The Lost Sock Project | Hand in Your Socks! Now!

There are probably as many single socks in Berlin's closets as there are art projects. Everyone knows the missing sock syndrom, but no matter what we do, we've as of yet been unable to solve it. Tabea Mathern decided to give single socks a new raison d'être when she kicked off her “lost socks project” recently. The Ruhr area native has lived in Berlin for four years, gaining her main artistic inspiration from every day situations. Mathern has already caused a stir with her fashion label Stilblüte, but most of her projects are more art than design, like the photos she's uploaded on her website or the interactive “lost sock project”.

The crux of it lies in the idea of “loss”, the artist wants to reintroduce objects that have been lost or abandoned to a new context. “Single socks are often tossed out. I want to introduce them into new surroundings”, says Mathern, who asks for sock losers to send in their single socks via her website. Mathern will collect them and plans to make one giant piece of clothing from the loot which will be a symbol for both solitude and togetherness. “Art should communicate in all sorts of ways”, says the artist. “It's the trivial things that tell the greatest stories.”

Mathern has posted pictures of all solitary socks on her blog. They range from old men's socks to glittery socks to polka dotted children's socks and total 60 so far. But that's not even close to enough, so if you don't know what to do with left over halves of your favorite pair, you can send them in until the end of the year.

(ms)