63. The Art of Unfinishing

Sideways

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 ‘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 BBC Radio 4