Moment

Sand is part of our environment. It can be found everywhere, but except on vacation or during childhood, we are not in direct, conscious contact with it. The inconspicuous material is hard and unstable and at the same time, monochrome and colorful, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Those special properties mostly stay unnoticed. Instead, unimaginable amounts of Sand are used for urban construction. Trough various transformations, the project aims to bring the material into another perceptual field.

The sand gets fixed on surfaces and contrary to it’s usual characteristics, becomes flexible. With different chemical or natural binders new conditions of the starting material could be generated. Fixed on fabric, the sand is immediately identifiable and familiar, but the unusual surface also creates some irritation. In addition to the composite materials and fabric samples, a yarn made of sand and silicon was woven and knitted into sand-textiles. The resulting material collection creates unusual references and shifts the element in a new (application) context. Decontextualization and the individual perception play an important role. It is less about a specific function rather than the temporary performance and manipulation of a material which can be found anywhere in the world.

Moments on the beach, when a thin layer of sand sticks to the skin, creates a short, personal relationship to the material. The sand is bound to the skin and acts as a kind of coating. This “phenomenon” should be captured in the project.