Nominee Threshold Award Social Practices
Meet Shanti Versnel! Shanti was nominated for the 2021 Threshold Award Social Practices and the 2021 BA Research Award with her graduation project ‘Project Skiep’. In this interview, Shanti tells us about her work and future plans.
Can you tell us a bit about your graduation project and how it came about?
At the end of 2020, I moved to Friesland. I used to live in Rotterdam before, but when Covid started, I really needed some air and space. So I moved in with a shepherd named Hilde Groen, and started helping out with a few tasks, such as moving the sheep and sorting the fleeces. By doing so, I discovered two very different faces of the Dutch wool industry. On one hand, it is really difficult for sheep farmers to sell their wool. White fleeces are sold for around ten cents a kilo, black, brown or mixed fleeces for around five cents a kilo, if they are lucky. The price of shearing a sheep is higher than the income from wool, resulting in farmers paying to get rid of their material. Wool that is not used is eventually burnt. On the other hand, the industry markets wool as a luxury product. If you own a sweater that is made entirely out of wool, chances are that you paid a lot of money for it.
I became fascinated with the wool industry, our perception of value and the people that still invest their time in maintaining the craft of working with wool. I used the province of Friesland as my playground and bought an old cargo bike on which I cycled through every step of the production process.
I started with the shepherd, Hilde Groen, with whom I washed the wool. Then, I visited Bart and Tanja Hoogeboom from Kaarderij Wollust, who helped me card the wool. Carding is basically the ‘combing’ of the wool. This can be done before spinning it into a thread or before creating felt. There, I discovered that spinning a fleece by hand takes ages, but it is not efficient to use an industrial spinning machine instead because it costs way too much money and energy for just one fleece. To solve this issue, I invited different spinners from all over the north of the Netherlands and we spun the wool together while sitting among the sheep. Then I went on to dye the wool at Hawar, the Textile Institute in Friesland and after that wove it into a piece of fabric with the help of Roelie Polman.
I finished the production cycle with a shepherd's bag made out of wool and a book about its journey. It took me about a week to cycle through each step of the production cycle, and along the way I interviewed everyone I worked with. I was accompanied by photographer Annick van Santen, who documented the entire process and collaborated with illustrator Joska van Oosten to make the project even more visual. The stories of the crafts(wo)men that helped realise this project are represented in the book, which will be presented in the bag.
So Project Skiep is more than a shepherd's bag. It is about a product and its lifecycle, giving insight into the time and labor invested by the people that keep an old craft alive today.
Which themes or societal concerns are you addressing in your work, and how?
The project first started with the monetary value of wool products and how we perceive it. But along the way, themes such as craft and community became elementary in the project. Working together with the crafts(wo)men, I witnessed first hand how strong the wool community is and how much everyone is aware of each others’ skills. The project is not really about the end product, but rather about its journey. This makes it a very social project and brings about the stories of people committed to working with this beautiful material.
What will you be working on in the near future? What are your next steps?
During my research, I attended the wool hackathon at BlueCity to gain insight into Dutch wool production and find new applications for unused wool. In the future, I might continue with that either in collaboration or by myself. For now, I would really like to focus on bringing more of these communities into the spotlight. I believe a project as visual and interactive as Project Skiep could be a good way to educate people on different topics. In April 2022 I will launch a new business with two friends focussing on themes concerning nature in The Netherlands. We will develop challenging and interactive ways to inform people about what is going on in their direct surroundings. With this, we hope to inspire people to get more familiar with the space they live in, ask critical questions and share knowledge in a fun way. Additionally, there will be a publication about Project Skiep in Vezel Magazine, which is a textile magazine from the people from Hawar where I dyed the wool!
To read more about Shanti’s work, pay a visit to her Graduation Catalogue Page. Furthermore, her journey can be followed on Instagram and Project Skiep’s Website or Shanti’s personal Website. The winners of the Threshold Award Social Practices will be announced during a festive ceremony as part of the Graduation Show. Keep an eye on our Graduation Show page for more information.
