16 October 2025
Walk-in Closet is the graphic art project by Esra Westerburgen. She created the works during a 60-day residency at Make, where she arrived through an open call. Her “walk-in closet” full of prints made from and with clothing can be seen at the Make exhibition REMEMBER | RETAKE during Dutch Design Week.
Written by Pleuni van Keulen
Experimenting with materials, techniques and forms
Esra’s goal for her residency was to experiment with materials, techniques and forms. So she decided to let go of her original plan. Esra: “When I applied for the open call, I planned to make prints of seashells, which I would then print onto fabric. From that fabric, I wanted to sew suits. My background is in fashion, but I had never worked in a graphic workshop before.”
A shopper full of stuff
So on day 1, she brought a large shopper bag full of materials from her studio – a collection of fabrics, plastics and other materials with interesting textures. “I started screen printing and working with the etching press. At first, I used small pieces of fabric for relief printing. By rolling the fabric in ink and pressing it onto paper, you get something like a photocopy – it’s beautiful. It’s incredible how many details you can see. I work with something that already exists, but through colour, shape and how I place the material, something new emerges!” Esra says enthusiastically.
Fashion on paper
She continued to develop that technique. Esra: “At first I worked with more abstract forms, and later they became more recognisable, clothing or elements of clothing. I then manipulated them by adding plastic elements. The great thing is that fabric absorbs a lot of ink, which means you can create many prints with it. The plastic elements, on the other hand, eventually became clean from printing, leaving open areas that I would then fill in with another print – usually a stripe pattern. The fun part is that an old shirt becomes a chic sports top in this project, with something like a fur collar added to it. Sometimes it’s fashion on paper, sometimes more abstract.”
For REMEMBER | RETAKE, Esra selected mostly the clothing prints. Check out her Walk-in Closet at Make during DDW, from 18 to 26 October.
Photography: Heleen Anna Fotografie