are not hard and supporting, but soft like the clothes and flexible. They react in a certain way to the content and the way you fill the wardrobe.. Like this it changes its character according to the filling and becomes more alive.

material: foam rubber, textile, yarn

Concept

Insideness vs. Outsideness

Mans way to deal with outsideness is to try to contol nature. We build paths through nature, cut the grass in gardens to the same length, sculpt hedges and plant trees in a grid.
Inside we put our belongings in straight heavy boxes, the content is forced into these systems. But nature is not obeying human made rules. Even man as a part of nature fails to fit his own pursuit of order, and corners and insides of boxes get untidy again.
If we would break these grids of staightness and organization a tiny bit, everything would look more organic, wild and alive, outsideness would be brought to the inside and form a domestic landscape.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Kathy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:26:49 +0000

Inspired by many children’s habbit, sucking the thumb, the thumb pieces can be put over the finger and be eaten.

They are out of Gummibear mass with different tastes, that remind you of your childhood.

from left to right:

“treat”: Chocolate “spring time”: Elder Flower, “first pocket-money”: liquorice, “flu”: echinacea, “tea time” peppermint, “cristmas”: cinnamon

material: gelantine, sugar, syrup, lemon, water

Chocolate Thumbs

from left to right: “Sweet”: white chocolate, “Milky”: milk chocolate, “Bittersweet”:bitter chocolate

material: chocolate

ORIGIN

Kathy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:57:04 +0000

A necklace with two pendants. These are the positive shapes of a mother’s and a child’s belly button (in this case my mother’s and mine). They are a connection piece in between both, and remind you of where you come from.

material: metal (silver/tin)

HAIR PIECES / FAMILY

Kathy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:43:47 +0000

The hair pieces are inspired by lockets in which hair of a beloved person or family member was put. But these lockets are not necessary, because the hair itself is a container of DNA and therefore a locket. Like this the hair can also be felt on the body, petted or played with.The pieces are made out of real hair in different colours of the family. (In this case from inside to outside: grandparents, parents, children)

material: human hair, fabric, metal

material: human hair, silver

material: human hair,fabric

KNITTING BRACELET

Kathy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:13:07 +0000

The bracelet works like a knitting spool. It symbolizes new roots you constantly grow and become a part of. The yarn that goes in, stands for the experiences you make, the knitting is the assimilation and what comes out, is the mesh of roots.You can knit little objects, coloured yarn , hair etc. in, according to your mood and the experiences you make.

material: stainless steel, silver, yarn

CLAY BOWLS

Kathy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:46:47 +0000

The bowl is a container for a clay mask, made from clay itself. The clay is bisquite fired on 1000 ˚C. It stays porous and absorbs water in its thick walls. When the bowl is soaked with water, the outside dries first and due to the vaporisation the content stays cool and humid.

The bowl is a metaphor for the skin. You have to keep it wet from the outside, that the face-mask inside stays humid. The skin works on the same principle. It needs moist from outside, to bring the water it lost back to the inside and that it stays humid.

material: green clay, white clay, nut wood

ICE JEWELLERY

Kathy — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:09:11 +0000

If water itself is worn as a jewel the preciousness of water is enhanced.

Put on the body it will melt by the body warmth.

What will stay is just the core of it and the marks the ice leave at your skin.

Ice Earrings

One with pigments, which leave traces on your clothes, while the earring is melting,

the jewel appears on your shoulder instead on your ear.

The other one gathers a bit of water after melting in a little cup

material: metal, pigment, water

material: metal, water

Ice Ring

A ring with a stone out of ice. When the stone melts in contains some drops of water in a cup.

ring executed by Jori Spaa

material: silver, ice

Ice Necklaces:

a chain guided in a special way and frozen into ice cubes and shapes, melted the chain extends to its full size.

material: necklace, water

TEMPORARY JEWELLERY

Kathy — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:09:06 +0000

Jewellery stands for wealth, beauty and status.

These dissolvable jewels show that all these things

can disappear very fast, being put into wrong conditions

and not being taken care of.

material: sweetener

material: salt

material: water soluble, yarn