This Exhibition at DSMP Explores Textiles as Markers of Lived Time

Creative partners Clarke & Reilly explore textiles as storytellers in an exhibition on display at Dover Street Market Paris from 10-13 September, curated in collaboration with Katie Shillingford and Ben Toms

Bundles of textured fabrics are wrapped, draped and tied onto the body; some trail behind it, others extrapolate it. Each look is built from an archive of materials discovered and collected from across the world by material intervention and creative studio Clarke & Reilly. First composed on the body, these same fragments of material are then reworked to dress furniture and objects of the home – four-poster beds, chairs, chandeliers, some seen backdropped by a 28-foot canvas wall, its surface painted red and covered with fragments of text. 

This is a new exhibition from Clarke & Reilly, which opens at Dover Street Market Paris tomorrow and will run for a limited time only. Titled In/Form, the exhibition explores textiles as markers of lived time and a realm for continuity.

“Every fragment of material we own has been purchased with intent to both preserve and use,” Bridget Dwyer, one half of Clarke & Reilly, tells AnOther, continuing: “Weather and wear add, rather than subtract.” Dwyer and creative counterpart David Grocott consider a textile’s history as its story, as a way to see lived time, marked by use, repair and skill passed from hand to hand. “Some pieces came with stories told to us, some we created in our minds.” 

The exhibition’s curation was a collaborative affair. Dwyer and Grocott invited this magazine’s fashion director Katie Shillingford to experiment with and style their archive. Treating each fragment of cloth as both material and garment, Shillingford composed them in layers on the body, which were then documented by photographer Ben Toms. 

“We had worked with Katie and Ben on projects previously,” says Dwyer. “Watching Katie’s approach to the human body and seeing her work to create form on it from cloth and clothes, transforming them, we knew her hand would be perfect to help bring these loved fragments into a beautiful state. Ben’s energy is gentle; his talent is obvious. We felt it was important to work in this way to document the story we wanted to tell.” Meanwhile, excerpts from interviews by AnOther editor-in-chief Susannah Frankel, first published in her 2001 book Visionaries, cover the backdrop, obscured so only the odd fragmented word shows through.

“David’s collection of textiles is incredible – there are pieces from all over the world, spanning different times and histories,” says Shillingford. “They came in all shapes and sizes – some were [smaller] pieces, some longer lengths. He lay them all out in his studio and let me be drawn to different colours and textures, then I think those colours and textures informed how the pieces were put together – layered, tied, wrapped, draped. It was a very freeing creative process, he didn’t want to tell me too much about each piece. It was experimental, and I was working instinctively, led by what was in front of me rather than thinking about what it was too much.” 

Once photographed by Toms, each composition was dismantled. Clarke & Reilly then recreated them on furniture – bound and threaded – extending the duration of each material’s life, reimagining its use, emphasising its continuity. “The pieces in this project are a reflection of that process; the daybed for example – originally quite grand, feels diminutive in today’s world. We were drawn to that dichotomy,” says Grocott. “The American stick chair was sourced in Upstate New York, it is a great example of an c 18th century English design – more Carolean and less Georgian – and the fragments bring it another chance at life.” 

To Dwyer and Grocott, reimagination is an act of care and a form of prolonged attention in a world where an object’s lifespan is shorter and clothing has become increasingly disposable. “To reimagine is to allow something to endure, to offer space for its evolution,” says Dwyer. Oftentimes they consider themselves to be ‘material interveners’, rather than designers. 

Reusing valuable cloth in this way is hardly new. “Historically, clothing made for nobles and the wealthy, once no longer desired for their original use, would be used in upholstery and the home,” says Dwyer. The quality of cloth meant it would stand the test of time. “This attention to quality is something that is integral to our practice, pieces we work with are chosen based on this.” 

The idea behind the exhibition evolved over three years. “In many ways, it was born from the quotes from Susannah’s book,” says Grocott. “Visionaries serves as the backbone of the project,” Dwyer continues. “The quotes we worked with had sat on the walls of David’s studio for many years.” Each selected phrase is layered onto a vast red backwall, each carefully placed and applied with intention. “I have always loved the way Susannah conjures a visual with her words,” says Dwyer, who once hosted a launch for Frankel’s book at her London store, inflating and hanging quotes in the space. Grocott found these fragments some years later – “they spoke to him,” says Dwyer – and hung them up in his studio. “I see a similarity in how Susannah asks questions as a way to coax the best out of someone and how David approaches a project. His choice of textile or object is chosen to guide the best from it, to work with it and allow it to be seen. Susannah’s words felt like the perfect companion to the work created on the body and furniture.” 

To Clarke and Reilly, In/Form feels like a natural succession of their work, where future thinking and collaboration are their pillars, in this case made possible through the creative collaborations with Shillingford, Toms and Frankel. “Our larger storytelling projects are always rooted in collaboration,” says Dwyer. “Large projects like this are where we intersect most freely and creatively.” In/Form is a body of work they believe has been incubating for some time, an ecosystem of craftsmanship, material held and shaped by many hands, evolving and ever-changing as its story continues. The work will next travel to the pair’s gallery space, Tank50.54, in Arezzo, Italy. “It would be wonderful if we were able to do this in practical life, rather than drawing a line under something when its state appears less than desirable.”

IN/FORM is on display at Dover Street Market Paris from 10-13 September. It will then move to Tank50.54 gallery in Arezzo, Italy.