Sarah-Lieve Dam 

Fabricating Space 

For her graduation project at ArtEZ, product designer Lieve Dam combined her fascination for textiles and architecture. Fabricating space questions the static nature of architecture: if we make clothing, our second skin, flexible, breathable and adaptable, why do we make our third skin, the enclosure of rooms and buildings, so rigid and closed? Dam challenges the current concept of architecture by highlighting the role textiles can play in our buildings and proposes knitted materials as an alternative to bricks.

In the TextielLab, she made two knitted structures from a mix of linen, elastic and polyester monofilament. The works were made on the flat knitting machine, but when folded along pieces of cardboard incorporated in the fabric, they became three dimensional. The advantage of these types of knitted walls or pillars is that they are lightweight, breathable, flexible and adaptable. This allows them to respond to environmental factors such as light and air. Following the ArtEZ graduation show, the pieces were also shown at INNOVATE Experience 2024 in Musis Arnhem. Dam is currently researching alternative fillings for the tunnels, such as inflatables or sensors, which will extend the possibilities in terms of form and function.

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Photos by Sophie Bax en Marten Boon