Humans have been pondering the nature of time even before the 16th century, when Galileo discovered that his groundbreaking pendulum clock could determine how time is measured. But what about if I told you to forget about rational split second time for a moment, and try a radical new way of time keeping with Norwegian designer Sirene Elise Wilhelmsen’s 365 Knitting Clock.
With the knitting clock, time passes at a much more leisurely pace as it is measured in stitches. That’s right, time is physically stitched as it passes by 24 hours a day and one year at a time, where its progress physically manifests as a woolen garment.
After 365 days, it might just be a contender for the longest amount of time taken to knit a 2m scarf. Even so, there aren’t many people who are able to claim that they are wearing the creation of time passed, whilst the future is still waiting to be knitted.
Let’s not forget the brains behind time’s creation, Siren Elise Wilhelmsen who is now based in Berlin and Bergen. Having graduated from Universitaet der Künste Berlin in 2010, Wilhelmsen continues to focus her designs on “the relationship between products and numbers” which is what the Knitting Clock is born out of.
Siren finds her inspiration in curiosities and the investigative process into such. The Knitting Clock is one example of her range of products as well as furniture and installations that are intended to be interesting interactions with “everyday objects, rituals and culture”.
Wilhelmsen continues to garner more attention from international design fairs and exhibitions where her works have been shown at “he Milan Furniture Fair, London Design Week and the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, among others. She has also earned the title Newcomer of the Year by both the Foundation for Design and Architecture in Norway, Norsk Form, in 2012 and German Design Award in 2013, proving that she is just as unstoppable as time itself.