Harbour City, the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong, invited Anne Galante to create a handmade knitted and crocheted Christmas exhibit.

 

Famous for her unique and large creations, Anne created a garden and an experimental sensory playground, which she knitted with the support of her Brazilian team as well as Hong Kong students of arts and fashion.

 

Altogether, it took three months to organize with 45 days of work in Brazil and a team of 10 crocheteres who helped create the dolls and all of the crochet pieces. In total, 600 kilos of crocheted pieces made in Brazil crossed the ocean to be used in the exhibition. 

 

The Hong Kong team took care of all the local efforts, knitting more than 6000 meters of giant yarn. A 30-hour trip and ten days and nights of assembly put together the "All You Knit is Love" handmade Christmas exhibition.

 

It was her first "creative journey" abroad. 

 

The main atrium featured a 5-meter tall tree in her famous giant knitting, adorned with crocheted balls and flowers and a soft and comfortable lawn, where people could interact and enjoy the beauty of the giant dolls crocheted in Spesso yarn from the Brazilian brand Euro Roma, a 24-string yarn developed with recycled raw material that uses no water in its production process.

 

A giant interactive ball of yarn on the side, with a mirror and a shower of colorful drops on the inside, allowed visitors to be inspired while entering this universe. 

 

There were also 30 trees crocheted in different colors and patterns scattered throughout the mall.

 

The area dedicated to children featured a "yarn" knitted pool with slides for children to play on and a train in the corridor with amigurumis, also crocheted with Spesso yarn, allowing children to ride through the enchanted world of Christmas.

 

Harbour City Mall has partnered with the Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation at an annual fundraiser since 2002 and has raised more than HK $ 35 million for the foundation in the past 17 years.

 

This year, Harbor City Mall incorporated the interactive art exhibit “All You Knit Is Love” in their fundraiser for the Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation.

 

The facility was open from Nov 29th, 2019 to Jan 1st, 2020, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm at Atrium II, Gateway Arcade Atrium, G/F, Ocean Terminal, at Harbor City Shopping in Hong Kong.

 

 

 

Handmade Dreams

 

The technique is ancient, but the dimension that Anne Galante uses in her performance is new and refocuses attention on the importance of these handicrafts to the world.

 

Using big needles and thread, she weaves a huge futon for people to lie down on and remember their dreams. Anne Galante's mission is to preserve these techniques and recover the health benefits of creating a handmade product, promote wellness and reflect on conscious consumption and production. Fashion is not just for the fashion world; everyone wears clothes, and often people have no idea how cruel the production process can be.

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In these hectic times where everything is "fast", she proposes an alternative to this frenetic pace by offering a deliberate “slowness”. While she knits, the audience interacts by watching a slow movement that stitch by stitch forms a giant work of art. Just like in our dreams, if we take the first steps, it will slowly become reality.