Adi Gantz-Wurzburger

Outstanding Family

My large family, which consists of approximately eighty members, has been created through and was molded in the unique image of my grandfather, a lively redhead. My grandfather survived the Holocaust and sees in every new descendant joining the family his own private victory. The collection consists of four tops made of large and colorful pieces of fabric using a variety of handcrafting techniques to embody the project's spirit: a swatch of fabric consisting of interwoven patches, inspired by the connections between various family members; a piece of fabric consisting of knitted circles, portraying the infinite movement of the circle of life; a piece that I tore to ribbons and then knitted together again; and finally, a swatch whose seams are made using entanglement knitting, so that it resembles a thick tree trunk from which many branches sprout and grow, like a family tree. The buttoned shirts taken from my grandfather’s wardrobe form the basis of each design, similar to grandfather, the basis of the entire family. Materials: cotton, denim, tricot threads, and wool. Techniques: knitting, patchwork, dyeing, and staining.