To celebrate London Fashion Week, and following the success of Chubby Cloud, accessories designer Anya Hindmarch has created The Weave Project an immersive art installation that sees visitors clambering through woven, electric-blue tubes in Soho. Taking place over four days at Brewer Street Car Park, the Weave Project has featured The Tube, an art piece created by artists collective Numen/For Use. The Tube is constructed from woven mesh that creates an oscillating structure that visitors can climb through to experience the structure from unexpected and surreal angles.
It took three days for Numen/For Use – a trio of artists based between Croatia, Austria and Germany – to weave the structure. It then took seven days to erect, using 3,000 metres of rope for the suspension, and 11,000 square metres of net for the tunnel structures. The artists collective often create similar installations, with past versions including one suspended within the treetops in South Tyrol and another made from a web of adhesive tape.
The Tube installation marks the global relaunch of Hindmarch’s Neeson bag collection, which provided the inspiration for the woven tunnels. This updated version of one of the designer’s most recognizable styles is a lightweight woven tote that takes several days to make.
“The Weave Project will be a completely immersive and playful installation that you can experience from the inside out,” says Anya Hindmarch. “Following on from the Chubby Cloud, we like to take our customers on the journey behind the inspiration for our collections, in this case The Neeson. This is a beautiful sculpture and a complex project to bring to life but one that I can’t wait to share.”
The Weave Project also includes a themed cafe, plus a concept store stocking the Neeson collection and special-edition merchandise. Visitors can purchase the bags and have them personalized by on-site weavers, with hand-woven symbols, words and initials. Hindmarch created another installation this month. Called Chubby Heart, it saw a plump red love heart wedged in between the pillars of Wellington Arch on Hyde Park Corner, to celebrate this year’s Valentine’s Day.
