What is yarn bombing ?

Whether you love balls of wool or not, have you ever heard about yarn bombing? Through this article, we will teach you a little more about this new trend that has appeared in the 21st century in the wonderful world of yarns and wools!

What is yarn bombing ?

Yarn bombing, is part of the street art movement. He takes over city streets by covering street furniture with works made from knitted or crocheted yarn. It is a true urban art that can be compared to the world of graffiti (drawing and painting). Thus, this art can be expressed on benches, buildings, stairs, bridges, but also on natural landscape elements such as tree trunks in gardens or sculptures present in public spaces. The main objectives of yarn bombing are to humanize and dress elements of the urban landscape and to provoke the reaction of passers-by. Indeed, nothing looks more like a bench than another bench! Yarn bombing therefore dresses up public places and furniture, making them less impersonal. Also, yarn bombing can be a great way to create social connections and meet people because these projects within cities are often initiated by associations and groups of residents.

But in fact, where does yarn bombing come from ? 

Yarn bombing was democratized at the beginning of our century, on the American continent. The emblematic figure of this new artistic movement is an American, Magda Sayeg, who had the idea to cover the door handle of her haberdashery in Houston (USA), one morning in 2005. The trend was exported much later in France. Thus, it was in Angers, in May 2012, on the occasion of the urban art festival Artaq, that the first large yarn bombing project was launched.

Some yarn bombing actions in France : 

• The city of Angers proposed to its inhabitants to contribute, by knitting, to a yarn bombing action in the city as part of the urban art festival Artaq in May 2012. On this occasion, Magda Sayeg covered the Confluences bridge with knitting.

•  In the city of Lille, in October 2013, as part of the ID Creatives Fair, a group of Lille volunteers from the Recyclage Textile 240 association took up the wonderful challenge of dressing the street furniture around Lille Grand Palais with knitting.
•  In April 2018, the teams and patients of the Sainte-Marthe follow-up care and rehabilitation hospital in Epernay in Marne initiated a yarn bombing project. Knitting workshops were organized once a week within the hospital. The objective was to create a collective work intended to dress two trees and a bench in the establishment's garden.
• Colorful knitting to decorate the town of Nort-sur-Erdre in Loire-Atlantique: this is the idea behind the yarn bombing project carried out by the Résidence du Bois fleur and town services such as the media library, the CCAS and Youth Activities. In 2022, they organized a collection of balls of wool, colorful knitted squares, and needles, to beautify the city's body of water.

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