Why Having A Knitted Boyfriend Is Better Than An Actual Boyfriend

This piece, by artist Noortje de Keijzer, will brighten your whole day.

Dutch artist Noortje de Keijzer knitted a life-size man as part of her design school graduation.

noortjedekeijzer.nl

"I created Arthur because I felt like it was time for a man in my life," she told OPTIONS, a design shop in Amsterdam where the work was displayed last summer. "I could say that’s a joke, but it is partly true. I’ve always been interested in loneliness. I felt very lonely at times, and I’m sure everybody feels lonely from time to time. The strange part is that it seems like it’s an emotion nobody really talks about. As if it’s something to be ashamed of, a bad feeling that should always be avoided."

de Keijzer's mother and grandmother knitted the initial prototype.

noortjedekeijzer.nl

And knitwear designer Sarena Huizinga knitted subsequent versions on an industrial knitting machine: "Partly because of practical reasons," de Keijzer said, "and partly because I found it an exciting idea that a knitted man could just come out of a machine in one piece in a very short time, as if he was being born!"

She made this unbelievably delightful video.

vimeo.com

And she also put together a book full of reasons why having a knitted boyfriend rocks.

noortjedekeijzer.nl

noortjedekeijzer.nl

noortjedekeijzer.nl

noortjedekeijzer.nl

noortjedekeijzer.nl

noortjedekeijzer.nl

If you'd like to own a piece of this project, prints and postcards are available in de Keijzer's online shop, and to keep up with her work, check out her Facebook page.

A very grateful tip of the hat to Donna.