15/06/2026
A pocket is...
A pocket is probably the first private space a child owns that moves with them.
Not a drawer or a shelf or a cubby with their name on it. Those stay ... behind. A pocket goes where the child goes. It is the body's own room.
A pocket is a secret. It holds what the child decided to keep. A stone from the garden. A piece of string. Something broken that nobody else would want. The pocket doesn't judge what goes in...always holds...And only special people has access to the abysses of a children’s pocket.
A pocket is agency. The child chose this. The child carries this. Nobody put it there and nobody takes it out without asking.
A pocket is preparation. Something might be needed later. The child who fills a pocket before going out is already thinking ahead, already living in future time. That is a profound cognitive act dressed in a very small gesture.
A pocket is identity. What a child keeps in their pocket tells you more about who they are than almost anything else.
Each child designs and makes their own pocket. A real pocket that will be sewn onto real clothing they actually wear.
-What do we want to carry?
-Is the most important thing i own that has no place to live.
-Does your pocket need to be secret or visible?
-Does it need to open easily, stay shut?
Does it need to be deep, just wide?
Does it need to be on your chest, your hip, your sleeve,on?
- in my pocket i want to bring a snake but i will close very well... but i will be soo dangerous.
They are questions about how a child understands their own life and their own body moving through the world.
The child makes entirely:
Size. A pocket big enough for a stone is different from a pocket big enough for a folded drawing. The child measures against their own hand, their own objects.
Shape. The square pocket is the easiest to make. But what if they need a round one? What if they need one that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, like a jar?
Material. The same fabric as the clothing shininhg, invisible, integrated. Or a contrasting fabric : visible, declared. A pocket that announces itself versus a pocket that hides.
Closure. Open top = easy access, things might fall out. Button, secure, requires two hands. Velcro fast, makes a sound. A flap, without fastening or covered.
Position. This is the most interesting decision. Where on the body does this child feel they need to keep things? Near the heart? At the hip? On the arm? Each position says something about the relationship between the child and what they carry . Where is most dangerous? Hidden? Easy?
The making: many lads and offers of ply and cut and glue paper...without saying pocket but exploring some containers we can do.
Then the fabric. Cut by the child. Hemmed. Pinned. Sewn by hand as they are old enough for a needle, and had the concentration and the finz motor skils
The moment the pocket is sewn onto the clothing and the child puts something in it for the first time 👆🏽 that is the moment. Something made by their hands, on their body, holding something they chose.
What this connects to in the precedent broader project:
The self-portrait on transparent material, where is the body, where does it end, what does it contain..we are a container too in a certain way and we decide what to put inside,right?.
The question from the bee project, what do I carry, what do I bring back, what do I deposit.
The black ink project :what is inside and what is outside, what we hold and what we release.
The pocket is all of these questions made textile and worn.
One thing worth knowing:
The history of pockets is the history of who was allowed to carry things privately.
For centuries women's clothing had no pockets. What you could not carry privately you could not own privately. The pocket is a political object dressed as a practical one.
A child who makes their own pocket is making a small act of insisting that they have things worth keeping and a right to keep them.
Our companions were also Klimt, Delaunay, Khalo, Beuys, Hundertwasser ( the clothes one of our skins...) ok, this for another post.
Minime REI Creche and Preschool .
