Spindle and Washi by Hella Jongerius at Maharam

Hella Jongerius is a Dutch multidisciplinary designer whose work is centered on design processes that merge the handmade with industrial production. Spindle’s design derives from Jongerius’s interest in process and weaving, which was the subject of her 2021 exhibition Hella Jongerius: Woven Cosmos at Berlin’s Gropius Bau. The design interprets a series of handmade ropes made for the exhibition and representing the central role of spinning and weaving in cultures worldwide.

Based on Jongerius’s collages made from hand-cut film, Washi transposes layers of translucent color to woven form. Using intricate blending techniques across both light and dark warps, Washi is woven with rapidly renewable materials including a richly variegated linen and a lustrous cotton that brings a subtle sheen to its rectilinear motifs.