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The Zurich artist Ursina Stoffel creates pictures from scraps of jeans. It all started by chance.
Ursina Stoffel is currently experiencing her blue miracle: The Zurich native with the stage name “El Stoff” recently exhibited her jeans collages in a gallery in Zurich. What originally began as a Corona project is turning out to be sustainable art that is generating interest.
Inspiration just before the garment bag
It all started when her son moved out in the middle of the Corona lockdown. While clearing out, the qualified dance and movement teacher found her son Sebastian’s old jeans.
Here is something that moves me, touches me and moves me forward.
“I almost had them in my clothes bag. That was the first time I saw this marbling. It looked like water.” Without further ado, Stoffel ventured out into the dark and began cutting away at her apartment in Zurich. She immediately felt: “There is something here that moves me, touches me and moves me forward.”
Artworks by «El Stoff»
The 61-year-old did not expect that her craft would attract so much interest: “I never thought it would work. I’m really happy.”
From old to new
However, as the number of works of art increased, the supply of denim jeans dwindled. Today, the artist regularly visits Brocken shops and second-hand shops and keeps an eye out for discarded textiles. The worn jeans fascinate them far more than new ones: every person who has worn a pair of jeans leaves their mark in the color and folds.
This passion, her creative skills and a bit of chance led to a successful first vernissage. Stoffel hopes that her blue miracle will last a long time: “I want to keep going. It’s exactly these moments in which I no longer think, but only work and be myself.”