On the free road. 2023. Vintage skateboard+Cotton+Acrylic. Sophie Inard.

SOPHIE INARD’S POWER IN THREAD

Sophie Inard’s power in thread. Crochet becomes rebellion, poetry, and quiet resistance. In fact, Sophie Inard doesn’t just soften objects, she rewires their aura. Although crochet is often dismissed as decorative, she transforms icons of power into emotional relics. Boxing gloves, skateboards, and luxury bags become strange, tender monuments. As a result, the domestic turns radical. Meanwhile, the absurd becomes intimate. Power, ultimately, loses its armor.

SOPHIE INARD: A UNIVERSE OF CONTRASTS

“My work revolves around contrast,” says Inard. She wraps objects charged with dominance, helmets, gloves, branded bags, in multicolored granny squares. Indeed, “There’s irony and poetry in this act.” A symbol of impact becomes soft, veiled, sometimes disarmed. Even though crochet is long associated with grandmothers and craft fairs, it becomes her weapon of choice. “It’s slow, feminine, underestimated. That’s why I use it.” At the same time, at the heart of her work lies a question: What do we protect, and why? “I like creating friction between the object and its new skin,” she explains. Therefore, her practice reveals while concealing, and elevates while disturbing.

SOPHIE INARD: SOURCES OF REBELLION

Sophie Inard draws inspiration from memory, absurdity, and quiet rebellion. “Red and blue carry so much weight,” she explains. Red is blood, love, danger. Blue is melancholy, distance, softness. Combined, they create emotional tension. She cites filmmakers and artists who destabilize norms: Buñuel, Kusturica, Vasconcelos, Maier. “I love when hierarchy collapses. When the powerful becomes absurd.” Crochet, for her, is not nostalgia, it’s subversion.

Reclaiming the icon. As a result, Sophie Inard wraps childhood and masculinity in soft armor. Meanwhile, between nostalgia and revolt, crochet becomes sculpture. Courtesy of Sophie Inard

SOPHIE INARD: A PROCESS WITHOUT SKETCHES

“I rarely sketch,” she says. It starts with the object: a relic from childhood or a symbol of masculinity. Then she begins to crochet, directly onto it or close enough for the yarn to cling like skin. Each loop becomes a gesture of reclaiming. A helmet loses its hardness. A skateboard becomes a memory, not a weapon. “The thread transforms into a second skin, intimate, protective.” Once wrapped, the object is staged. First alone, on a pedestal. Then in the hands of a model. “It becomes a relic. An absurd talisman.” Her images carry a surreal mood, tender, offbeat, slightly unsettling.

INVITING DISCOMFORT

What does Sophie Inard want viewers to feel? “Ideally: a smile, then surprise, then quiet discomfort.” Her work is full of paradoxes. “It’s playful but serious, soft but resistant, intimate yet collective.” As a result, she aims to create a tension that lingers. Not pain, but unease. “Like reality just shifted slightly.” Meanwhile, through her lens, status symbols lose their weight. “I want people to reconsider what impresses or intimidates them,” she says. In other words, a luxury bag, once loaded with value, becomes a soft echo. Ultimately, in her world, power has seams, and softness speaks louder.

Soft armor. Sophie Inard reimagines the boxing ring with yarn and tenderness. Wrapped in crochet, violence becomes relic. Finally, it’s power, unraveled. Courtesy of Hannah Inard

SOPHIE INARDFROM MEMORY TO MUSEUM

Her first piece emerged in 2020, during lockdown. Back in her childhood room, she found her old skateboard. “It reminded me of trying to fit in with the cool skater boys.” Wrapping it wasn’t about preservation, it was a soft, ironic reclaiming. From there, her universe grew. Gloves, helmets, high-status objects followed. Today, Sophie Inard exhibits internationally. Nine of her works are currently on view at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, as part of the Sport and Spectator exhibition (until July 27). Others can be seen on sophieinard.com, and in collaborations with galleries, museums, and fashion brands.

Did you enjoy Sophie Inard’s power in thread? Discover BENEDICT HAENER: RETHINKING VALUE IN JEWELRY

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Moulin is particularly drawn to artistic expressions that serve as bridges—linking cultures, fusing tradition with innovation. Sustainability, for her, is not a buzzword but a foundation. She sees it as a long-term commitment to thoughtful creation, not a passing aesthetic.

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Whether on set or in virtual space, Marie Loire seeks originality and depth. Her work is marked by richly layered references, a reverence for detail, and a belief that fashion—at its best—can speak not just to the eye, but to the mind.

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