Ida Marie Kold is a Danish mixed media artist specialising in embroidery, knitwear and print.

How did you get into embroidery and knitting?

It’s been a smooth transition from paper to textiles, fueled by curiosity and desire to learn and evolve. My grandma taught me to knit when I was little, but I didn’t fully pick it up until much later – last November actually. I knitted my first sock back then, inspired by a friend I’d visited who had begun to knit socks as well. For a while before that, I’d become fascinated with the world of textile art, as it was so different from book-formatted work I mostly did back then. Exploring three-dimensionality seemed amazing but impossible then.I’ve embroidered for a while before I started knitting. It’s been a very natural way to transfer drawings to fabric for me. I used to do outline embroideries that closely resembled a pen drawing, but now I’m exploring colours, layers, and fullness, so it almost looks like a painting, which is really fun. I really love looking at something and asking myself – how can I learn to do that? How can I make it my own? And then I just obsess over it until I’ve (somewhat) mastered it. It’s a tactile, technical curiosity which often drives me.

Which do you like best and why?

I think knitting is my favourite, but it’s also more new to me. I love how it’s unwinding and slow. I think I like switching between different materials, methods, and ideas, to keep everything fresh and new, to maintain a feeling of curiosity and surprise.

I really love the process of pouring all my attention towards one singular idea, and then making it happen. Some people take months to finish a project (also because most people do bigger scale work than me), I tend to completely devote my time and energy to whatever I’m working on, where I’m not really able to put it down and rest until I see the result I want. I really like being able to channel my creative energy that intensely. I love how different textile work is from drawings or paintings on paper. It allows for a different kind of exploration, tactile interaction if you will. Both between the artist and the art and between the art and its audience. It’s a shame we can’t let someone feel and touch textiles through digital media – I often think that I wish I could show people what I do in real life, as it’s supposed to be seen not just with eyes, but with hands as well.I also really like taking a traditional technique and using it for something new and unusual, making it my own. I guess I don’t really like to follow rules – for example, I don’t use instructions or patterns for my sweaters.

What other types of textiles would you like to explore?

I’ve dipped my toes into weaving, but I haven’t committed yet. I’d love to do something woven on a full-scale loomat some point. I also think that crocheting and lace-making would be fun to work with! Also, printing, felting, and quilting. I’d love to incorporate silversmith, resin-work and tree carving into my creative abilities and combine them with textile work as well as each other. Basically, I kind of want to explore and combine it all.

 

What kinds of things have you made with your textiles?

To sum it up: I’ve sewn brooches, decoration for clothing, embellished pagesin my art books, knitted sweaters and socks,  I’ve made a knitted ‘painting’, embroidered drawings and paintings, experimental sculptures and weavings.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

The process- curiosity about how to make it my own. How something so intricate is possible. I love all handmade art, I got the book ‘Juxtapoz Handmade’by Ginkgo Press as a kid and it has hugely influenced me. I think my love for handmade art made from scraps partially stems from this book. I also browse Instagram looking for other artists. I love drawing inspiration from non-textile work as well, as I love working with multi-media. Ceramics, photography, and jewellery inspire me just as much as other textile work. I love looking at fashion for inspiration. I often get very inspired by second hand stores and their clothes, materials, and books. I love the visual world of micro-biology, it’s incredibly inspiring to me. Fungi, mycology. It’s such an organic collection of shapes, colours, and patterns.

I also have to mention knitting artists Stine Leth and Lærke Bagger, who have both inspired me in each their way to explore knitting as an art medium. I love Dan Lam and Laura Catherine Soto’s sculptural work on Instagram. I also really love Maya Rosette’sbeadwork; I’ve seen it (and her) in real life at an exhibition in Gellerup, Denmark, which really inspired and boosted me into trying out textural sculpting.

Who would you like to collaborate with and why?

I always mention both Stine Leth and Lærke Bagger, two Danish knitters, when I talk about my knitting. They’re both very inspiring and iconic. I’d die if I could collaborate with Yoko Ono, but also, I wouldn’t feel worthy of that! I think I’d love to collaborate with many smaller-scale artists around my age. Creative interaction is so inspiring and necessary to me.

Do you have any creative goals for 2019?

I do think it would be amazing to do an exhibition somewhere. I’ve only had one exhibition before, and it feels like a lifetime ago. I did some very different pieces back then, and I had different goals and practices. I’d love to do more collaborations, publish my work in magazines, and eventually put together a book and a website. Those last two are probably more long-term, though.

What do you love about textiles?

I love viewing them come to life between my hands– going from a ball of yarn to a sock. I love the dimensionality, interaction, exploration, and texture. It’s a soft creation, but its message and the feeling it creates can be sharp and poignant. It draws me in like a magnet! I’m not sure exactly what it is about textiles that’s so great. I love being part of every step of the creation of something. Textiles is severely underestimated – textile work is in many ways not a common modern skill (weaving, knitting or embroidering) but it is necessary to know and use these do it yourself techniques if we collectively want to rid ourselves of the mental, social, and literal pollution of fast fashion. I think that’s why a lot of people are starting to sew or alter their own clothes and mend what is broken; a lot of people are starting to go green and become aware of the materials around them. It’s very empowering to understand and work with textiles. Nobody else makes creative decisions for you if you’re in charge of the whole process – especially when it comes to clothing.

Follow Ida on Instagram here