#ESCAPES ReimersdahlDippmann

ESCAPES – the disappearance from landscape
A collaborative project between Andrea van Reimersdahl & Ivonne Dippmann between Berlin and Tel Aviv

ESCAPES evolved out of the circumstance that I had to leave Israel after the most stunning 7 years of my life. It was my harshest and saddest breakup, even though many Israelis can’t wait to move to Berlin. There was no way back. Not because of money, simply based on the fact that I was not Jewish and immigration turned my life into a little hell. Of course I haven’t managed to find a boyfriend all these years, so the heavenly option of a so called paarship visa was off the table.

I used to live in Florentine on Vital street, named after Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, a well known rabbi in Safed and the foremost disciple of Isaac Luria. The name of my landlord was also Chaim and somehow this small street turned into a piece of magic for me every day. Sharp 7am I took a swim in the sea, had breakfast and went to my studio. It was a perfect life in every sense, even so I knew one day I had to go.

Based on these circumstances I initiated Escapes, a textile based project together with Andrea van Reimersdahl, a fashion designer and artist who has been running her own label in Mulackstrasse, Berlin since the past 15 years.
We got introduced by a common friend and our 1st encounter was the beginning of a well working collaboration which evolved over the past 3 years in various directions.

The main idea behind this project was to bring Tel Aviv and Berlin together on wearable, unique pieces. For myself, it was an emotional approach rather than a conceptual one. By that time it was winter in Berlin and I was packing my various 20 kg boxes at 25 degree in Tel Aviv. Each of us started to design abstract drawings. Andrea based her designs on skeletons of leaves and trees in black and white and I sketched out shapes of landscapes soaking in the light and the beauty of the Negev.

When I returned to Berlin we scouted fabrics and started printing, me in Bethanien and Andrea in her studio. We printed on top of each other and within a month we produced a limited edition of 112 unique pieces, including an exclusive collectors edition in collaboration with Trippen Berlin. Besides selling those pieces commercially we rapped them up for performances, shows, site specific works and show rooms.

Some of these works are still available, either to wear or in framed versions within the context of shows and events. This project has been published under the title ESCAPES at Revolver Publishing Berlin and was part of 3 exhibitions within the same year

www.van-reimersdahl.com
www.ivonnedippmann.eu

Ivonne Dippmann

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