Damien Ajavon (they/them) is the ninth artist to take part in the Fund for Young Design artist-in-residency programme of the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen. As a resident in the Fashion and Textiles department, Ajavon immersed themself in the collection of the MK&G for six months to develop new works. The results of their residency will be presented from 29 May to 30 August 2026 in the solo exhibition Threads of becoming: shifting matter and form in translation at the museum. Ajavon explores in their works themes such as identity and the concepts of home and origin, along with the fluid transitions between them. In the process, Ajavon looks for connections between different cultures and textile practices as carriers of knowledge and memory.

For the project, they collaborated with craftspeople in Kenya to work with glass blowing and textile practices that are significant within the local communities. Using glass baskets, banana fibres, sisal and cotton, they created three-dimensional, versatile artworks that respond to the MK&G collection and shift the original contexts of use and material purposes to create a state of hybridity. For Ajavon, weaving represents a creative form of thinking and exchange: “Through these fibers, I approach textiles as living structures, holding tension between fragility and resilience, transparency and density, control and improvisation”, Ajavon explains.

In addition, Ajavon incorporated various objects from the MK&G collection: inspired by baskets, ceramics, metal and glass objects from the Swana, East Asian and European Decorative Arts and Sculpture collection departments, Ajavon explores how forms, techniques and material memories are passed down across cultures and generations.