andrea brena: knitted army at DMY berlin 2012

‘knitted army’ by andrea brena recycled cloth image courtesy of andrea brena

berlin-based italian designer andrea brena has conceived a range of furnishings entitled ‘knitted army’. the collection was born from brena’s decision to take a year from his bachelor programme at the eindhoven academy to ‘see what life was like outside the bubble [of university]‘ through exploring his own understanding of design. reviving the art of arm-knitting was the outcome of this, in which the craftsman reuses discarded fabric strips from textile factories in italy to knit into carpets, pillows and chairs using only his arms as the guide. each piece is produced from leftover cloth where the cushions and seats are stuffed with the same scrap material.

the material knitted

arm-knitted carpet

the left-over fabric used to create the pieces

the carpets are made using a crochet technique which is a more difficult method image © designboom

arm-knitted pillows

image © designboom

image © designboom

arm-knitted chair image © designboom

detail image © designboom

image © designboom

the collection on show

video showing the process