Do Ho Suh My Homes embroidered t-shirt

This pale blue t-shirt has been specially developed and created in close collaboration with the artist’s studio to celebrate The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House at Tate Modern, using embroidery techniques that invoke the look and feel of Suh’s ‘thread drawings’. As per the artist's request, each t-shirt has a random number of hanging threads of varying lengths, making each one subtly unique.

Do Ho Suh first developed his thread drawing technique at Dieu Donné, New York, later refining it at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Starting in the artist’s sketchbook, the drawings get enlarged onto dissolvable fabric before Suh and his team stitch them in thread. They’re then taken to a paper fabricator, where they’re lowered onto beds of freshly hand-moulded paper sheets via silkscreen panels. The dissolvable fabric vanishes as it touches the wet paper pulp, leaving the artist and his team to. embed the now loose threads into the paper by manually rubbing the surface, whilst rinsing more water. After the silkscreen is removed, Suh repositions the threads before they dry. Although he has to work quickly during the transfer process – which is complete within minutes – from sketch to embroidery, each thread drawing takes months to produce.

The way the t-shirt motif is made echoes the thread drawing process, using a detail from Do Ho Suh’s My Homes. The neon orange loose threads that hang from the design have the same movement and spontaneity as the thread drawings on paper, staying true to the intention of the original sketch. Around the walking house image, the names of three of Suh’s home cities – N.Y, Seoul and London – are embroidered, along with Do Ho Suh’s signature.

Size Guide

S: Half chest 49, length 69 cm

M: Half Chest 52, length 72 cm

L: Half Chest 55, length 74 cm

XL: Chest 58, length 76 cm

As the placement and length of loose threads is unique to each t-shirt, the one you purchase will not look exactly like the one pictured here - think of this image as a design baseline, to which loose thread elements are added. Made from 100% organic cotton, the t-shirt is an exceptional souvenir of the Do Ho Suh exhibition.

• Artist Do Ho Suh
• Exhibition The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House
• Dimensions See product description for size guide
• Material Organic cotton