For the philosopher Vilém Flusser, design is not merely about shaping material but about revealing how it has the potential to take form. Through the process of 'in-forming' matter, raw substances become material things, underscoring the intrinsic relationship between matter and form. This notion of materialization finds resonance in Kato Six’s mode of working. Over the past 15 years, Kato Six has developed a diverse body of work, marked by recurring themes and an interconnected vocabulary of concepts. At the heart of Six’s practice is a great sensitivity to spatial context which shapes each project as a direct response to its surroundings. Her works are not merely placed within a space but actively engage with it, responding to its physical, historical, and social dimensions. Analysing each site’s unique characteristics enables her to introduce materials and forms that interact with their environment, letting compositions emerge organically. 
    This ongoing dialogue is reflected in five key concepts that define her evolving artistic language: Spatial Context, Materiality, Coincidence, Fragility, and Craftsmanship. Each concept illuminates a different aspect of her practice. Spatial Context shows how her works respond to both architectural and natural environments, adapting to their surroundings. Materiality focuses on the diverse range of substances she employs—industrial, organic, and synthetic—while emphasizing their inherent properties and interactions. Coincidence reveals the openness in her process, where unexpected outcomes shape the development of her work. Fragility underscores her fascination with materials that shift, degrade, or transform over time, embracing impermanence as an integral part of her practice. Lastly, Craftsmanship reflects her dedication to mastering techniques, bridging traditional and contemporary approaches through a hands-on, intuitive methodology. Kato Six’s practice is thus defined by a balance of technical precision and a keen sensitivity to material and spatial conditions, continuously evolving in response to each new setting. 

Spatial Context
For Kato Six, spatial context is not merely a backdrop but a decisive force shaping the conception and realization of her work. Each project begins with an exploration of the site—its physical characteristics, historical layers, and social context—which informs both material selection and formal composition. Moving beyond traditional notions of site-specificity, her approach creates a dynamic relationship between place and material, where the environment actively shapes the creative process. As Six notes: “The beginning of a new work or series of works often originates in a specific place. It’s always slightly different, but I think the spatial context is decisive, even if it’s just visiting the same place over and over again or walking down the same street and suddenly noticing something. It could also be the rhythm or the frequency with which ordinary, everyday things pass by, repeatedly."²  
    A recent project in the public space of De Pinte exemplifies this approach, where the region’s clay-rich soil and historical connection to brick production informed both the material choice and structural design. The installation, created in collaboration with VTI Brugge—a school specializing in construction techniques—features three freestanding brick structures that reference traditional masonry techniques for building arches. These brick elements are complemented by curved metal components, whose soft purple hue evokes associations with playground equipment. Yet, the work resists a singular interpretation. While the installation invites interaction and can function as seating, it also stands as an autonomous sculptural intervention. Positioned in the town square, it references the region’s industrial heritage while prompting public engagement and fresh perspectives on familiar materials. By merging permanence with subtle intervention, Six underscores the interplay among material, place, and audience.  
    This site-responsive practice aligns with broader contemporary discussions on place-making in art and architecture. As Miwon Kwon has observed, contemporary artists increasingly engage with place in dynamic and process-oriented ways, moving beyond static notions of location to emphasize relational and contextual frameworks.³ Six’s approach resonates with this evolving discourse, forging connections between space, material, and viewer while remaining open to reinterpretation over time. By embedding her works within specific environments and allowing spatial conditions to guide their development, she redefines the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, creating works that are inseparable from their site. 

Materiality
In Kato Six’s work, materiality is foundational, guiding both the aesthetic and structural elements while informing the conceptual underpinnings. As she explains, her approach is about “going along with material,” embracing the inherent properties and possibilities of each medium. This engagement unfolds as an ongoing exploration of contrasts—between the industrial and the organic, the rigid and the supple, the durable and the ephemeral. In recent years, textiles have taken centre stage in her work, marking a shift from harder materials like concrete and wood to softer, more pliable forms. These materials, however, are rarely used in isolation. Delicate fabrics are frequently paired with rigid metals, creating a tension that highlights her interest in material contrasts. 
    Her Carpet Beater Carpet series merges traditional domestic motifs with contemporary abstract patterns. Displayed hanging rather than laid flat, these hand-tufted carpets highlight the sculptural qualities of fabric. In doing so, Six bridges the familiar and the institutional, elevating everyday materials and motifs into a contemporary context. 
    Similarly, her recent textile works, shown at Fred & Ferry Gallery, explore the potential of quilted cotton. Evoking the comforting familiarity of a down blanket, the piece incorporates references to lace bobbin techniques (kantklossen), using stitched patterns that bring everyday craft motifs into a contemporary context. At the bottom, two pockets filled with soil add an organic, site-specific element, introducing weight and texture to the otherwise pliable surface. The combination of fabric and earth reflects Six’s sensitivity to materiality and temporality. 
    This sensitivity extends to her exploration of stampleem (rammed earth), an ecological alternative to concrete, composed of loam and sand. In a 2023 outdoor installation, she created a series of U-shaped forms from this material, suspending them from a metal frame reminiscent of a clothing rack. The forms, initially strong, gradually succumb to environmental forces, their disintegration over time underscoring the ephemeral nature of the material. This process of transformation—where the compacted earth returns to its natural state—highlights the piece’s inherent impermanence. 
    Across these varied materials, Six’s work reveals a consistent principle: the interplay between control and surrender. Materials are not merely shaped by her hand but actively shape the work in return.  

Craftmanship  
Craftsmanship is a central element of Kato Six’s practice, serving both as a method of exploration and a way to reinterpret and challenge traditional techniques. Sociologist Richard Sennett describes craftsmanship as “the special human condition of being engaged,” emphasizing the deep connection between skill, labour, and creativity.⁴ Six’s approach embodies this ethos, transforming manual labour into an ongoing process of discovery, memory, and transformation. 
    This dedication to craftsmanship is particularly evident in her project at the Begijnhof in Ghent, where she created a series of folded metal grids and stained-glass panels. The grids reference the labour of weaving, while the folds in the metal add a tactile quality, evoking softness and flexibility in an otherwise rigid material. These elements are paired with stained-glass panels, a nod to her father’s expertise in glassmaking, and adorned with patterns inspired by her mother’s textile knowledge. Together, the combination of glass and metal transforms traditional craft motifs into dynamic spatial compositions, bridging disciplines and paying homage to the generational transmission of skills that has shaped her methodology.     
    Similarly, through the painstaking act of drawing, Six translates familiar textile patterns into intricate visual compositions. Her Crochet Series and Striped Knitwear drawings meticulously replicate traditional stitch patterns, reflecting the labour-intensive process of repetitive mark-making. Each stitch-like form is rendered with precision, highlighting a dedication to craftsmanship and a meditative engagement with process. For Six, repetition is more than a formal exercise—it becomes a means of exploring the intersection of manual skill, time, and material representation. Through this lens, craftsmanship serves as both a method of production and a conceptual framework for examining tradition and innovation. 

Coincidence   
Walking has emerged as a pivotal part of Kato Six’s creative process, serving as a mode of exploration and discovery that informs each new project. Her involvement in the master studio Wandering introduced walking as a form of research, encouraging an open-ended approach to engaging with landscapes and uncovering their embedded narratives. 
During explorations of the Kalmthoutse Heide, Six encountered large, vividly coloured poles marking the landscape. These functional elements, used as measuring instruments or boundary markers, resonated with her interest in spatial interventions and site-specificity. Drawing inspiration from these observations, she developed her own series of poles, anchored in cylindrical bases made from stampleem (rammed earth). Painted in bold colours and patterns, they subtly intervene in their surroundings, referencing functional demarcation while offering a poetic response to a place. 
    For Six, spontaneous observations serve as starting points for new works, demonstrating her openness to chance. Through walking, she navigates the intersection of structure and spontaneity, translating incidental discoveries into integral elements of her artistic language. 

Fragility  
Fragility is a recurring theme in Kato Six’s work, evident in the ephemeral and transient nature of her chosen materials and processes. A seemly example is her Dust Cloud series—geometric patterns delicately applied to walls using fine dust particles, dispersed through the controlled force of a sanding machine. Created with the aid of stencils, these forms appear as faint, almost imperceptible traces that stick to the surface yet remain vulnerable to the slightest touch or blow of air. 
    These fragile compositions are often complemented by other sculptural elements in the space, such as geometric sculptures that interact with the dust patterns. The MDF panels she uses feature a distinct palette of purple, yellow, blue, red, and black, creating a visual tension between the material’s solidity and the fleeting nature of the dust. This interplay between presence and absence, visibility and impermanence, underscores the transient nature of the work, which is always on the edge of disappearance. 
    By embracing the inherent instability of materials, Six invites viewers to question conventional notions of permanence and control. The Dust Cloud works illustrate how materials exist in a constant state of transformation, poised between becoming and dissolution. 

Through these explorations, Six transcends traditional distinctions between craft and fine art, industrial and handmade, transient and permanent. Her work challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship with materials, revealing both their inherent strength and inevitable fragility. Across all her projects—whether responding to spatial context, materiality, coincidence, fragility or craftsmanship—Six’s practice emphasizes how form and material interact to shape the world that is perceived. 
    Flusser’s philosophy highlights that material is never neutral; it gains meaning through its encounter with form, becoming both visible and significant in the process. In Six’s work, this idea is extended and reimagined. Her ability to let materials assert their natural properties while guiding them toward new forms reflects a delicate balance between intention and chance. By navigating this intersection, her practice opens up possibilities for understanding material transformation—not as a fixed outcome but as an evolving interplay that shapes objects and the spaces they inhabit. Although each of these five concepts—Spatial Context, Materiality, Coincidence, Fragility, and Craftsmanship—helps elucidate a distinct facet of her practice, in reality they often intersect, ensuring that each work offers a layered, continually evolving interplay of site, material, and meaning. 



¹ Vilém Flusser, “Form and Material” in: Vilém Flusser, The Shape of Things. A Philosophy of Design (London: Reaktion Book, 1999) 26.
² Kato Six in conversation with Eva Wittocx, “Going Along with Material,” in Kato Six: Sawing a Plank Is Like Going for a Walk, Posture Editions, no. 48 (Gent: Posture Editions, 2022), 42.
³ Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity (MA, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004).
⁴ Richard Sennett,  The craftsman (London: Penguin, 2008): 20.