Friends and designers Renee Mennen and Stefanie van Keijsteren started the Dutch design studio, rENS, in 2008. In the past four years the duo, which describes their relationship as "pert, impulsive and passionate," has worked on a range of products that veer towards the experimental side, including lighting, tableware and clothing. For such a young studio they're remarkably accomplished with a concise but professional portfolio of projects that are impeccably presented. When you scroll through their collection, each item is broken down into its various parts and photographed in a perfectly symmetrical overhead shot.
At DMY Mennen and van Keijsteren presented their latest project, a line of clothing called ROOD, which is Dutch for "red." The entire line is comprised of secondhand clothing dyed various shades of red, including "Cadmium red, Carmine red, Apple red, Oxblood red, Kraplak red, Vermilion red,Mahoney red, Red Oker, Alizarine red, English red, Bordaux red, Spanish red, Red Violet, Persian red, Cherry red, Iron Oxide red, Orange red, Blood red and Signal red."
Mennen and van Keijsteren played "alchemist with the magic of dyeing; Balancing, dipping the clothes in a tub of liquid due, the tine, the water, the salt, the pigment." The pieces vary in shade as well as in intensity and saturation. Of all the items on display at DMY, the most striking were the partially dyed blouses that are only red on the bottom. You can track the origin of each piece on their website. Right now most are coming locally from the Netherlands, but perhaps as the scope of the project grows people from all over the world will be able to send in their own clothing for the ROOD treatment. Watch the great stop-motion video of their process below.
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