Experimenta Design Lisboa
Softnews, a project by Studio Makkink and Bey, is a different way of recording and delivering news. Based on the tradition of Portugal's Lenços de Namorados (lover’s handkerchiefs) and working with the Down Syndrome community, specially-designed Softnews handkerchiefs are sewn with the text and images of news reports sent from all over the world. These handkerchiefs are sold as unique translations of history, whereby the news finds a new meaning and destination. News can also have more than one meaning. There are different sides to every story and the numerous people involved in communicating the facts can distort information to create new narratives. Words have more than one meaning, and it is often the translation of the storyteller or audience which makes information interesting.