Golden musical couture dress AU-2-MATERIA
From September, the spectacular musical couture dress AU-2-MATERIA by Maartje Dijkstra and Beorn Lebenstedt will be on display at Museum Speelklok. The dress is inspired by the majestic Clay clock, a masterpiece from the museum's collection.


Making process of the couture dress
The installation consists of a golden dress and a transparent over-dress. This controls a ribbon with a music composition by Beorn Lebenstedt. The ribbon moves around the dress like an organ book. A unique feature of Maartje’s work is that the fabric of the dress is printed by hand with a 3D pen, an innovative, labour-intensive and costly process.
Crowdfunding for the dress
In November, Maartje Dijkstra and Museum Speelklok jointly launched a crowdfunding campaign. This raised the amount to finance the last part of the development of the dress. Since then, they have been working hard to get the dress completely finished and working.
About Maartje Dijkstra
After an internship at fashion house Alexander McQueen and her graduation in Fashion Design at ArtEZ, Maartje founded her own label. New technologies are at the core of her creations. For the “Pracht in Dracht” exhibition, she created a futuristic design based on traditional regional costumes. This creation, called Braindrain, was also presented during last year’s King’s Day. Besides exhibitions and collaborations with artists such as Daan Roosegaarde, her couture attracted the attention of international artists such as Lady Gaga. Find out more about Maartje’s work via this link.
Photo: Eric Kampherbeek