Keywords: joy buttress, kid leather, laser-cutting, leather, nottingham, united kingdom, gloves, machine-stitched

Skin Reveals Skin

Joy Buttress

Dimensions

430 x 150 x 100 mm

Materials

Pair of opera gloves: laser cut and machine-stitched kid leather.

Artist statement

‘Nottingham played a central role in the world lace trade from 1760 onwards. The Nottingham School of Art was founded in 1848 to teach and develop new designers for the local machine-lace industry. I have been inspired by a particular portfolio in the school’s archive that was produced in Plauen, Germany, and shown at the Great Exhibition in Brussels 1910. It contains 24 plates of designs inspired by organic forms found in flora and fauna.

The complex and sophisticated construction of lace creates a transparency, offering a relationship with both skin (the body) and pattern, my work aims to explore the interaction of lace with the body. Vintage leather gloves are used as a canvas, mimicking the surface of human skin. Each glove explores the sensitivity and sensuous nature of the gloved hand through historical motifs, digital laser technology and hand stitch.’

Behind the scenes

Interview with Durbach Block