Metamorphosis of Workwear: Chemnitz, Łódź, Gabrovo, Manchester, Tampere unite to Explore Europe’s Industrial Heritage
Metamorphosis of Workwear is an international project that brings together six European cities with rich industrial legacies – Chemnitz, Gabrovo, Łódź, Manchester, Mulhouse, and Tampere. Funded by the Creative Europe program, the project seeks to explore, reinterpret, and present the industrial past through art, culture, and community dialogue.



Between January and June 2025, three residencies in Chemnitz, Łódź, and Gabrovo will bring together three artists from each city to create designer pieces inspired by local industrial heritage and culture. Through visits to operating or abandoned factories, conversations with workers, experts, and residents, the artists will explore the evolution of the textile industry in these cities, weaving their discoveries into artistic expressions.
As a project partner, the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center plays a pivotal role in actively engaging the local community, collecting and preserving stories from Gabrovo’s industrial heritage, and inspiring new artistic interpretations. In collaboration with the Interactive Museum of Industry in Gabrovo, the center will spotlight the city’s history, industrial development, and the sustainability of its processes, solidifying Gabrovo’s reputation as the “Manchester of Bulgaria.”

The Textile Technical School, the building housing the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center, has been a cornerstone of Gabrovo’s textile production history, serving for decades as a generator of skilled professionals for the city’s factories. Within the project framework, we will trace the school’s history through personal stories shared by its students, teachers, neighbors, and enthusiasts to create an archive preserving these memories for future generations.
In late April, in a residency program we will welcome three artists who, over the course of a week, will work with the collected archive, expand it through new meetings and visits to the city’s still-operating textile factories, and intertwine these threads with their own creative interpretations to design contemporary workwear. The names of the participating artists will be announced soon—follow our social media channels for updates!