Elina Laitinen

Pyhävaatteita (Sunday Clothes) is an ongoing project that started in 2016. The project is based on craft and slow making. Through the making process I want to give the garments a story that increases the experienced value of clothing.

In Pyhävaatteita I use sunlight to make patterns on the fabrics. With this method, I seek to materialized the passage of time – at once ever-changing and stable – and in doing so, adding depth to the making process. I hope this depth is also manifested in the wearer’s perception of the clothing.

The clothing and textiles spend several weeks outside. During that time, the sunlight fades the colours on the areas that are exposed, forming patterns on and about the surface. I'm working in southern Finland where it takes about four weeks to get visible results on the fabrics. The Finnish summer might not be warm, but it is always light. For my working process, there's enough sunlight from May to September. This limited time makes the process of making all the more significant and all the more precious.

The fabrics lay on ground outdoors without any covering. There are many unpredictable factors, like rain, wind, and occasional creatures, that all influence to the outcome. Once, strong winds almost blew twenty t-shirts away.

Involving nature, as uncontrollable as it is, in the process makes this work more interesting to me. I can design the process and try to achieve certain end results, but the accidence is always present. This guarantees that all of the pieces will be unique.