Art pick of the week: the Rijksmuseum's Etsy project
Etsy is backing the Rijksmuseum with a partnership that showcases how five designers transformed pieces from the gallery's public archive.
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum unveiled its digital art repository in 2013, inviting web users to co-opt its archives for their own artistic interpretations.
The Rijkstudio, as it's called, brings together 150,000 of the institution's images.
Visitors can bookmark favorite works or even individual details, take high-res downloads, and turn them into phone covers, scarves, tattoos, tablewear, clothing or anything else that catches the artistic imagination.
With a open entry Rijksstudio Award asking for designs by March 1, a €1,000 prize (plus sales agreement) for the winner announced April 1, and an exhibition for all 10 finalists from April 17, Etsy's contribution showcases 5 possible approaches.
Among them, fabric leaf specialist Miranda van Dijk inlays her petals with images from paintings by Vermeer and his contemporaries.
Leather accessory atelier Tovi Sorga takes inspiration from a 19th-century oil of a Javanese court official, using the Indonesian's clothing pattern as the basis for a clutch bag.
And a lingerie set lifts its colors and motifs from Johann Spitzmacher's ornate late-17th century mosaic cabinet.
Rijksmuseum -- Creations of Etsy: rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/131860--rijksstudio-en-etsy/creations
