Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology: March 2013

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

AA Rome Visiting School: Form As (Dynamic) Unknown

The study of dynamic forces and transformative powers is a current preoccupation of many professionals operating in different disciplines, including art, architecture and fashion. We live in a society immersed in the fast and faster rhythms of constant change and transition, so it is only natural for such a topic to capture our imagination.

Yet while it is almost too easy to imagine the power of transformative energies in fashion, it is somehow more difficult to think about dynamic solutions in architecture. Though the latter reflects the changes in our society, buildings are static structures that can not transform themselves. Or can they? This is the core question of a new Architectural Association (AA) Rome Visiting School workshop that will be taking place in Rome this May.

Entitled "Form as (Dynamic) Unknown" and directed by Lorenzo Vianello, architect at Foster + Partners, and Arturo Tedeschi, architect and independent researcher, the ten-day workshop will develop as an experimental laboratory exploring kinetic interactive structures. Current architectural studies – like researches into lamellar structures inspired by bones developed by a team including Vianello – have focused on transformative structures capable of growing, changing and almost developed a life of ther own.

The workshop participants will analyse new solutions, moving from design innovators including Leonardo Da Vinci, designing robotic systems inspired by nature and projects that adapt to environmental conditions and social behaviours at real and virtual levels that move from early researches such as the utopian servicing grid set to replace the entire built environment defined SuperSurface and theorised by SuperStudio, the Italian group founded in the late '60s that produced a series of films on acts aimed at the philosophical and anthropological re-building of architecture in a series of adaptable processes.

The workshop - held by the two directors with Lawrence Friesen, tutor at the AA, and Josef Musil, architect at Foster + Partners – will be structured into three main stages that include tutorials on digital parametric modelling with Grasshopper and robotics with Arduino board. Students will develop their projects, using analogue and digital techniques, experiments on physical models and develop their own interpretation of the complex and unpredictable future of architecture. Can architecture transform itself and will it be possible to develop active and dynamic structures that change with ourselves? Looks like we may be able to do so.

How was the previous AA Rome Visiting School workshop about Sergio Musmeci?
Lorenzo Vianello: What was really interesting in the previous workshop was that Sergio Musmeci was a contemporary example of how architecture can be designed. He broke away from the modernism of Le Corbusier that considered the plan as a "generator". Musmeci was an example for the students in terms of designing in 3D space where you deal with dynamic and active forces and also with the conditions of a specific context. The main difference between Musmeci's process and the students' modus operandi was that when he designed the Basento Bridge for example, he had to set up a large laboratory with staff working on scale models and that took a lot of effort and time, but now with the use of digital simulation for example the students could carry out similar projects with equal geometrical precision and in a shorter amount of time thanks to a computer and a software.

The main topic of this new workshop is very intriguing: we usually think about buildings - and therefore our urban environments - as static things, but we have seen a number of advanced projects that look at transformative architecture, buildings that change and morph or that grow by themselves: what inspired you the main theme of this session?
Lorenzo Vianello: In every period of time you have different needs for what regards space. The elevator was developed to allow human beings to move vertically and therefore occupy space in a very efficient way. Right now our society is changing, is in constant movement and therefore needs an adaptable space that changes and transforms everytime, that is why we have chosen to deal with this topic in the workshop.

Which contemporary architects are exploring and analysing in depth this theme at the moment?
Lorenzo Vianello: There are currently a lot of architects who have been studying this theme, we can mention for example Jean Nouvel with his Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, characterised by a façade that can transform when hit by a different setting of lights.

Do you feel that nature can inspire us in creating such transformative structures and shapes?
Lorenzo Vianello: We do not invent anything - that's granted - so we must get inspired by things that we see in nature because nature has a lot of beautiful and efficient elements and solutions and we, as designers, have the duty to create something that is functional and that also has an aesthetic relevance.

In which ways do you hope the workshop students will tackle new solutions in architecture and urbanism?
Lorenzo Vianello: Students will have to go beyond what they see in magazines and what is the actual contemporary architecture, but they will also have to go beyond experiments from previous architects such as Superstudio, in a nutshell, they will have to push the boundaries!

Pushing the boundaries was what Supertudio used to do, how can the SuperSurface theorised by this group help us developing a blueprint for an architectural organism rather than just a project for a building?
Lorenzo Vianello: The SuperSurface was a provocation, it was a project and not a real city that was supposed to get built. It was a city without buildings where people carried with them ideas and exchanged information. Nowadays we have cities with thousands, millions of data and we don't know what to do about them, this is exactly what the research behind the workshop is about - finding ways to open up and listen to all these information, in this way the city theorised by Superstudio can become something more realistic.

What fascinates you about contemporary architecture: the possibilities it can create or the new technologies involved?
Lorenzo Vianello: Contemporary architecture fascinates me because it is in constant change, and it's brilliant to have the chance to contribute to it and direct it towards new frontiers, also thanks to the visiting school lectures that allow the students to contribute to the international debate.

In which ways do you feel new tools such as the Arduino platform will help architects "programming" the future?
Lorenzo Vianello: We are dealing with complex architectures and Arduino and other digital tools can help us designing projects that take into account a lot of information, that deal with the environment and the society. The human brain can't take everything into account, that's why we need to partner with a computer to produce more complex design projects.

Can you tell us more about the digital tools that the workshop participants will be using in the course?
Lorenzo Vianello: The workshop is mainly about design so we are open to any digital tools, in particular we teach Grasshopper, at beginners and advanced level. This is the most popular and powerful parametric modelling tool at the moment. We are very interested also in exploring other functions for Grasshopper, we have also an add on called Goat with a bespoke function for our workshop. This component can give the computer an artificial intelligence, which means the computer can have a dialogue with a person and learn from the user and this learning is not just about physical but also psychological needs. Our workshop is the only one that will be using this bespoke function.

You're Italian, do you have a favourite Italian architect?
Lorenzo Vianello: My favourite Italian architect is Carlo Scarpa. I'm in love with his architecture for many reasons, all different. The main reason is his sensibility to materials: in contemporary architecture we often see beautiful renderings but in white plastic materials and this leaves us often unsure about the outcomes. I think we can not ignore the research that Carlo Sarpa did, and we will have to go back to it in a near future to create genuine avant-garde architectures.

AA Rome Visiting School: Form As (Dynamic) Unknown, Galleria di architettura "Come Se", via dei Bruzi 4, 00185 Rome, Italy, 8th-19th May 2013. For further information please contact the directors at the email address: [email protected]

Image credits:
Images 2 - 3 : 'Waving' by Gaetano De Francesco, Luigi Olivieri, Nicolay Loukianov and Giorgia Gerardi (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 4: 'Stitch Interpolated System' by Gabriele Menconi, Pietro Odaglia, Mattia Santi and Francesca Silvi (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 5: 'CUTenary' by Andrea Galli, Alessandra Lazzoni, Lorenzo Ruggero Maina and Corrado Marcellino (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 6: 'Synopsis' by Faisal Al Barazi, Michela Falcone, Myrto Grigori and Vittorio Paris (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 7: 'The Euler Mass' by Davide Lombardi, Gabriele Stancato and Rishabh Khurana (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 8: 'Magnetic Emergence' by Gabriela Lauria, Marco Rubio, Norbert Jundt and Vincenzo Caputo (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Image 9: 'Rome Sails' by Davide Aceto, Eugenio Aglietti, Luca Ciliani and Giuseppe Carbè (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Video 1: 'Magnetic Emergence' by Gabriela Lauria, Marco Rubio, Norbert Jundt and Vincenzo Caputo (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Video 2: 'The Euler Mass' by Davide Lombardi, Rishabh Khurana and Gabriele Stancato (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

Video 3: 'Stitch Interpolated System' by Gabriele Menconi, Pietro Odaglia, Mattia Santi and Francesca Silvi (AA Rome Visiting School 2012)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Irenebrination is a media partner of the AA Rome Visting School workshop

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Incorporating Luxury: Vintage Rubelli DIY Project

Rubelli fabrics have been widely featured on this site, but another fun post about them won't definitely hurt. This is another Rubelli DIY project, a follow up to my Four Seasons headdress and it moves once again from the small pile of interior design fabrics that inadvertently fell into my hands for free when a shop near my house cleared its stock.

The Rubelli fabrics you see in these pictures come from the "Tea Introduction" collection (circa 1991) and are inspired by Oriental motifs. I reused them to create two panels and decorate a basic sweatshirt in a fun way. So this time there are no intricate inspirations behind this DIY piece, but just a strong will to make something useful and unique, reducing waste - even though the samples of fabrics were quite small, unfortunately just a fraction of the original elaborately marvellous "Tea Introduction" scenes (some of them looked like proper paintings) - while spending very little and ending up at the same time with a casual design that incorporates luxury (connoisseurs know that Rubelli is one of the most important - and expensive - companies of interior design fabrics on a global level).

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

New Typography with a Punk Twist: Mint Designs A/W 13

Typography is a key inspiration in fashion especially when it comes to creating clear, refined and inventive lettering for graphic prints (but we also looked at the influence of typography in yarns in a previous post).

The history of fashion often registered the influence of modernist typography such as the Bauhaus', that mainly employed typefaces known as grotesque (a style known in Germany as Akzidenz Grotesk). In this case capital letters were often fitted into rectangles, while type material such as rules and bullets were used as ornament.

The dynamic typography of Russian Constructivist El Lissitzky, the innovator of photo-montage posters and one of the pioneers of the modern movement in design - inspired in his work by Suprematist painter Malevich - was a strong influence on modern typography and so was László Moholy-Nagy. The latter wrote in 1923 an article about "New Typography" stating that it was aimed at making texts visually clearer and more penetrating, while also leading to an entirely new typographic language.

Typography provided Mint Designs' Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi with some of the best inspirations for their Autumn/Winter 2013 collection recently showcased during Tokyo Fashion Week.

Dresses and coats were characterised by a letter motif with a punk edge in white/grey/black with shots of electric blue and green. These were definitely the best designs of the entire collection, that also featured a puzzle pieces print (maybe less original as already seen in fashion).

Interestingly enough, the asymmetries and the way the letterings appeared called to mind the cover design for Vorticist journal Blast (issue 1 by Wyndham Lewis, 1914), with its asymmetrical big bold capital letters across the page printed from wood letters in black on a cerise board, but also seemed to reflect the influence of the diagonal influence of Suprematism mixed with subversive punk graphisms.

Rather than being "purposeful", though, typography was employed in this case to achieve a merely decorative aim. Indeed, the more you look at the designs, the more Johannes Molzahn comes to your mind. The Bauhaus artist summed the aims of "New Typography" in an article entitled "Stop Reading! Look!".

Molzahn hinted in his article at the fact that new typography was supposed to make reading more like looking in an increasingly visually portrayed world and at a new way of reading - free, natural and universal. While not everything he may have stated in that feature can be applied to this collection, his motto - "Stop Reading! Look!" - perfectly fits it.

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Glamorous Fashion Puppets: FH Por Fause Haten Summer 2014

Puppets, marionettes and dolls have strong connections with fashion. Historians will tell you for example that in 1700s, fashion from France was exported to Venice via "la poupee de France", known in Venice as "la piavola de Franza", a doll officially dressed in the latest Parisian creations.

In March 1945, the Théâtre de la Mode event was showcased at the Louvre Museum. Organised by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and Entraide Française, this event was aimed at raising funds for charity, while showcasing the work of Parisian couturiers on wire mannequins posed on sets designed by famous artists.

The idea came from an old practice: sending dolls dressed in miniature versions of outfits to faraway buyers while saving money since organising a proper fashion show was too expensive.

An event similar to the Théâtre de la Mode took place in 1963 in Paris, organised this time by Gisèle d’Assailly, a descendant of Lafayette, and a journalist, who asked the most famous Parisian couturiers, jewellery designers, fur makers and hairdressers to come up with unique creations for a series of dolls later to be auctioned for charity.

In more recent years we have seen fashionable puppets and dolls becoming the protagonists of fashion events, such as "The House of Viktor & Rolf" exhibition, or more recently being employed by Academy of Art University student Maria Romero for her graduate collection. Yet marionettes disappeared from proper fashion runways for quite a while, at least until last week when Brazilian designer Fause Haten decided to bring them back.

One of Brazil's most internationally renowned fashion designers (but also a singer and costume designer), famous for working with unusual mixes of materials including plastic, lace, leather, mohair, and denim and for adopting a style infused with architectural references, Fause Haten is at the top of his game in his country when it comes to fashion presentations.

During Sao Paulo Fashion Week he introduced his Summer 2014 collection with a marionette catwalk: his glamorous 30 inches high puppets wore miniature versions of his designs, that were actually more haute couture than ready-to-wear. Bright summerish colours prevailed, and in some cases the dresses were covered with appliqued floral motifs or satin ribbons.

Each doll represented a glamorous model (Gisele Bündchen, Thana Kuhnen, Paola Ludtke, Stella Tennant, Aline Weber, Alicia Kuczman, Shalom Harlow, Kate Moss, Carol Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Kristen McMenamy, Karen Elson, Alek Wek, Natalia Vodianova, Amber Valletta, Linda Evangelista, Mariacarla Boscono, Naomi Campbell and actress Julianne Moore) and, at the end of the catwalk (very aptly closed by a marionette of Fause Haten himself), each puppet posed next to the real size dresses. The unique catwalk show received coverage by the media a bit all over the world and proved very emotional with the people who attended it.

Robert Ricci’s (son of Nina and head of the Chambre Syndicale) originally launched the Théâtre de la Mode event to inject new life into the moribund French fashion industry; Haten's act of dressing up puppets in his glamorous gowns suggested designers that it's maybe time to shake fashion a bit and bring back into catwalk shows the dreamy magic of childhood dreams or of grand marionette shows à la Carlo Colla.

Was your show somehow inspired by the 1945 exhibit Théâtre de la Mode?
Fause Haten: Not exactly, but I know about that exibition as I have this wonderful book that features it. My idea came from my desire to try new ways of showing a fashion collection. After doing shows for more than 20 years, you feel that the time has come to change this formula. When the fashion shows first started they were about women going to an atelier to choose dresses. Today it's not just about that and this is why at my atelier we always try to think about new ways to present the designs.

Can you remind us of another unusual fashion presentation you did in the past?
Fause Haten: For the S/S 2011-2012 I did a show where all the models wore a mask over their eyes as if they were sleeping and we had a completly different way to walk, and a dreamy and emotional atmosphere immersed in silence. I used to work with stylists, show directors, lighting and soundtrack designers on my shows, but I created my latest show all by myself, working day by day, finding new ways to direct it, working on the soundtrack and designing the lights as well.

Who made the puppets, an artisan?
Fause Haten: Yes, it was a combination of two disciplines, puppetry and sculpture and of two artists, Guilherme Pires and Virgilio Zago, specialised in marionettes and animation.

Can you introduce us the new collection - what inspired it and what's the main theme behind it?
Fause Haten: The collection is entitled "O Maravilhoso Mundo do Dr. F" - The Wonderful World of Dr. F. But I'm leaving it at that as I want everyone to see in it a different theme or inspiration. My collection now belongs to the audience who will have to decode it.

In a way, in our world going through constant financial crises it seemed a very clever solution to have puppets rather than models at your show. Could your presentation be considered also as a commentary about the costs of fashion?
Fause Haten: SPFW had a calendar change last year and because of that we did 3 shows in 2012. We spent a lot of money on these presentations and I didn't have too much to invest this season. But that was not the idea. For me the idea of the show was to have an innovative presentation for my collection. You see, in the past the designer used to be more present on the runway, but then, little by little designers disappeared for one reason or the other in favour of the brand - think about houses such as Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, and then more recently Jil Sander, McQueen, Galliano or Tom Ford. The time has finally come to rethink catwalk show presentations.

What kind of feedback did you get after this show?
Fause Haten: I did regular catwalk shows in New York in 2000 and 2001 and then in Milan in 2002 and 2003, but I never got the international coverage I got with this show. It was very special to get people coming to me after the presentation and see how many of them were emotional and some were even crying. I think that even in an industry that became very corporative like fashion, we still need emotion.

How do you reconcile your role as fashion designer with your other careers? And have you been working on any new cotumes recently?
Fause Haten: Fashion is part of my work as an artist. I'm also an actor, singer and costume designer for the theatre. I just did the costumes for shows and musicals in Brazil including The Wizard of Oz and Hello, Dolly! and I'm now working on Romeo and Juliet and The Drowsy Chaperone.

The 1945 Théâtre de la Mode travelled all over the world, would you like to see your puppets embarking on a very fashionable journey as well?
Fause Haten: Yes, I'd love to. I would like to contact fashion museums and send them further information about this collection. It would be great to see the puppets travelling all around the world!

All images and videos courtesy of Fause Haten

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Embroidering a Historically Inaccurate World: Spotlight on Richard Saja

Throughout history textiles have been used by different populations to tell stories relating to a specific landscape, heritage or cultural identity. We live in a globalised world and in a multi-cultural society, but contemporary textiles are still being used to tell stories, quite often in refreshingly unique ways.

The founder of Historically Inaccurate, artist Richard Saja employs for example the traditional toile de jouy - literally "cloth from the town of Jouy-en-Josas" or alternatively "cloth of joy" - as if it were a colouring book.

Saja takes traditional toile fabrics with their decorative patterns depicting detailed pastoral and historical scenes in black, red or green against a white background, and embroiders in brightly coloured or even glow in the dark thread details that enhance or dramatically alter the quietness and normality of the traditional toile.

Saja's "neo toile" pieces with a punk twist are genuinely to be filed under the category "cloth of joy" as they are populated by colourful Gods clad in blue robes discovering electricity, red nose clowns, freakish sideshow characters, ladies with punk mohawks, or bizarre wolf-men reminiscent of Victorian circus acts à la Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy.

The artist, who also collaborated with popular fashion brands such as Opening Ceremony/Keds creating exquisite miniature embroideries on sneakers, has also got a passion for digital images and last year created a series of limited cotton throws with prints of patterns generated from digital noise.

The name of your company, Historically Inaccurate, perfectly describes those little "short circuits" or "time glitches" you give to the classic toile with your embroideries - how did you pick that name?
Richard Saja: When I began working with textiles in the late '90s, after just having been laid off from an advertising job, I was partnering with a dear friend under a different name and a business consultant suggested we brand ourselves right out of the gate. I came up with "Historically Inaccurate Decorative Arts" as our tag line and, when my partner and I parted ways, adopted that tag line as the name of my new company. It turns out my advertising training served me well: I used to watch people read the name on a sign when I was doing trade shows and, almost always, confusion would become understanding which would then become delight.

What prompted you to become an artist, do you come from a creative family?
Richard Saja: I do. Distant relatives of mine owned a chain of furniture stores in Italy in the 19th century being excellent wood carvers and a descendant of theirs, a dear, dear dowager aunt who I referred to as "The Lady", worked as a designer's assistant for nearly fifty years here in NYC. A fashion designer would provide a sketch and she would return a few days later with the fully realized garment, overseeing the drafting, cutting, draping and construction departments. I don't know whether it's nature, nurture or neither but I've been intensely creative from a very young age - it just took a bit of time to find my métier and The Lady supported me every step of the way and allowed my talent to flourish through her love and support.

What fascinates you about textiles in general and toile in particular?
Richard Saja: My enduring love and fascination for textiles derives from the absolutely unlimited interplay of pattern, color and texture - there is no other medium where this trinity is so fully realized. Toile, though, is a slightly different matter: the most successful representational toile, although dense with imagery, is meant to disappear and function as pattern where no single element stands out more than any other through the integration and repetition of the imagery it is composed of. By only focusing on single motifs to be embellished, my work breaks this pattern and functions as an inversion. With an economy of means, a whole new context is created.

In the last few years some interior design companies and fashion houses tried to reinvent the toile, updating it with urban scenes - from Timorous Beasties to Sibling, from Sheila Bridges' "Harlem Toile de Jouy" to Mike D of the Beastie Boys with his Brooklyn-themed toile wallpaper. In your opinion, what is it that attracts us to this fabric nowadays, the potential it offers us to tell stories?
Richard Saja: I think that toile is something of a tabula rasa, pages from a coloring book begging for embellishment of any kind. There IS a story there, it just needs to be drawn out and that's essentially the function of my embroidery. When I was designing my SIDESHOW! toile though, I deliberately inverted the way I usually work by creating visual narratives within the print so that I now only enhance through embroidery what is already stated through the positions of the characters. The embroidery is purely embellishment rather than context-changing.

Which is your favourite colour when it comes to threads or do you have a special thread that you particularly like to work with?
Richard Saja: This is an easy one: DMC's glow in the dark floss became my instant favorite the moment it was introduced a few years ago. I frequently use it in pieces combined with other colors so that when the lights go out there's a built-in surprise evident.

Your embroideries have a tremendously fun and irreverent punk edge: would you ever do a proper collection or garments and accessories?
Richard Saja: I've made a pretty conscious decision to stay away from clothing and accessories for the most part because of their perceived value and overall disposability these days. That being said, I have accepted offers of collaboration from a few houses I feel are worthy of the time and effort that I put into my work. I take on projects based on my interest in them and some of these collaborations have yielded great results for me.

You have worked for larger brands including Opening Ceremony/Keds, Christian Lacroix, and Hello Kitty, did you find it limiting or was it refreshing and which collaboration was more challenging?
Richard Saja: I'll only take on a collaboration I feel I'm well suited to and which will be beneficial to all parties involved. I'm frequently approached by companies wanting something very specific who wish to hire me in order to realize their in-house concept but that kind of work is dull and uninteresting to me - I'm an artist, not a craftsman. Somewhere, there's a convent full of very talented, blind and arthritic nuns who desperately need the work, but I don't. As far as past projects go, I found that working in miniature for my Opening Ceremony/Keds collaboration on camp oxford sneakers was incredibly challenging to me, but resulted in some lovely and gentle haiku-versions of some of my more epic embroideries. As a result, I now incorporate tiny, micro-elements into my work to great effect.

There is a lot of talk at the moment about smart textiles and fabrics made using advanced processes such as nanotechnologies, how do you feel about them?
Richard Saja: I think it will be a while before all the kinks have been ironed-out and the myriad of novelties have worn off where we come to a place where they're actually viable in high design - that or we're in for a very ugly future, which is the more probable direction things are going in. Still, anything that reintroduces colors to the masses can't be ALL that bad, can it? At the moment, I'm exploring pushing the limits and capabilities of machine-woven, tapestry-weight textiles and I'm excited to begin exploring sites like CONSTRVCT for digital prints on demand. I see technology essentially as a challenge to be used in unconventional ways.

Which artists or designers inspire you?
Richard Saja: I have great respect for Piero Fornasetti and can only hope to approach his effortless wit and elegance.

Where are you based and are there any museums in the States or in Europe where we can admire your work? Richard Saja: I live in a brick storybook-style row house in Jackson Heights, Queens. I currently have a piece up at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in a show entitled The New Blue & White. You can't miss it - it's right next to the two Rodarte pieces. The Philadelphia Museum of Art also just acquired 3 yards of my SIDESHOW! toile with one motif embroidered in the middle. Their collection of toile is incredible and I'm honored to have my work included in it. I also always have work up on the wall in Philadelphia at the gallery which represents me, Snyderman-Works.

What plans do you have for the future? Any exhibitions on the lookout or any special projects/collaborations?
Richard Saja: I'm currently working on two new toile patterns of my own, each very different from the other. The first I'm calling 1980 toile because it depicts a time in fashion which is very nostalgic to me: all tubes socks, gym shorts and feathered hair androgyny. The other print is based on German and Austrian Rococo engravings collaged together to come up with something quite a bit different. I've also just been offered a 2 person show exploring themes related to the Ottoman Empire and, more specifically The Crimean War that I'm very excited about. And finally, I was awarded a grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation last year and I'm just wrapping up a larger scale, multi-media, installation piece which is a bit of a departure from my regular work but it's turning out to be marvelous. I update my blog regularly as the work is finished, so stop by, it's a very exciting time in my career!

All images courtesy of Richard Saja

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The Future Projects Light, The Past Only Clouds: Eileen Gray @ The Centre Pompidou, Paris

Roughly four years ago during the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé auction at Christie's, a round shaped brown leather armchair with a stylised lacquered wood frame and armrests modelled in the shape of two serpentine dragons was sold for a record sum - €21,905,000 ($28 million).

The armchair was a unique modernist masterpiece, dating between 1917 and 1919, also known as the "Dragon Chair" (View this photo) designed by Eileen Gray. Yet the fact that her iconic armchair had belonged to Yves Saint Laurent's collection wasn't the only link she had with fashion.

"Eileen Gray", a retrospective exhibition at the Centre Pompidou (significantly the first French retrospective) celebrates the Irish born designer through pieces of furniture, rugs, photographs and scale models.

Each item is rare and unique since she never left behind an industrial production, even though her masterpiece remains the house E 1027, built in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin between 1926 and 1929 and designed with Romanian archiect Jean Badovici.

Born in 1879, Gray lived in a world dominated by men; a painter by training and an autodidact in other areas, she first studied drawing and painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

Fascinated by the art of lacquerwork, she trained with an artisan and restorer in the Soho district, but soon moved to Paris where she perfected her skills with lacquerwork craftsman Seizo Sugawara.

Gray collaborated with him for over twenty years, experimenting with new methods of applying pigments and creating blue lacquers, a colour previously unseen in that material.

Together they created iconic designs such as "The Magician of the Night", the "Siren" armchair and pieces commissioned by renowned fashion designer Jacques Doucet (who used to dress Sarah Bernhardt) and Mme Mathieu Lévy, milliner of the boutique J. Suzanne Talbot.

Doucet purchased Gray's four panel red lacquer screen called "Le Destin", decorated on one side with the figures of three men, and on the other with silver and gold forms (the only piece signed and dated by the designer), and also commissioned her various pieces including the "Chariot", "Bilboquet" and "Lotus" tables.

In the meantime, apart from the lacquer workshop with Sugawara, she opened a second workshop devoted to tapestry weaving, an art she had learnt with her friend Evelyn Wyld in the wilds of the Moroccan Atlas.

Lacquered panels and tapestries became her new media of choice, but rug weaving also turned into a sort of tool for her research into abstraction.

Gray, who favoured Poiret coats and hats by Lanvin, was featured on British Vogue in 1917.

Five years later, she opened the Galerie Jean Désert, catering to a clientele of fashion designers, women of letters and artists, including Elsa Schiaparelli, nightclub singer Marie-Louise Damien also known as Damia, Romaine Brooks and Loïe Fuller.

Litte by little she added to her favourite materials chromed tubular metal glass, cork and rhodoid and surrounded herself with the most talented artisans including Kichizo Inagaki, cabinet maker and plinth maker to Rodin; Abel Motté, editor of the furniture of Francis Jourdain and textile desiger Hélène Henry.

The lacquer furniture Gray made (all by herself - legend goes that she spent two years crafting the "Dragon Chair") between 1913 and 1922 is usually filed under Art Deco.

But, by 1925, she had moved onto modernism, designing for example the Bibendum leather armchair that recalls in its shape the Michelin Man.

Her gallery closed in 1930, but four years earlier she had already started working on the E 1027 home with Jean Badovici, creator of the avant-garde magazine L'Architecture Vivante.

The seaside villa had an emblematic name, E stands for Eileen, 10 for the J in Jean (the 10th letter of the alphabet), 2 for Badovici and 7 for Gray.

The villa was built with a minimalist aim and a vertical axis (the spiral staircase) intersecating with horizontal planes (the two levels of the villa crowned by the rooftop terrace), but the most notable features remain the expandable furniture (such as her telescoping glass and chrome table), walls and partitions that seemed to accompany the movement of the body.

In 1931 she independently designed her own house, Tempe a Pailla (a Mentonasc proverb meaning "time for yawning"): here she managed to realise a joint relationship between architecture and furniture, creating a series of multi-purpose prototype furniture, a mobile pant-rack, a seat-stepladder-towel-rack, a retractable bench, and an extendable wardrobe.

She also restored a country house south of Saint-Tropez - Lou Pérou - her last summer refuge, a sober site, characterised by simplicity of volumes and basic architecture with interior and exterior spaces intermingling with each other.

Between 1967 and 1975 she put together a porftofolio of her works that included black and white photographs, sketches, architectural plans, and finished projects that she never built.

The best thing about the Centre Pompidou retrospective is the fact that it analyses all her skills as lacquer artist, decorator, textile designer, architect, photographer and painter, examining through the objects showcased inspirations such as imagism and vorticism (the former helped her infusing in her pieces ideogrammatic forms; the latter allowed her to inject into her designs dynamic energy of lines).

An independent and determined woman in search of freedom, admired by Le Corbusier and Jean Prouvé, as the curator of the exhibition Cloé Pitiot remembers in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue Gray encouraged artists not to neglect any means of expression, to be simple and healthy and understand the meaning of each thing. In our times Gray's lesson could be summarised with her statement "the future projects light, the past only clouds", highlighting her dislike for dwelling in the past and her will to constantly project herself into the future.

Eileen Gray, Galerie 2 - Centre Pompidou, Paris, until 20th May 2013

Image credits:

Berenice Abbott, Portrait of Eileen Gray, Paris, 1926. Photo: Berenice Abbott / Commerce Graphics

Chariot Table, circa 1915 / © Photo : Vallois-Paris-Arnaud Carpentier

Cabinet with swivel drawers, 1926-1929 Furniture from the villa E 1027 © Centre Pompidou / photo: Jean-Claude Planchet © DR

Bibendum armchair, circa 1930. Photo: Christian Baraja, Studio SLB

Villa E 1027, Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici L’Architecture vivante, n° spécial, Paris, Éd. Albert Morancé, automne-hiver 1929

Villa E 1027, Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici. Photo: Alan Irvine

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

New Papal Wardrobes: And Humility Redefined Vatican Wealth

New Pope, New Style, we may say, using a rather superficial fashion language. But how will the Church and the Vatican change with the arrival of Pope Francis? Irenebrination asked Paolo Serpone from historical Neapolitan company Serpone, producer of the sacred vestments for the Papal Sacristy.

In Leonardo Sciascia's Candido: or a A Dream Dreamed in Sicily the prelate identifies his long for wealth with his wish to enter the church: "I desired wealth so much that even my wishing to become a priest came from that desire: the wealth of the Church, the wealth of the churches; the marbles, the fine stuccowork, the gilt, the embossed silver, the damasks." In the history of art, literature, film and even fashion, the Catholic Church has been inextricably linked with visions of splendour and magnificence. Many will remember Federico Fellini's grotesque ecclesiastical catwalk show in his Roma that bizarrelly seemed to anticipate some of the most solemn celebrations seen at the Vatican. Yet things may be changing soon thanks to the newly elected Pope Francis.

Known prior to the election as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, the Argentinian Jesuit elected 266th pontiff of the Catholic Church to succeed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who announced his resignation in February has brought winds of change and a will to break with the traditional papal iconography since he emerged from behind the red curtains of the central balcony of St Peter's after the "Habemus Papam (We have a pope)" formula was pronounced.

In that occasion he opted to wear the traditional white cassock and zucchetto and a simple pectoral cross, refusing more noticeable features including the gold cross and the red velvet mozzetta trimmed with fur.

Humility is not only in the gestures but also in the way a pontiff dresses to celebrate the mass, and Paolo Serpone knows this very well.

His family is behind Serpone, the historical company based in Naples that has been producing liturgical garments since 1820 and that has been making vestments for the Papal Sacristy for years, producing thousands of pieces for the most important anniversaries and for some of the latest events including 200 chasubles for the conclave, all of them characterised by sobriety and simplicity.

Humility and a humble style are definitely set to define an entirely new course at the Vatican. During inauguration mass the Pope called for the Church to serve its flock and not be afraid of tenderness and kindness, embracing the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest and the least important, as St Francis of Assisi taught. As minimalism knocks at the Vatican doors, it looks like all the Autumn/Winter 2013 fashion collections inspired by the the pomp, splendour and wealth of the church from Dolce & Gabbana to Alexander McQueen may already be out of fashion.

What is the main difference between Pope Francis's choice of vestments and Benedict XVI?
Paolo Serpone: Benedict XVI was a conservative Pope, so he did not inspire a new liturgical line but followed the tradition, also using very important vestments donned by previous popes, wearing absolutely marvellous pieces that are at museum level and that represent part of our artistic heritage. This Pope is essentially a minimalist in direct contrast with his predecessor since he wants to go back to a simple, Franciscan liturgy, this is the main reason why the media are also showing so much interest in his style. He is a Jesuit and the name he chose directly links him with messages such as helping the poor and protecting the planet, God's creation. Pope Francis has put at the centre of his mission these themes and therefore he wants absolute simplicity in the liturgy.

In which way has Pope Francis surprised people so far?
Paolo Serpone: He didn't want to wear the traditional Fisherman's Ring in gold, but opted for a gold-plated version made in silver. In the same way he preferred to wear a simple metal cross rather than a gold one and didn't want to wear the short red velvet shoulder cape trimmed with white ermine. He also opted to wear the Papal stole, symbol of St Peter's reign on earth, only for the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing after he greeted the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square to celebrate his election. So this Pope has completely broken not only the religious and spiritual lines but also the liturgical line, the tradition. At my family's company we have been making sacred furniture and vestments for over a century and we have a long tradition, competence and culture. We see these garments and objects employed during sacred rites as liturgical pieces charged with a special spirituality, but this Pope is inspiring a completely new liturgical line based on humility and simplicity.

What do you think the future of Pope Francis' Papacy will be like also style-wise?
Paolo Serpone: It will be based on a very essential liturgy that aims at bringing the word of God to ordinary and humble people. In certain countries such as the Pope's native Argentina, the Roman Catholic Church is perceived as something strongly linked with wealthy families and very much interested in the pomp and the circumstance, so as something distant from the poorer classes. This Pope is switching back the attention to the poor reminding us that the church is universal and that Jesus loved everybody especially the poor, those who are often forgotten or abandoned by society. This is the core of the message of the Pope - why do we need the magnificence and the riches? Let's give everybody the chance to have the same possibilities since it is simply anachronistic and crazy to think that only 1% of the world population holds the global wealth and the rest dies of hunger and lives in disadvantaged conditions - the economy is in constant global crisis also for this reason. And this also ties in with messages we received in the past from other figures such as Mother Teresa who highlighted in her Nobel Prize speech how the poverty of the West - the poverty of people who have material things but can't smile to each other and can't love each other - is so much difficult to remove that poverty in disadvantaged countries. Another key message to unlock the new liturgy is eco-sustainability since we have exploited the resources of the planet in a reckless way and we can't go on like this for a long time. So we will see a return to the roots and a focus on real meanings. Translated into garments, we will therefore see very simple yet beautiful liturgical lines, the humble beauty of St Francis and the humble beauty of nature, embodied by simple - and not expensive - vestments that will hint at the grace of God and at spirituality.

Does your company also design the fabrics employed for the vestments?
Paolo Serpone: We design the fabrics, the vestments and the liturgical objects and we produce some of the fabrics, even though we do not have the facilities to produce a lot of metres of fabric. The people who work with us are extremely skilled artisans and they do this job with a lot of passion and devotion since, as you may guess, this is not an ordinary job at all.

Is there a piece among the ones your company made that you particularly remember because it was donned by a Pope in a very special occasion and because it was charged with a special symbolic meaning?
Paolo Serpone: The 5,000 stoles and the hand-embroidered stole we made for Pope John Paul II's 50th sacerdotal anniversary. He commissioned the pieces to us and then chose the drawing we showed him representing the icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa to whom he was very devoted. After some priests who had been the primary targets of persecution in Communist Poland told their stories, Pope John Paul II kissed their hands and put the stole on them, a very symbolic gesture since it's usually somebody else who puts the stole on the Pope's shoulders and not the other way round.

Which are the most important garments your company produced so far for the Papal Sacristy?
Paolo Serpone: Being a historical company, we made garments and vestments for many liturgical celebrations for quite a long time. We made for example 5,000 stoles for the 50th anniversary of Pope John-Paul II's Priestly Ordination; the vestments for the 60th sacerdotal anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI, for all the cardinals' consistories and for the Synod of Bishops in 2010. We also made the vestments for the year of the faith that began in October 2012; for Pope Benedict XVI's last mass celebrated on Ash Wednesday and for the mass in Coena Domini. More recently we produced the vestments for the Holy Mass "Pro Eligendo Pontifice" and we also gave the bookrest for the conclave mass, a very antique and beautiful French piece from the 1800s that we restored.

What kind of objects do you usually restore?
Paolo Serpone: We produce and restore sacred furniture, but also pieces from museums or historical mansions mainly based in Italy. In our team there are architects and restorers who take care of these jobs. We have for example redecorated the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of Caserta and restored the tapestries and the furniture of the ballroom of the Palace of Capodimonte in Naples and the furniture and paintings in the House of Savoy Chapel in Rome.

Image credits:

Images 4 to 9 show a series of religious garments and objects restored by Serpone. All images courtesy of Serpone, Naples, Italy

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Yet things may be changing soon thanks to the newly elected Pope Francis.

Posted at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Architectural Semantics of a Kaleidoscope: Xavier Brisoux's A/W 2013

Widely considered as an architectural landmark in São Paulo, the Centro de Lazer Fábrica da Pompéia (Pompéia Factory Leisure Centre), better known as SESC Pompéia, and designed by Lina Bo Bardi, boasts among its most striking features eight aerial walkways that connect the concrete towers.

When the modernist structure was finished some critics talked about the sets for Fritz Lang's Metropolis, with their spectacular bulky towers connected by crossways. Solid yet suspended in space, brutal yet ethereal, the walkways integrated in the SESC Pompéia building seem to break with tradition, reaching out into space while connecting at the same time.

People who know well their architecture syllabus will easily read in the patterns that characterise Xavier Brisoux's A/W 13 men and womenwear collections echoes of modernist architecture and of a will to break with convention and reach out to the future.

Entitled "Kaleidoscope", the collection moves from classic stripes, a motif that ruled supreme throughout the history of fashion, but reinterprets them in an unusual way. Stripes reminiscent of the concrete crossways at the SESC Pompéia are filtered through a kaleidoscope and are therefore fractured and refracted, appearing in asymmetrical formations on menswear cashmere tops, forming geometric shapes on the back of a rich red women's sweater, or being employed as decorative motifs on a hat, around the neckline or the shoulder area.

Though indirectly and maybe accidentally, Brisoux touched upon an extremely modern theme, currently being explored in disciplines as wide as art, architecture and science – transformation and mutability. Just like an image forms a micro universe in constant evolution inside a kaleidoscope, Brisoux's patterns hint at the transformative power of knitwear, endowed in this collection with a new sense of dynamism.

Kaleidoscopes fascinate both children and grown ups: the former love their magic colours and fractured images; the latter see them more in conjunction with geometry. Which aspect of this inspiration fascinates you the most - the playful or the geometrical?
Xavier Brisoux: Am I allowed to say both? I have to admit that a kaleidoscope is fascinating because a world (or shall I say "lots of worlds"?) which keeps changing and moving exists and flows without any possibilities to recreate it once it has evolved. It's unlimited, and I think that's what children - and I - love about them. That's what inspired my process this season. Of course it transformed into geometry, because I chose not to focus on colourful contrasts but rather on almost unperceivable ones. Geometry has a reassuring aspect that helped in this puzzling theme.

In some cases the stripes entirely cover a jumper, in others you get mirror-like elements only around the shoulder area or on the back, which were the trickiest kaleidoscopic effects to replicate on your designs in terms of construction?
Xavier Brisoux: All the knits of the collection have something intricate about them to get the stripes as they are, but I have to admit that menswear is easier in a way, because it is mostly about creating an interesting collar shape with the technique, or working with details. So most (but not all) menswear references remain basic in construction and have a lot of technical research on a particular detail. While womenswear pieces are all about the construction, how the knit moves around the body. It is in a way more difficult but I feel I have total freedom in this case. If we talk about replicating one of these designs as they are made, with their very peculiar constructions, one would have to work with really good factories to be able to understand the garments and copy them. The beauty of having small productions is that you can have pieces of a sweater made by hand and therefore often harder to copy.

Moving from kaleidoscopes you indirectly referenced also the infinity theme - an image refracts and replicates itself on the mirror walls of a kaleidoscope giving the impression of generating infinity. This theme is very apt in knitwear as it can refer to the infinity of stitches that form a knitwear piece, yet it can also be a very tricky theme, since it can lead to a loss of direction: how did you manage to introduce it in your pieces and give your designs a sense of unfinished finishness at the same time?
Xavier Brisoux: Endless possibilities. That's what excites me the most, and that is probably why knitwear is my medium. However, as much as I love to leave doors open, a collection needs to be cohesive. Most of the time I try to achieve the coherence with the technicality chosen for a season. In the case of "Kaleidoscope", the stripe is the statement of the next season and what gives it its direction - mirrored, angled, disturbed stripes. I have to choose one angle each season and stick to it. It leaves a lot of unfinished business for the seasons to come!

Art, architecture, geometry, maths and science: which discipline inspired you the most in this collection?
Xavier Brisoux: I think all these disciplines have equally inspired me. Art surely, with the work of Borre Saethre entitled "Untitled (The Tarkin Doctrine)" that was exhibited during teh Lille 3000 Fantasia event - the shoulder warmer piece looks like his installation under certain angles. Architecture is always close to my research as I try to question how a garment is built. Your interview with Renato Nicolodi was a great insight into his work, after having seen it at the Grès exhibition in Antwerp. Geometry was very necessary to get the kaleidoscope effect. Maths, I feel bound to it, because knitwear is about calculating stitches and rows in an almost compulsive way. Science has entered my life recently (even if one of my previous collections was based on a quantum physics theory), and even if it's a new world, I am falling very much in love with it, but I need to explore it more. I love how it can help you to be creative in cooking for example. How is it going to influence my future work? I don't know yet. Another thing that is influencing me when I create is the music I listen to. I can only design in a musical environment. In the case of this collection, I was listening a lot to Bat for Lashes, Cocorosie and IamamIwhoamI, but the season's song is definitely Hiatus & Shura's "Fortune's fool". I have trouble finding words to explain how it influences me, but it does!

How far have you pushed your partial knitting technique and do you reckon it will be possible to push it further?
Xavier Brisoux: Interesting question. It is one that I have asked myself a lot lately. I think there is no limits to this technique. However, I am very afraid of getting into a habit of creation and becoming lazy. So I know I will push it further, but have to leave it on the side and explore other things for now.

Do you feel we put too much stress on young fashion designers and that many of them do not really have the time to maybe develop something new and truly unique?
Xavier Brisoux: I have said it before and will say it again: I don't think that the rhythm of seasons can be sustained. I am seriously thinking of breaking the cycle, and offer designs only when they are ready. A friend of mine is a light designer, and she takes the time needed to create her objects. It can take several months and sometimes years. But she does not have the same pressure. I wish we could rethink that in the fashion field. Real creation would then re-appear, instead of copies of copies. For me, you cannot reinvent the wheel. Every story has been told. But what makes it new is the way you tell the tale. Finding a way to design that is yours, that is the most important. But that means time, and inspiration. So, yes, the pressure exists and the rhythm does not make sense. I believe and hope that our habits in consumerism will change.

You don't use computer programmes to design your pieces, yet some of your creations look like they could have been programmed using a computer code – do you think that one day computers will help us programming knitwear in a more intricate way?
Xavier Brisoux: At the design stage, it's true that there is no computer programming. I usually knit a first prototype myself and then have it produced in a factory. In the case of my Italian factory, it's all made on dubied machine, so everything is knitted "by hand". But the other pieces made in France are computer-generated. I always have to balance the seasons by developing certain techniques for each know-how. Some things are only possible on a dubied machine, and all intarsias are only possible on industrial machines for example.

In your press release you mention stripes being a tribute to Armor Lux, Sonia Rykiel and Gaultier – do you feel they are also a tribute to designers who played with deconstruction since they appear as broken and refracted in some of your creations?
Xavier Brisoux: I have always admired the work of Anne Valérie Hash. I have been very lucky to work with her. I feel close to the aesthetics of the beginning of her career when she was deconstructing menswear tailoring. When I graduated from Central Saint Martins I was asked what would be my dream job, and I said “knitwear designer for Anne Valerie Hash”. She made it happen, and I will always be grateful.

Which inspiring figure has been on your mind recently and why?
Xavier Brisoux: I have been amazed recently by a dance play I have had the chance to see. The whole context was a great experience. A friend of mine was giving me this strange gift: I was to wait for someone to come and pick me up to take me to an unknown place (I was even blindfolded at some point, and had to wear earplugs). I was to discover the work of Mourad Merzouki through "Yo Gee Ti". The show evolves around yarns, balls of yarn, and the dancers create, construct and deconstruct space with these yarns and their bodies. Very inspiring. So it's not really a knitwear designer, but it's knit-related! I have also just discovered Blue Hawaii's album "Untogether". It's very evanescent, undefinable, precise in the deconstruction of the sounds that become obsessive.

You recently did some work for Première Vision, can you tell us more about it?
Xavier Brisoux: For the last edition of Première Vision, I have been in charge of creating the knit pieces that were shown on the forum of Knitwear Solutions, the area dedicated to flat bed knitting. My mission was to exhibit the craft of the exhibitors to the best so that they would get new contacts and eventually more work. Together with the team, I designed the theme of the Spring/Summer 2014 season, which was based on the idea of architectural lines within the garment (like a spine for example). I had to express the inspiration according to each factory’s specific technique to have a scope of garments that would create a cohesive story with sub-stories within. I had the chance to work with almost twenty five factories, in many different countries from Italy to China via Spain or Turkey. It was a real challenge for me in the sense that I have never designed so many pieces in one go (around seventy sweaters were presented on the forum). I enjoyed the experience very much, as I felt very welcomed within the team at Première Vision, always listening to ideas, very careful to make everything right for both the exhibitors and the visitors. It was such a learning moment for me. I cannot wait to do it again!

Xavier Brisoux's designs are available online from L'Exception.

Image credits:

Xavier Brisoux's "Kaleidoscope" - Menswear Images by Mathieu Drouet

Xavier Brisoux's "Kaleidoscope" - Womenswear Images by Robin Tillie

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 05:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Geometrically Yours: Jamie Bruski Tetsill's Shapes of Things Pop Up Store

Roughly three years ago Scottish designer Jamie Bruski Tetsill started experimenting with graphic shapes and geometrical figures. Last year geometry became his brand identity and he founded Shapes of Things Ltd.

The main aim of the brand is producing a series of limited edition fashion and home pieces. Tetsill always displayed an interest in interior design, experimenting with techniques used in carpet making and developing a project with tapestry company Dovecot Studios, as readers may remember from a previous post.

Shapes of Things is at the moment also part of the "Model Business" Starter for 6 Exhibition at Glasgow's The Lighthouse (until 31st March).

This summer the designer will launch a proper Shapes of Things Ltd collection, but Glasgow-based fans can already purchase some limited-edition pre-launch designs at discounted prices this weekend downstairs at The Brunswick Hotel.

You can keep updated on further Shapes of Things Ltd events by following its Facebook and Twitter pages.

Image credits:

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites

Posted at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Hand Made: Long Live Crafts @ The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Despite the global interest in new and advanced production technologies, the process of making something with our hands has become once again a source of great pleasure. The reasons behind this reborn interest in handmade products and in traditional techniques can easily be found in the growing concerns for sustainability and authenticity, but also in our need to detach ourselves from the virtual world we are connected to 24-hour a day and de-stress.

A new exhibition entitled "Hand Made: Long Live Crafts" currently on at The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, explores the pleasure of handmaking through 500 objects from the Middle Ages to the present day, from the Netherlands and other European countries.

The main theme of the exhibition - analysed also in other events such as "The Power of Making" at London's V&A in 2011 - is tackled through a wide range of pieces that are not arranged chronologically, but are centred around thematic groups inspired by popular clichés that exist about the concept of ‘crafts’ - honest, unique, virtuosity, art, craftsmanship, tradition and handicraft.

Visitors will find inspiration in different objects and materials (brass, cotton, glazed ceramic, silver filigree and wood, to mention just a few ones) - each of them linked to disciplines as varied as art, fashion and interior design. The pieces on display range from Venetian glass from the 17th century to an inlaid screen by Studio Job; from a sweater made from the fleece of a single sheep by Christien Meindertsma to a design by Iris van Herpen; from the colourful "Clay Furniture" by designer Maarten Baas to refined needlepoint lace and examples of domestic embroidery.

Handmaking is also an important issue from a socio-economic point of view since, though technology rules supreme in our lives, we will need to retrain a new generation of artisans to avoid losing vitally important skills.

The event is also accompanied by short videos that explain traditional techniques and offers visitors the chance to take part in workshops with craftspeople in disciplines such as knitting, crocheting, woodworking, violin making, printing and book binding, basketry, millinery, glove making, but also 3D printing, animation and even sneaker making using traditional techniques.

"Today's renewed attention for crafts is not simply a nostalgic looking back but more a component of the creative quest for new, contemporary methods and techniques," states the exhibition curator Mienke Simon Thomas in an official press release. Looks like the path to the future definitely stands in combining manual labour and skills with innovative technologies.

Hand Made: Long Live Crafts is at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam, The Netherlands, until 20th May 2013.

Image credits:

Johanna Schweizer, Twins, 2011. Cotton and metallic threads dipped in resin, 134 x 59 x 19 cm. Courtesy of Brutto Gusto fine arts, Berlin. Photo: Peter Cox.

Iris van Herpen, Asymmetric Coral Dress, 2012. Silver metal plissé. Photo: Michel Zoeter

Studio Job, Bavaria Screen, 2008. Rosewood inlaid with various coloured exotic woods, height 185 cm.

Grayson Perry, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, 2011. Cast iron, oil paint, glass, rope, wood, flint hand axe, Image courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, London. Copyright Grayson Perry. Photo: Stephen White

Maaarten Baas, Clay Furniture, 2006. Industrial clay, metal and coloured lacquer, variable sizes.

M.W.V. Dijsselhof-Keuchenius, A thing of beauty is a joy forever, 1905-1907, cross-stitch embroidery. Collection Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

Add to Technorati Favorites