A rip in your favourite pair of jeans? Your grandmother’s silk blouse with a worn collar? That lovely jumper that, unfortunately, has a hole in it? Bring them along to the GOLDEN JOINERY workshop!

Bring a precious but broken piece of clothing from yourself or a loved one, and together we will repair it with ‘gold’. Instead of hiding the repair, it will become a visible golden scar, celebrating life’s imperfections. You add value yourself. This slowly creates a collection of unique garments.

It is a collective gesture against the throwaway mentality, an excellent way to spend a few hours together and make the world a little bit nicer. Experience with needles and thread is not necessary. Techniques and materials will be provided during the workshop. Do bring a torn / broken piece of garment!

Golden Joinery is based on Kintsugi (= golden joinery), an ancient Japanese technique where broken pottery was visibly repaired with gold. Painted Series translated this craft into repairing broken clothing with gold in a way that is not invisible but adds something special to your precious item. Depending on the hole in the garment brought, we will work with darning, the Japanese Boro technique, needle lace, the festoon stitch or appliqué.

Painted Series is a fashion collective led by fashion designer Saskia van Drimmelen and director Margreet Sweerts in alternating collaborations with like-minded people. Known for sharp contemporary couture in which craft techniques take pride, Painted Series explores new ways of developing and distributing fashion, playing with the boundary between fashion and performance and the idea of what a garment can be. With reciprocity as a guiding principle in every relationship, she aims for a loving, non-exploitative relationship with people and materials. The ‘new’ brand Golden Joinery is about taking care of the clothes you already have. A growing collection of clothing featuring visible, golden repairs appears offline and online.