Maartje Dijkstra is Dutch fashion designer based in Rotterdam.
She studied at ARTEZ/HKA Arnhem The Netherlands, where she graduated as a Bachelor in Fashion Design in 2006. In 2005 she did an internship at the company of Alexander McQueen in London, where her interests in High fashion developed. In 2007 she started her own High fashion/couture label, where she designs and creates individualistic, sculptural, progressive, hand-crafted fashion collections, accessories and illustrations.
The designs of her (small) spherical collections are all handcrafted, unique, high fashion pieces, designed with the future in mind, made by her only. Her work has many manual details and is also very recognisable by her surreal hand-drawn illustrations. Imagination, electronic music, progressiveness and individuality are a big source of inspiration for her. Especially music/sounds are an important factor in creating her work and became more important because of the environment she now works in. A house with studio's where music composers create amazing sounds like jungle/breakcore and ambient, so it becomes almost a melancholic place to work.
Next to showing her pieces on the runway, for her the ultimate exhibition place, she is very much focused combining fashion with technology. Because of her interest in the time consuming manual way of creating fashion and designs her pieces with a progressive mind, technology connects very well within her work. The technical and music parts she always does in collaboration with other great artists.
We are excited to have Maartje joining our CODAME Labs.
-Braindrain- 2016
Braindrain (information/knowledge that is spreading to different places) is the new fashion technology piece from fashion designer Maartje Dijkstra (NL).
Important in her work is the combination between technology/progressiveness, styling and manual craftsmanship, that stands for individualism and uniqueness. The golden parts of the design, are connected to small robotics/motors with LED's that move and flicker like a stroboscope, on the rhythms, breaks and beats of electronic music by music composer Newk. The technical parts are developed in cooperation with technology artists Neon&Nanda.
The bombastic/sculptural design is build up in two different layers, melted into one story.
The black parts of the dress are totally manual 3D printed with a 3Doodler (flexible filament), with a structure that is inspired by Chitin, the building material of exoskeletons like insects. The parts are connected by hand with black polyester wires. The golden elements, inspired by a Dutch golden ear-iron from 1850, are 3D printed (designed together with Vincent Mensink, 3D printed by Oceanz ) out of white Nylon filament, finished with a special golden spray paint. The golden elements are looking smooth but they have a extra effect/dimension. They are semi transparent, with an even more transparent detail of lines inside, that are only visible when the lights turn on. The robotics/moving parts give the design a animal-like feeling, like its breathing, taking in in the sounds and sending it back into the world.
