Touch wood
Category: Apparel
Competitions: International
My project explores the deep bond I share with my father and delves into the tension between continuity and change. As one of four daughters born to a carpenter, the question of inheritance has always lingered in the background: who will carry on my father's legacy? In this project, I reflect on his workspace -a place defined by structure, straight lines, strength, and emotional restraint - and contrast it with my own creative world, shaped by softness, sensitivity, transparency, and amorphous movement. His workshop, rooted in masculinity and physical labor, often feels foreign to a feminine presence. And yet, subtle traces of femininity appear within it: a glass window etched with floral motifs, or wool blankets with delicate flower patterns gently protecting the furniture. I created a womenswear collection that blends tailoring with the idea of transformation -revealing and concealing the body while pushing the garment beyond familiar boundaries. The collection incorporates natural materials such as wood, leather, and wool, alongside hand-carved elements and a custom-developed leather weaving-knitting technique, expressing the friction between fragility and force. The color palette draws from the hues of wood and the environment of my father’s workspace. A major source of inspiration for this project was the work of sculptor Aron Demetz, whose pieces explore the relationship between body and matter, nature and humanity, wholeness and fracture. Through labor-intensive carving, Demetz reveals the vulnerability and delicacy embedded within hard materials. His sculptures deeply resonated with my own pursuit of softness within strength, and inspired me to approach my materials - especially wood and leather - in an intimate, almost therapeutic way, turning them into vessels of emotional and bodily expression. Between continuity and change, I aim to create a new language - one that emerges from what I’ve inherited, but also from what I consciously choose to carry forward.