The Design Center at Philadelphia University

Lace in Translation

The Design Center's historic Quaker Lace Company textile collection is the inspiration for three internationally renowned artist and designers reconsidering conventional lace. For the exhibition, Lace in Translation, Tord Boontje, Demakersvan, and Cal Lane have created contemporary installations for the center's unique and intimate space - a 1950s era, Hollywood-style ranch house. Lane's garden installation features a 2,000 lb. cut-out oil tank with its lace-like remnants spilling across an organically-shaped plinth, creating a one-off print as they rust and weather in the elements. Lane's tank also references printmaking stencils and informs her burnt-out lace patterns in the grass.

Image: Cal Lane, installation detail

Artists
Tord Boontje
Cal Lane
Demakersvan

About the Design Center

The Design Center at Philadelphia University is a rare institution solely devoted to design, showing us just how design shapes everyday life. Through exhibitions, tours, enrichment programs, college courses, lectures and special events, it reflects the university's offerings in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, graphic design, textile design, fashion, industrial design, and interactive media.

Lace in Translation has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program. Support has also come from The Coby Foundation, LTD and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.