Maison Margiela tells time
A hand-embroidered clock’s lack of kitschy ornamentation is its own allure
In the universe of empty snow globes, eggs stuffed with fortune messages, and notebooks that never really open—that is, the stranger world of Maison Margiela’s Ligne 13—it’s natural to be suspicious of a humble little clock. Though decidedly the more sensible piece in a family of eccentric objects, you’d still expect it to perform some trickery of sorts—say, for instance, its hands turning backwards when you’re not looking.
Maison Margiela, the French fashion house notorious for its iconoclasm, carries designs that range from quirky and trippy to downright disturbing. Here, the cotton sheet covers the clock’s many complicated mechanisms and the wood that forms its body. It’s more of a ghost clock than anything else—less like intricate machinery recording time’s relentless forward march and more like an unassuming corner decor hand-embroidered by your aunt. The piece can stand on a table or, if you prefer, hang on a white wall.