Knitted Graffiti Workshop in Design Museum

Yesterday I attended a knitted graffiti workshop, which was hosted by the Design Museum Helsinki and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The worshop took place in a tent on a yard between the museums.The yarn bombing workshop was part of a collaboration called Välipala (Sandwich in English), and the tent has been put up to state that the museums need more space for their activities. The museums organize together events in the tent and bring the museum activities out to the street.

Knitted graffiti is a phenomena, which started in Texas. A shop keeper had knitted a warmer for a doorhandle. She got lots of positive feedback from it, so she started to do knitted graffiti to other subjects as well. The idea was taken with great enthusiasm and spread fast all over the world.

The idea in the knitted graffiti is to beautificate the surrounding environment with knitted or crocheted graffiti. But the phenomena can also be seen as a larger social contention. It's a way for people to express themselfs and to bring their productions to public space for everyone to enjoy. It's a way for the town inhabitants to form the town visually to the way they want it to be. To soften the cold surfaces and bring something surprising to the city view. It's about making the town more livable and cosy.

I personally also see this as one part of the crafts trend, that can be seen as a huge inspiration in fashion and design field today. The ready-to-wear clothes are made so that they look like they're been made by hand. Knitting has became a new trend hobby. It's a counter movement for the busy world. When you do crafts, you have to take time and concentrate on what you're doing and creating. It should not be rushed. And it's very rewarding to see what you've accomplished. Even to bring your accomplishment out to the public.

The concept of knitted graffiti is also close to DIY-culture. It's about doing (and designing) things by yourself, instead of paying the professionals for doing the same. Sometimes the cost may be bigger when doing things by yourself. Take fashion, for example. It might be more cheap to buy a dress from the store than to buy the fabric and other accessories, making the pattern and sewing it. But when you do it yourself, you can get exactly what you want. And again, the freedom to express yourself freely, to create your own style. A fine example of self-taught fashion can me found here: http://www.helsinkidesignweek.com/designmarket/event/7/101---diy-fashion-show. And as DIY-fashion can be done from cehap materials like recycled fabric or waste cutting pieces etc, knitted graffiti can alsobe done from left-over yarn pieces. A great way to use the yarns that were left from your knitted sweater!

Knitted graffiti making, or yarn bombing, is still a relatively small phenomena here in Helsinki. Personally I have not seen very many knitted gfaffiti, only a few. The ones I've seen have also been relatively small in size. However, lovely Helena Björk, who arranged the workshop, told me that she had done a knitted graffiti exhibition to a bus that rode between Helsinki and Espoo, as a part of her final thesis for the Aalto University School of Arts and Crafts. And abroad there are great exaples of colourful, creative knitted graffitis. Like these:

Source: http://www.abstractgraffiti.net/2009/08/yarn-bombing.html

Here are some pictures from the Yarn Bombing workshop:

The colours I chose

The final product...

You can find out more from the events held in the tent here: http://valipala.net/sv-en/. As a tip: There's a Design sale with Design District coming up next weekend!