Navarea

We are a big chain that won’t break

5 curtains for Navarea, an assisted living project on IJburg

On the bulletin board in the living room of Navarea, hangs a handwritten text by a resident: “We are a big chain that doesn’t break.” This text is the starting point for the curtain design in the new assisted living kitchen. Together with the residents, I get to work and we all design our own “beads”: a sun, a swimmer, flowers, musical notes, a stop sign, abstract shapes and a bead with lots of animals.

With these beads I have been puzzling. I “strung” a long chain of them and silk-screened them onto the fabric divided into five curtains.

Opening and closing the curtains keeps the necklace moving.
Sometimes one bead is more visible than another.
Sometimes a bead disappears behind a pleat_ yet it remains a cohesive whole.
The great Navarea chain that doesn’t break.
NOTE BENE: The residents came to my studio to screen print their design themselves on pillows. 1 for themselves and 1 for on the new sofa in their living room.

details

Design and execution: Elspeth Pikaar with input from the residents Yangdan, Tessa, Dhammika, Laura, Sara, Judith, Sam and ArendJan
Material: Screen print on trevira, flame retardant curtain fabric
Finished size: 375x294cm, 420x294cm, 270×244 (2x), 195x168cm
Delivery: September 2022