shhorn
resilience theme
dreams [dɹiːmz] & sleep [sliːp]
about
Shhorn is the handcrafted fabrics, garments and objects practice led by sean tran. Since 2016, the process driven label has been devoted to amplifying the inherent traits of natural materials through design and construction activity.
The self-taught tailor, formally trained in architecture and jewellery, is preoccupied with intense research between an intimate atelier and a hand-crafted fabric studio.
The practice naturally interdisciplinary, with an inventive approach to making. Sean uses his milieu in architecture as a foundation to tinker the potential of garment patterns, and construction knowledge to thoughtfully orchestrate fabric pieces together. Hand-stitched details and precious house made embellishments are poetically written on each piece, imbuing them with unexpected charm and intimacy.
Shhorn is in a meticulous search for pieces imbued with both rigour and whimsy, working holistically from the raw fibre right through to finished garment with their own hands.
statement for the future
“Post-covid I would love to see the industry become more collaborative and generous, bounce ideas and discuss things without pretension. For me, the 'Resilience' project allowed for me to be collaborative, be generous and freely test assumptions without making judgements - and following its process I have come out feeling motivated to be more rigorous, more whimsical, more experimental.“
connect
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object: dream mirrors
photographer: Myles Pedlar
about
The creative mind doesn’t take easily to rest, especially sleep. COVID-19 presented an opportunity for designer Sean Tran of Atelier Shhorn to catch up on sleep, a most loved activity that comes too rarely in sufficient quantities. For Sean sleep is a means of escaping from the world’s chaos whilst also being a driving force for productivity. With sleep on his side during the pandemic, Sean found himself with a lot more energy during COVID. This inspired him to think differently about his approach to his practice paving space to entertain ways to shake up pre-defined systems for being.
With off-cuts and excess dead stock on hand, Sean’s objects are contemporary dream catchers, round like portals. The protruding motifs act as blank canvases for our consciousness, composed of hand-woven fabric that capture the feeling of being lost in a dreamscape. In dreams we often reach out into the fog searching for something that we can’t quite discern. The protrusion is the hand reaching into the fog. Accompanying the dream catchers are incense holders, for incense is Sean’s ritual for stimulating dreams.
object
Dream Mirrors is born from deeply looking into the state of sleep during isolation. The project is a triptych of fabric portraits, each capturing the feeling of being lost in a dreamscape, and reaching out to find something in its hazy fog without really knowing what it is.
Each portrait is an oculus to limitless space. The fabric surface is given relief by a subtle protuberance — of pure shape, but ambiguous presence. The dreamer is part frightened, and part hopeful of what they will discover when reaching out.
This work is concerned with the space inside and outside of the dream. Conceived during the covid19 pandemic, the project questions one’s consciousness of being awake and asleep.
The fabrics used are the end-of-roll deadstock, found in our studio from previous seasons. Each is handwoven in-house on a traditional floor loom, with Japanese yarn of various materials.
composition
piece 1 (colour: burnt sienna) - 100% handwoven silk mounted on hardwood board
piece 2 (colour: moss) - 100% handwoven cotton, hand dyed in sumi-ink base, and mounted on hardwood board
piece 3 (colour: taupe) - 100% handwoven silk mounted on hardwood board
piece 1 (colour: burnt sienna) - 100% handwoven silk mounted on hardwood board
piece 2 (colour: moss) - 100% handwoven cotton, hand dyed in sumi-ink base, and mounted on hardwood board
piece 3 (colour: taupe) - 100% handwoven silk mounted on hardwood board
made from
deadstock
deadstock
object: incense holder
material
100% solid cast brass.
100% solid cast brass.
quantity
10
10
description:
Can be used as an incense holder, a vase for a twig, or a paperweight.
Each incense holder comes with a pouch made from the offcuts of handwoven fabric from the ‘dream mirrors’ exhibition piece.
Its surprising weight allows the incense holder to sit balanced on its spherical base.
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