Greek artist Athena Gronti is the latest young talent to turn G-Star Raw denim waste and deadstock into an art object.
Gronti’s “Ariadne’s Thread” quilt is part of the Dutch denim brand’s “The Art of Raw” program, a collaborative project that explores the endless possibilities of denim.
Pulling inspiration from “Ariadne’s Thread,” a Greek myth in which the princess of Crete helped her beloved hero escape from a labyrinth using a thread, Gronti created a textile quilt that showcases the various textures of denim. The fabric is rough in some places and soft in others. Intricate stitching and abstract shapes add dimension.
Gronti combine disciplines such as photography and illustration within her work. Textiles, however, have a sentimental value to the designer as her grandmother was a seamstress, embroidering and using a sewing machine throughout her childhood.
“For me, it’s this parallel that I am the person to hold the beginning of the yarn for the viewer, leading them into the rich history of the material,” she said. “Denim is like the water of textiles to me. It’s crazy, it has so many paradoxes and can really change into such a wide variety of shapes and qualities.”
G-Star Raw launched The Art of Raw in May as a monthly art platform that calls on young designers to channel their creativity by transforming its denim scraps into a work of art using their mode of choice.
Teun Zwets, a 2020 graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands, was the first artist to participate. Zwets created “Denim Living,” a chair constructed from a metal frame as a base with denim waste layered on top and laminated with a binder.
Over the next year, the project will feature different young designers each month on social media including artwork from designers Lenny Stöpp, Hozan Zangana, Nienke Sikkema, Iwan Pol and Pien Post.