LAB O a laboratory for hand-woven canvas in Odemira Portugal by Helena Loermans.

The place where science, history, art and weaving come together. When we look at a painting in a museum, we are focused on the image, the colors, the composition, the technique used, the underlying thought, etc. But not really what is underneath. The painting canvas. The cloth that is hidden under the paint layer and is often supported by an extra cloth due to antiquity / wear, can only be seen through x-ray photography. LAB O analyzes these images and elaborates them into a binding drawing. To then weave this with a hand loom. That way you get a reconstruction of the canvas of that time. The 'invisible' becomes visible and tangible.

Rijk creative studio conceived the name LAB O and the logo design. LAB stands for laboratory, the 'O' for odemira.

Here shown a reconstruction of the canvas, used by 

Diego Velázquez's 'Saint John in the Wilderness'.