Porto, Portugal
The Knitting Project is the first community project from Porto, Portugal based company OFundamentO (FNDMT), which is “bringing together European artists and manufacturers, and showing how beautiful technology can be.”
The founder Lisa Lang says that: “the new brand is a perfect blend of textile tradition and tech innovation. It’s possible to buy ponchos, scarfs, cushions and throw blankets with wonderful designs inspired by women of Bauhaus.”
“Furthermore, it is a sustainable project, made in Europe, of high quality and aims to reduce the carbon footprint on many levels.”
Lisa is a European entrepreneur, technologist and international keynote speaker. She has gained recognition as one of Forbes Europe’s Top 50 Women in Tech, top 100 most influential people in wearable tech worldwide, and one of 25 leaders in fashion and technology worldwide.
The Knitting Project’s Kickstarter campaign has just launched and aims to bring visibility to the perfect connection of a traditional industry with technology.
“The amazing creativity and work of the women that were once members of Bauhaus were purposely ignored at the time. However, 100 years later their ‘machine hacking’ is still greatly inspiring new artists,” says Lisa Lang.
It was this heritage that inspired Lisa Lang to create OFundamentO and its first project – The Knitting Project. “This new brand is a perfect blend of textile tradition and tech innovation. “I want to show how beautiful technology can be – and what new opportunities there are for designers, when they just cozy up with that amazing tech tools manufacturing can offer,” says the founder.
The Artists and Their Inspiration
“The Knitting Project invited two amazing artists, Anna Niestroj, a digital pattern designer based in Berlin, and Graça Paz, a painter from Porto, to develop this textile experiment with us. We are all united by the spirit of the women of Bauhaus, honouring their vanguard work in design. 100 years later, here we are again – female artists hacking the machines, bringing art and technology together and creating high-quality products proudly made in Europe,” Lisa Lang explains.
“Anna and Graça have created three exclusive patterns each, now turned into beautiful jacquard knits in shades of neon, pastel, and black and white. You can have knitted ponchos, scarfs, cushions and throw blankets with these wonderful designs in the spirit of the Bauhaus.”
Lang has always been inspired by the amazing work of the women of Bauhaus. ‘’For me, they were machine hackers, they understood the soul of the machines and how they worked, already 100 years ago. With this knowledge, we simply just continue the mission,” she adds.
“The opportunity of bringing on board these designers was just a perfect blend between the vision of OFundamentO and the feeling of Bauhaus being re-interpreted by these artists.
Sustainable – Made in Europe and Recycled
“The most sustainable statement today is to use what already exists, avoiding waste and a new production cycle. This is why The Knitting Project only uses certified European yarn, which is on local stock, making sure that no new shipments need to be made, and no new material produced. For us, producing locally is not only a statement for the quality of the Portuguese manufacturers, but it is a sustainable move, reducing the carbon footprint on many levels. To create these knits, we are using different yarns and mixed materials that we’ve found available on stock. There is cotton, wool, merino wool, viscose, polyester and polyacrylic fibre in the compositions.”
A Kickstarter Campaign to Kick-Off the Project
To take this project further, Lisa Lang decided to launch a Kickstarter Campaign. “The campaign will be the first opportunity to highlight the vision of the company, building momentum around the project while offering the world the chance of having wearable art in firsthand,” Lisa says.
However, the Knitting Project is only the first of many projects that oFundamento, Lang’s newly created Portuguese company, will create. “At OFundamentO we believe in an interdisciplinary approach to solving the issues of modern manufacturing, such as stock waste, digitizing the backend, educating manufacturing workers on new technologies. We are proving that is possible to create certified and sustainable products that are also beautiful and unique by joining traditional craftsmanship together with high-end technology. The Knitting Project is just the beginning,” she adds.
“The time is now and FNDMT is doing it. This is now your opportunity to own an epic piece of #hacking history! Go to the Kickstarter campaign here.
“OFundamentO (FNDMT) was born to build, bringing together traditional craftsmanship with high-end technology, we’re creating new smart and electronic enhanced textiles for B2B customers. We’re making your ideas real – made in Europe, certified, sustainable and high quality,” Lisa Lang concludes.
View more images from The Knitting Project…
Lisa Lang has been listed as one of the 50 most important women for innovation and start-ups in the EU. Lisa Lang is a direct adviser for fashion, technology and entrepreneurship for the European Commission and since 2019 she has been the lead mentor for the new course on digital fashion at Polimoda Florence.
Watch The Knitting Project: Turning Pixels Into Loops video…
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