Hidden between the rafters of het Paleis you will find a large number of young Groninger creatives working on their projects. Working amongst them is Dagmar Stap (1995), who uses needle and thread to produce the most fantastic objects and packaging. We went to visit her and discussed, among other things, the beauty of packaging.
“I think my practice is a combination of illustration and art. Currently I don’t consider myself to be an illustrator anymore, especially since my graduation I have been doing a lot less commissioned work and have been focussing more on making works that I want to make for myself. Having said that, I did however just design the illustration for an article by Tegenlicht of the VPRO, as well as the cover for the Christmas edition of the VPRO tv guide.
Originally I mostly painted during my Bachelor Illustration at Academy Minerva. It wasn; t until my graduation year that I started doing embroidery. I felt that it provided me with a lot more freedom than painting ever did. One of the first exhibitions after my graduation was about the mass production of packaging and my love for them. I find it interesting to see how they are designed, what kind of audience they are meant to attract and how they are supposed to represent a product. I want people to appreciate the beauty of these packages, which are normally discarded without a thought. My graduation work at the time was based on the things I ate or consumed, which turned out to be quite unhealthy. A lot of people commented on that at the time. However, this was all mostly caused by the fact that vegetables are all wrapped in clear plastic with small labels on it. For me, this is not so interesting to look at or reproduce.”
The corona crisis turned out to be a pretty nice time for me
“I work at the studio on every free day that I have. It differs a lot per project on how much time they will take me. Now that I have been working with embroidery for a few years I have gotten faster at fabricating these works. Small projects will only take me three days but some things are more complicated to reproduce and will require more time to complete. For example, the Yum Yum packaging is very detailed and took me at least two weeks to make.
The corona crisis turned out to be a pretty nice time for me since I already liked to be at my studio and I didn’t party a lot. Suddenly, during the crisis it was ok to stay at home and work on your own projects. The crisis also added another layer to my work when everybody started hoarding canned goods and toilet paper. It changed the way that people see these products and what kind of meaning they have to them. I also started collecting items from these times and copied them in my work. I copied the TOZO letters, receipts and even made a package of toilet paper. It is not like I am trying to cherish memories by making these works or like I am trying to make a statement with them, it is just that I am fascinated by the beauty of these objects. From the lay out of a receipt to the logo that a company uses, there is a lot of beauty to be found in these things.”