About
“The city as we imagine it, the soft city of illusion, myth, aspiration, nightmare, is as real, maybe more real, than the hard city one can locate in maps and statistics, in monographs on urban sociology and demography and architecture”
-Jonathan Raban
The Soft City collective is a small craft collective that believes the city should be a cozy and comfy place. We recognize the mutually defining relationship between the cities we live in and our selves, therefore we have constructed a soft city as a way to soften the ways we interact, understand, and live with others. We use soft materials for our plush city, such as felt and fabric for buildings, and lino prints to create windows and doors. Some of our buildings are replicas of recognizable structures and some seem to come directly from the mind of Dr. Seuss.
This cityscape, consisting of uptown and downtown districts, industrial areas, parks and residential neighborhoods is zoned out on our custom bedspread, which is a network of criss-crossing streets and sidewalks. It is a little place where one can cuddle buildings and lie down for a nap.
Our Soft City appeals to the young and the young at heart. We are taking what is architectural and functional and making it whimsical and magical. Our miniature city rather than being a space that one navigates is a place that is created by its inhabitants. We are attempting to inspire the participants to not only view this soft city as a place to rest but also as a place they have the power to reconfigure and act as city planners.
We hope that those that interact with our mini-plush city will feel inspired to perhaps see the “real” city as a place that can also be accessible and playful.
xox,
Rose Bianchini
Sarah Couture-McPhail
Yvonne Ng
Catherine Stinson
Jason van Horne