This Embroiderer Is Giving Sportswear A New Life

If you love Bjork or if you adore detailed sewing projects, then you will have already heard of James Merry's Embroidery. On July 5th, Bjork wore his now infamous embroidered moth mask at her performance at the Manchester International Festival in the U.K. Obviously, if you aren't Bjork's biggest fan (but why wouldn't you be?) then she's still world renowned not just for her outlandish, Icelandic music but for her beautiful, startling fashion choices as well. Long before Lady Gaga brought crazy back to pop culture, artists and fashion designers were begging to be paired with the creative genius that is Bjork.

In James Merry's interview for i-D Magazine, he claims that collaborating with Bjork is the "best thing that ever happened to me," and anyone could understand why. The mask that Bjork has been wearing on her tour has been turning heads and the detailed attention to nature ties in with Merry's current garden theme and his previous work on butterflies with Britart pioneer Damien Hirst.

Now, Merry is reaching his own levels of fame as his reclamation of classic sportswear with detailed floral embroidery is taking the Internet by storm. His aesthetic appeals to the whole normcore, health goth theme running through everyone's Tumblr feeds currently, but more than that, the detailed additions to his sweaters add a softness and a personality to logos that have become basically meaningless.

James Merry's Instagram feed doesn't just showcase his talent and work but introduces his creative process — from sketches to the actual sewing itself, we get to see how the creative process works for this particularly skilled artist. There's also a humbleness shown about his personality, as he is overjoyed with any press coverage and shares his excitement with his followers.

This particular series, based on his old sportswear sweaters, comes from a place of homesickness whilst living in New York and missing the Icelandic countryside he calls home.

A running theme throughout his work is one of transformation: The plants would transform from the seedlings he embroiders over time and he literally transforms his old clothes into something new. A transformation that represents his own feelings of needing to change from an urban environment (the sweater/New York) to a more natural landscape (the flowers/Iceland's countryside).

Images: James Merry/Instagram