With her collection, Ruusa Vuori explores the field of embodied knowledge, physical outlines of the body, liberation from the self and the perception of personal space. The BA-graduate of Aalto emphasises sensory aspects and the sensitivity to embodied experience developed through Vuori’s own background in dancing. How does it feel to wear the garment, and how does it feel on the skin? How does the garment move, and how does one move in and with it? Borders and crossings are also essential: different surfaces, membranes, openings and holes, as well as pushing through them, are explored. Clothing can expand or reduce the personal space of the one who wears it, form a shell, or invite in, open or close, draw boundaries or break them. Contradictory materials and processing them by hand have been an essential part of Vuori’s working method. The fragile linen threads planted, grown, lured and spun by her great-grandmother are linked to Vuori’s own bodily experience. The rhythm of the movements involved in weaving, knitting by hand, cutting and sewing has deepened the designer’s multi-sensory relationship with the materials. The complex embodied knowledge is materialised in wearable, sculptural pieces and body-wrapping garments with surrealist details and unexpected openings.
