Katharina Bredies

I was introduced to the work of Katharina Bredies. She is a young artist from Belin that has beautiful work that mixes craft and technology using clothes accessories as support.

I found "This is not a radio" (2010) very interesting. »This is not a radio« is an exploration of different forms of materiality and interaction. Marrying the traditional »female« craft of textile art with the »male« domain of audio devices, the fully functional objects question tradtional interaction patterns and challenge our expectations with electronic products.

The details of the Radio Hood allow the user to operate a radio that is inte- grated into its lining. Knotting the ends of the shawl turns the radio on and off. There are speakers hidden in small pockets next to the hood. A string in a hem can be pulled to increase and decrease the volume. And a bell on top of the hood serves as a control to change the sender and browse through the radio frequencies.

The exotic look of the knitted radio entirely follows practical considerations, but it also reminds us of distant countries and ritualistic garments. Besides, all the functional elements that serve as the interface for the radio are borrowed from clothing.