f
Smooth and heavy in sheet
form, slightly abrasive as yarn,
but soft and lightweight when
knit, this effulgent fabric is a
shining example of how light
can be used as effectively as -
and more dramatically than -
more palpable substances.
“The material responds as I
move around it by flashing light at
me,” the designer explains. “Even
in the same room, it’s impossible
for anyone to experience this
material in the same way.”
Beside a Juki sewing ma-
chine in Knutson’s new studio-
cum-showroom in Manhattan’s
Garment District sits a custom-
made Lamb knitting machine,
by the last circular knitting
machine manufacturer in
America. (Similar machines
come from China now.) “This
machine is the best thing I’ve
ever bought,” Knutson admits,
partly because it enables her
to add offbeat materials to the
mix: neon threads, cashmere,
nylon fishing line. She uses auto-
mation for only some pieces,
though: The Nebula jewelry,
for instance, is knitted on hand-
cranked machines by Special
Citizens, a group of adults with
autism in the Bronx.
Knutson recently finished
a textile for furniture and light-
ing showroom Mondo Collec-
tion in Manhattan’s Flatiron
district, and, on a different
scale entirely, is now crocheting
large sheets of light-amplifying
fabric into forms that generate
seemingly solid rainbows. She
is collaborating with a Miami
architect on the design of an
installation for a South Beach
home, which, she says, “makes
light look like an object that
can be touched.”
Light is Knutson’s material;
her tools are often her hands.
She credits “thinking with my
hands” for enabling her to study
her materials and methods more
deeply than if she limited her-
self to drawing schematics for
factory fabrication.
“When you really break it
down, everything is handmade,
even buildings. Perhaps we all
define craft based on precision,
scale, and how many steps
removed we are from the final
outcome, but go to any factory
and you’ll see people making
things. Even the machines,
machine parts, and raw materials
are made and mined by people,”
Knutson says. “There is craft
everywhere.”
+
laraknutson.blogspot.com
Shonquis Moreno is a freelance
journalist working from Brooklyn
and Istanbul who contributes to
publications such as
Wallpaper*,
Whitewall,
and
Fast Company,
as well as design books by Gestalten.
She has been an editor for
Surface,
Dwell,
and
Frame
magazines.
Supernova necklace,
2009; reflective glass
yarn, rock crystal
feb/mar 12 american craft 029
