Stitch
Client: City of Kitchener
Date: 2018
Designer: Two Smiths
Location: Grand River Hospital ION Stop
Materials: Forged light rail track, mild steel, pipe
Engineer: MTE
Scope of the Project: Design concept, manufacturing, construction and engineering drawings, forging, fabrication, assembly and installation.
Collaboration with John MacDonald Architect
Two Smiths partnered with John MacDonald Architects on this project. A giant sewing needle stitches through ripples of fabric. Water driven textile mills situated along the Grand River were a significant part of the industrial manufacturing history of Waterloo Region. The thread that is being pulled through the fabric breaks up into separate strands, each of which originates in a landscaped bed that’s been constructed in the shape of Waterloo Region. The separate threads are also meant to visually depict lines of communication, transportation and supply chains as well as streams of information in the digital age.
The Process
The needle and thread were forged and fabricated at Two Smiths. Blacksmiths Adrian Legge U.K. and Steiiff Tarhinovsky , QC worked with us for two days slitting and drifting the 4” diameter stainless steel eye of the needle.
