Annika Thiems is a London-based artist and designer from Germany working across tailoring, upholstery, sculpture and installations. Her one-of-a-kind pieces are experimental and site-specific, combining absurdist functions and dramatic silhouettes. Playing on the idea of functional and aesthetics, the clash of the two bring out inspired and thought provoking, wearable pieces.
Annika Thiems studio portrait, London, February 2024, photo Guillaume Chuard, image courtesy of the artist
Edoardo De Cobelli: I met you in the timeless beautiful surroundings of Villa Lena, hidden in the Tuscany landscape. A place of peace and reflection, where you, alongside five more artists and musicians, have spent two months elaborating your practice, taking time for yourself. You created several unique clothes, using everyday objects and found recycled material. But when I search about you on the internet, an Artforum page about a curatorial award you won pops up. You studied as a curator in London: how did your practice shift from curating to creating yourself?
Annika Thiems: My journey actually started with creating. Growing up in the workshop of my family’s furniture business, I learned the basics of sewing and upholstery early on. I made things from scrap material, like bouncy shoes with foam and coils of old sofas. I kept this experimental mindset during my studies, approaching both Psychology and Curating somewhat artistically. During lockdown, I was given a sewing machine and trained myself in more advanced techniques. Looking at the results of the residency, a collection of wearable and “smellable” works, one could say I have come full circle.
Annika Thiems, Villa Lena Studio, October 2023, image courtesy of the artist
Your practice revolves around the body, but it also “gathers” what’s around it: mostly found material from both the natural world or second-hand clothes and fabrics. Looking at the wonderful pieces you created in just a few weeks at Villa Lena, I see flowers, herbs, felt, eggs, (add a couple more) all sewed up in a series of surprising combinations. Where does that material come from? Do you decide to pick it up and use with a precise purpose in your head or do you follow a more erratic method?
I am drawn to materials with a certain connotation, especially household fabrics: tablecloths, bed linen, curtains or upholstery materials. I like to tease out contradictions by using sturdy material for delicate items and vice versa. For example, at Villa Lena I repurposed my grandmother’s tablecloth for a cute but ridiculous hood that protected me against insects falling from trees. The blue slippers are made of fine organza and are absolutely useless. Whenever I come across a material with a strong character, I add it to my archive. Right before the residency, I was given a mix of undyed cotton, raw silks, horse hair canvas and even a rabbit skin. The resulting garments had silky cargo pockets or utilitarian details, others were mosquito repellent like the ravioli armour filled with dried lavender and eucalyptus.
The friction between utilitarian and un-useful garments is what made me fall in love with your experimentation. I remember a little single-egg carrier for outdoor picnic that I challenge everyone to use (maybe you have), or a fatplant necklace with no regards to the lightness of the more typical bijou. I am not acquainted with fashion, but to me it looks an immediate, cheerful and fresh creativity, like giving form to ideas following fun and intuition. Was it more related to the freedom given by the Lena residency framework, like the opportunity of having fun with no restraints, or is it something you want to carry with you also under more professional circumstances?
The freedom of the residency certainly helped formulate underlying themes: functionality, protection, absurdity. Coming up with fictional briefs, I would respond intuitively, step back and connect the dots. Many elements were site-responsive, such as the insect repellent herbs I collected in the garden or the architectural features of the neo-renaissance estate. I was fascinated by the trompe-l’oeil paintings in my room and false windows on the facade, and how I could translate these into tailored details.
Annika Thiems, “Mosquito Repellent Ravioli Window Bars”, 2024, reclaimed silk, grosgrain ribbon, dried lavender, wild mint, thyme, risotto rice and metal hooks, 46 x 57.5 x 2.5 cm, image courtesy of the artist
You also kept in contact with another fellow resident with whom you have collaborated in Tuscany and also, more recently, for their first EP launch, Damsel Elysium. In these two cases, it was a more complex ensemble of Renaissance-inspiration drapery style, which differs from the rest of the Tuscany production. For instance, more layered and elaborated. Was it inspired by them as an artist or their very peculiar singing?
On both occasions it was such a dreamy experience. The collaborative process with Damsel feels very organic. Both garments take sound as a starting point and are made of “noisy” fabrics like taffeta and raw silk. The terracotta-coloured organza vest for the Villa Lena performance has slipper pockets and is filled with dried flowers that rustle when shaken. In the live performance, Damsel played the double bass and violin alongside original recordings they had collected during the residency. The garments for the EP launch of ‘Whispers For Ancient Vessels’ are made of scrunchy taffeta in earthy tones to mirror the themes of the composition. The light brown colour and malleable texture makes it look like clay.
Finally, what are you working on at the moment? Any future projects or residencies?
I continued the Trompe-l’oeil Protection series and am editing the images I took on site into a publication. Besides, I am designing a lot for performers in visual art, music and avant-garde theatre. It’s fun to conjure a persona and to communicate its character through silhouettes and props. I am keen to branch out into dance as there is something mesmerising about garments in motion. My sketchbook contains enough unrealised material for the next residency. I would like to experiment with protection gear against the changing climate: heat, flooding, hail, etc. Now that I know how multifunctional raviolis can be, I am definitely drawn to return to Italy..
Edoardo De Cobelli
Info:
www.instagram.com/annikathiems
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