Marine Puumala

I Have Lost My Marbles Marine Puumala’s MA graduate collection,I Have Lost My Marbles, examines the intricate intersections and societal links between creativity, the Western construct of womanhood, and mental health. With a title that nods to the idiomatic expression of perceived madness, the collection serves not as a literal interpretation, but as a poetic inquiry into the fragmented nature of reality and the emotional architecture and psychology of the creative process. Rooted in an intimate dialogue with the self, Puumala’s collection emerges from a desire to confront creative blocks and understand the emotional terrain that surrounds them. Her design process is marked by intentional disorientation: allowing instinct and curiosity to override logic. "My favourite thing is being immersed in making something with no predetermined end goal, just a play of perception and possibility, stepping back, and seeing something surprising that feels nonsensical in some way. Kind of like a narrative glitch." Utilising deadstock materials and existing garments, the designer combines intuitive crafting of sculptural elements, draping and dressing with deconstructing and distorting existing garments. "The doughnut shapes became a sort of psychological bumper and offered something other than the body to relate to and to dress.", Puumala explains. Trompe-l’oeil prints of deconstructed garments capture impossible drapes where the technical properties of different parts of the mockup couldn’t coexist functionally. As a designer, Puumala constructs a narrative that refuses resolution. Instead,I Have Lost My Marblesdwells in the liminal space where madness meets method, where the creative process mirrors the destabilising experience of questioning one’s perception of reality.