Sofie Aaldering

Sofie Aaldering (1998). Materials and handicraft are the backbone of my projects. I have a fascination for materials and processing them. It started with natural materials, like wool and raphia, but I am now also working with fiberglass and tulle. To revalue materials, showing their beauty, changing the appearance of them so that it is not easy to extract the original shape; is my passion. As a designer I noticed that materials are underrated. I began noticing this during my fashion design studies. Nowadays, quantity and fast production are more important than material and handicraft. With this, designs lose a part of their story and buyers lose out on experience. I want to bring back the importance of materials, so that designs or pieces of clothing will tell a more elaborate story. I create collections which consist of labor-intensive pieces around the human body, free standing designs or items which can be fitted on a wall. Materials and handicraft remain a vital part of my designs. My ultimate goal is to astonish the viewer: what am I looking at and what is it made of? With my projects I want to transfer my love for materials and thereby inspire people to look differently to materials within the world.