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Infinitely versatile, mesh can be any combination of connected strands made from the softest cotton to the strongest metal. The material’s chameleon qualities are what make it so attractive to creatives working across disciplines. Here’s how three designers and artists are stretching the humble utility fabric to new limits.

Exploring Inner Space 

The ethereal installations of Korean artist Do Ho Suh use transparent material to re-create his personal spaces, including a studio in Seoul and the New York City apartment where he once lived. These “hubs,” as Suh calls them, touch on the ever-changing nature of home and memory. For his ongoing Specimen Series, Suh builds everyday objects—radiator, stove, medicine cabinet—out of diaphanous fabric, playing with our perception of what is truly tangible. [Above: Passage by Do Ho Suh, courtesy Lehmann Maupin.]

Between the Outlines

When Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen were asked to design furniture for the Solo Houses—a collection of 12 structures set on 100 acres in the Matarraña region of Spain—they took inspiration from the setting. “We wanted to accentuate the openness of the place,” say the Ghent, Belgium–based designers, who crafted such pieces as a wall-mounted bookshelf out of delicate metal netting. “You can see through the objects, but still grasp the architecture. They don’t impose themselves on you, while they continue to be sculptural.” [Above: Wire C #1.]

On the Grid

Up-and-coming New York fashion duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta made a statement on the runway with sheer garments that are at once sophisticated and irreverent—completely reimagining the traditionally sporty material for spring. Through strategic layering and contrasting colored seams, the collection turned simple mesh into wispy works of art. [Above: Eckhaus Latta Spring 2018, Look 38.]

Shop the look:

Contrast Bra and Logan High-Cut Bikini, Mary Young, $43–$61 Moire Lamp by Marc Sarrazin, Petite Friture, $224 Mesh Metal Wastebasket, Amazon, $19.78  Fish Net Tubes, Union International Traders Uithoorn Mesh Bowl, MoMA Store, $48 Gold Tea Infuser, CB2, $5.95 Frankie Nylon Socks, Happy Socks, $22 Arkys Chair, Eumenes

This story originally appeared in the Winter 2017 issue with the headline Fine Lines.

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