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63. The Art of Unfinishing

Matthew Syed explores the beautiful possibilities in leaving work unfinished. He assesses whether the incomplete can stimulate our imagination and create new meaning.

Jen Simonic and Masey Kaplan have bonded over a mutual love for knitting for decades.

In 2022, the pair of avid knitters decided to search for strangers to help finish an incomplete blanket their bereaved friend’s mother had started. It kickstarted a movement of β€˜finishers’ - people around the world who complete the half-knitted works left behind by others. Their concept challenges the idea that we are successful only when we finish what we start, an idea entrenched in our present culture.

Matthew Syed traces the psychological roots of valuing completion and explores alternative outlooks that subvert the merits of finishing. He hears remarkable stories that reveal beautiful possibilities in leaving creative work half-done and asks whether reappraising the unfinished can enable an imaginative process to unfold, connect people more deeply to one another and even ease grief.

With Loose Ends founders, Jen Simonic and Masey Kaplan, their friend Patty Gardner, artist and composer Jan Hendrickse and Nina Collins, daughter of filmmaker Kathleen Collins.

Featuring excerpts from Nafas ar Rahman, commissioned by the MUSARC Choir.

Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Rob Speight
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Fri 9 Aug 2024 16:30

Broadcasts

  • Wed 7 Aug 2024 09:00
  • Fri 9 Aug 2024 16:30

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