An international fashion research project exploring the 'craft of use'

Limits to Action

As humans we are all finite and faillible: there are limits to what we can do. In recognising the veracity of boundaries we can reflect lived experience and artfully recognise the usefulness of drivers like novelty, variety and nature that influence our lives.

Leaving work at work

“I found this coat in the closet of my mother in law when we cleared out the apartment [after her death]. She was a seamstress and I had a very nice relationship with her but she didn’t say much about her clothes because she talked more about the clothes she made for others… Like she made about sixty bridal dresses and many, many suits… all kinds of nice things. And then she got so tired of sewing I think. So when she wanted something for herself, which was very rare because she used her money for food and anything for the house, she bought that something for herself in a store.”

Oslo - March 2012
Photograph by Kristin von Hirsch