The Bikini Sweater - De Bikini Trui
Exhibited during Dutch Design Week 2024
“The Bikini Sweater” embodies the distorted and extreme weather patterns of our time and the future.
The schizophrenic nature of Dutch weather in particular - where rain, sun, and storm alternate within a single hour - has changed so dramatically that we must question whether true seasons can still exist. Haven’t the boundaries between seasons already blurred beyond recognition, leaving our once predictably seasonal wardrobes in constant confusion?
Crafted from unloved bikinis, sourced from individual donations and ‘bikini buckets’ that thrift shops couldn’t sell and united through a patchwork technique; The Bikini Sweater transforms these symbols of overconsumption into a confrontational reflection on our buying behavior and the changing world around us.
Collected during the “four seasons” of 2023 & 2024.
The Bikini Sweater - De Bikini Trui
Exhibited during Dutch Design Week 2024
“The Bikini Sweater” embodies the distorted and extreme weather patterns of our time and the future.
The schizophrenic nature of Dutch weather in particular - where rain, sun, and storm alternate within a single hour - has changed so dramatically that we must question whether true seasons can still exist. Haven’t the boundaries between seasons already blurred beyond recognition, leaving our once predictably seasonal wardrobes in constant confusion?
Crafted from unloved bikinis, sourced from individual donations and ‘bikini buckets’ that thrift shops couldn’t sell and united through a patchwork technique; The Bikini Sweater transforms these symbols of overconsumption into a confrontational reflection on our buying behavior and the changing world around us.
Collected during the “four seasons” of 2023 & 2024.
Femke Hoppenbrouwer is a social designer & multidisciplinary artist who looks into the unseen in society. Her practice combines field-based research, community collaboration and artistic experimentation in order to challenge social stigmas and fixed ways of thinking. Through manipulating small details that embody larger topics, Femke’s playful translations subvert stereotypes and introduce alternative narratives.
She holds her Master in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven and combines her expertise in visual design, art direction and social engagement to build bridges between the field of design and social practices.
Based in the Netherlands. Working between
Utrecht, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, The Hague.
info@femkehoppenbrouwer.com
Nominated for a Dutch Design Award 2024
One of NRC's '"Rijzende sterren van 2025"
Femke Hoppenbrouwer is a social designer & multidisciplinary artist who looks into the unseen in society. Her practice combines field-based research, community collaboration and artistic experimentation in order to challenge social stigmas and fixed ways of thinking. Through manipulating small details that embody larger topics, Femke’s playful translations subvert stereotypes and introduce alternative narratives.
She holds her Master in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven and combines her expertise in visual design, art direction and social engagement to build bridges between the field of design and social practices.
Based in the Netherlands. Working between
Utrecht, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, The Hague.
info@femkehoppenbrouwer.com
Nominated for a Dutch Design Award 2024
One of NRC's '"Rijzende sterren van 2025"