COMPOSITION TWO - Fashion, Design, Art

INTERVIEW / lina marie köppen

2013-06-04T20:16:00.000+02:00

Design is more than just a unnecessary beautification of a surface, it surrounds us in our whole environment and life. Every tool we use, every car we drive, every book we read is created by a designer, but we perceive all this things subconscious, ignore them or rail against the visual cacophony of our environment. Because of this fact we see design more as a disruption of our every day life, but the perfect surfaces create also a better awareness for the non perfection of our surrounding.

But one designer shows that the connection of design and everyday life works very well: Lina Marie Köppen. After graduating from the AMD Hamburg, Germany, Lina moves to the highly renowned Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands, where she developed a highly conceptual approach of work. Influenced by topics and rituals of use from the everyday life and theories of the philosophy of philosophers like Rudolf Steiner and others, Lina creates projects which are driven by more than just surface styling.

FASHION / femke agema

2013-05-29T23:33:00.000+02:00

Fashion means in some ways the creation of space, because every piece of clothing achieve it's real form in the moment of wearing. The dutch fashion designer Femke Agema expresses this fact in her work like nobody else:
She creates collections where fashion is melting together with the art of sculpture.
The Amsterdam based designer graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts where she found her love for graphic design and fashion, abstract bold forms and lightning colors.
Femke's drafts move on a border between fashion and art and combine abstract compositions with wearable minimal elegance. Femke uses one strong concept for two collections to express her own view of the world and create artworks which are shown in Galleries like the Moooi Gallery in Amsterdam.

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INTERVIEW / co|te

2013-03-27T20:39:00.003+01:00

A few times ago I wrote an article about the fabulous Spring/Summer collection from CO-TE, a small Newcomer label from Milan, Italy.

Tomaso Anfossi and Francesco Ferrari prefer a bold use of colors, clear forms and special details, which make their collections outstanding and special.

This week I got the opportunity to offer the designers a few questions about their new AW 2013 collection.

DESIGN / falcon enamelware

2013-03-16T21:34:00.000+01:00

Every time we need new stuff. It´s never enough and we will be never replete. But it´s time to spend our money on something with substance, something with relevance. Maybe something for the kitchen.

DESIGN / everyday people

2013-03-01T15:21:00.001+01:00

"But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins.

Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face."

- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Ch. 1

Imperfection breeds beauty and perfect beauty is not perfect. It´s got kinks and little interferences which interrupt the perfection and create an interesting and unique image.

These principle of imperfection uses the Cologne-based people agency "EVERYDAY PEOPLE" for their business model.

PHOTOGRAPHY / cos campaign ss 2013

2013-02-28T11:46:00.001+01:00

In fashion it´s the same as in other creative disciplines. The presentation is the matter.
A fabulous example is the scandinavian fashion label COS, which is well known for it´s minimal and clear clothes.

The new collection is characterized by straight lines and cuts, graphic layering and drapings. To take the hardness from the drafts was a color palette chosen, which is dominated by natural colors, like green, brown, white and a soft light pink. Because of this the collection radiates a warmth and natural look, which is underlined by the photographic concept which was chosen for the campaign.

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INTERVIEW / 830 SIGN

2013-02-02T13:52:00.000+01:00

Fashion is an ephemeral business. Some labels produce clothes for just one season, clothes does not fit for a longer time, because style and quality are not dedicated for a longer use. But there are some people outside, who try to create a more timeless kind of style. One of these persons is Giulia Spiller, who runs her own label 830 Sign.
Evolved from a denim company, was 830 Sign founded in 2008. She creates a label which offers garments with a timeless attitude, combine modern and classic elements and uses the manufacturing experience from the past generation. Designer of the label is Mariavittoria Soldi. The pieces stand in the tradition of the Italian fashion history, are made in Italy. As a very special element adds elements from the timeless and high quality modern style, working with important Italian and Japanese suppliers on fabrics. Through these special mix the small collections got a rare and precious character, are not dedicated to a kind of trend but looking still modern and fresh. Straight lines and great matched colour palettes are combined to a modest and sophisticated mix, which fits perfectly to the personal style of every woman. The summer collection for 2013 is based on a modest colour palette and combine shades of white, light pink and dark violet. With simple but sophisticated cuts and fluid forms creates Mariavittoria a style which represents a kind of intellectual and modern woman. In an interview Mariavittoria Soldi gave me answers about her work and live as a designer, her inspiration and the process of designing a collection.

FASHION / co|te ss 2013

2013-01-24T19:27:00.001+01:00

Italy was always well known for fantastic fashion and beautiful product design. Many design classics like the side table "Cicognino" from Franco Albini or the armchair “Proust" from Alessandro Mendini, come from there and all drafts are characterized by functionality and eternalness. The small label Co|te transmits these aspects into their fashion drafts and presented a fabulous summer collection which is full of surprises.

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MOVING IMAGE / innsbruck by night

2013-01-22T22:02:00.000+01:00

Good advertisements surprise. With a good story, a special kind of humor or with beautiful pictures. Have a look on this beautiful film made by Christoph Malin for VAUDE. An amazing mix of colour, music and mood, which is really unusual for advertising.
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DESIGN / david taylor

2013-01-21T16:40:00.000+01:00

Design is a mixture of tension and contrasts. Artist and designer David Taylor chooses these fact as main theme of his work and creates collections which contain beautiful candle holders, lamps and mirrors. All products surprise with absurd contrasts in form and material. Born in Scotland, David currently works and live in Stockholm, Sweden. After being educated as a silversmith and reaching a master in Metal Design at the Konstfack in Stockholm, David starts his own studio and creates products, which combine Scandinavian minimalism with a touch of humor and DIY.
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INTERVIEW / yirantian guo

2013-01-18T11:26:00.000+01:00

The world need new talents! The the following big talent comes directly from school: Yirantian Guo is a graduate from the London College of Fashion, where she currently works on her master studies. Fashion and art collide in her work. Yirantian, who comes originally from China, combines influences from western and eastern culture in her work.
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DESIGN / bodo sperlein

2013-01-14T15:30:00.002+01:00

Beautiful tableware is indispensable for a well designed home. The German designer Bodo Sperlein creates beautiful and clean products which fits well into every nice home. Based in London, UK runs the native-born Bavarian a design studio, which is based on ceramics ware.

PHOTOGRAPHY / mate moro

2013-01-08T14:03:00.000+01:00

The combination of things which do obviously not fit together creates a special kind of absurdity and sometimes a very beautiful relationship. Recently seen these phenomen in the portfolios of PUT PUT, Denmark and Csilla Klenyánszki from Rotterdam. Another example for these phenomen is the portfolio of the photographer Mate Moro: Born in 1989 in Dunaujvaros, Hungary Moro lives currently in Budapest, Hungary and produces a portfolio which shows along to a propensity to absurdity also a masterful use of colour, form and the three dimensional space. The work of Mate Moro, who works mainly in the commercial area and has produced the outstanding editorial Yayoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton for the Room Magazine, are on first glance mainly very colourful. Moro subdivides his pictures into clear colour fields and surprises with witty interpretations of the content.
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JEWELRY / saskia diez look book L'enfer

2012-12-28T19:33:00.004+01:00

For those of you who yearn after something light and simple after all that Christmas pageantry I present the new look book of Munich-based designer Saskia Diez.

In her tenth look book L'enfer (hell) shows Saskia Diez new pieces of her collections Pearls, Wire, Leather and Paillettes. The pieces are characterized by the typical simplicity and high quality which is already known by the German designer.

Diez combines practicality and functionality with beauty and poetry. Her drafts are unrelated to any trend and reflect a kind of timeless beauty. Just like her last lookbook is these one designed by the fantastic German Art Director Mirko Borsche. It´s characterized by a dark and mystical atmosphere and a strong photography.

INTERVIEW / michael robbins

2012-12-17T18:24:00.003+01:00

Michael Robbins is a designer who calls himself not a designer. He define himself as a woodworker or furniture maker and his pieces reflect this way of self-awareness. His furniture has nothing to with styling. It´s simple, honest, useful and because of this are his products so beautiful. Robbins process is a faithful one, the furniture is produced in small quantities, shaped and joined by hand, using wood from sustainable forestry practices. In an interview gave me Michael Robbins some answers about his work, his understanding of the design process and the nontraditional training he absolved before he started to build furniture.

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FASHION / charlie may

2012-12-14T11:22:00.000+01:00

That personal style has something in common with the products which are creative people produce every day is undeniably . For good designers is design more than just a job, it´s an attitude to life. To say it with the words of Paul rand, one of the best art directors ever: Design is everything. Everything! Good designers aestheticise everything, their environment, their appearance and of course, their drafts and products. One fantastic example for these fact is the British designer Charlie May.

DESIGN / ett la benn

2012-12-12T15:51:00.001+01:00

The Berlin-based studio ett la benn is focused on the three-dimensional space. The founders Danilo Dürler und Oliver Bischoff create together with their team manifold solutions for different commissioners. From the vase, over wardrobes and lamps to the interior design of some restaurants are they involved in many design processes which include the third dimension. What makes the studio so extraordinary is their aspiration to find for every project the most appropriate solution: their objects and furniture are simple, multifunctional and just beautiful, their room concepts are surprising and conceptional. Dürer and Bichofs work based on the attitude, that good design can only emerge through an in-depth research with the material and the concept. In this way the studio realize projects which call the common ways of using a material or the function of a furniture into question.
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ART / vessel series by put put

2012-12-09T12:40:00.000+01:00

Maybe you remember the interview with the Swiss-danish artist collective PUT PUT? The creative duo has updated their portfolio and added a photographic series called “Vessels”. In this series they combine vessels from different ages. Glass and leaded crystal meets plastic and tupperware. The series play with contrasts in material, origin and meaning and combine elements which does not fit together on the first glance.
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DESIGN / sinclaire design

2012-12-07T12:24:00.000+01:00

Why is good design so important for our environment? We all prefer beautiful products before lax designed products. We use they carefully and give them more attention. We celebrate the use of these products. These more of attention is important for us that the product get not demolished. The Vancouver-based designer Lorea Sinclaire was inspired by these principle when she creates her beautiful Tiffin Lunch Kit. Today, where more and more people eat on the move and take more and more refuse away is an aware use of food and the connected processes more important than ever before.
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FASHION / yumumu ss-13 lookbook

2012-12-05T13:15:00.001+01:00

There is a lot of inspiration in our environment. The houses with all of their geometrical forms, lines proportions. The colours of the plants, the sky, the ground. The movement in a city or the people around us. All this can become inspiration for a creative discipline. The
Singapore-based label YUMUMU concentrated all these elements in the new collection for summer 2013.
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ART / leonardo ulian

2012-12-04T20:56:00.000+01:00

Some artist work with colour, some other with stone, bronze or metal. The materials of art are manifold and the most most artist take them from the every day life. Leonardo Ulian does it like this. Born in Ruda, Italy got the multimedia artist an extraordinary key subject. Trained in London, Udine and Gorizia got Leonardo Ulian diplomas in microelectronics, graphic and multimedia and Fine Art and is interested in systems, the making of things, electronic gizmos, noise, nature, science and graphics.
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INTERVIEW / m12

2012-12-03T16:45:00.003+01:00

It´s interesting how the products we create are characterized by our identity. Particularly interesting is the fact if two identities clash together and melt to a common picture, which surpasses all expectations. This is fact by the newcomer label M-UnuDoi. The founders Golban Rodica and Peperigeanu Oana are originally from Moldavia and Romania, two countries which have to define their identities in a new way after the end of the Soviet Union.
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DESIGN / taf

2012-12-01T19:14:00.001+01:00

Three-dimensional design combine a lot of different processes and perspectives. The presenting, arranging and explaining in exhibition design. The building and constructing in product design and the planning and examining in architecture. One studio who combines all these aspects of design is TAF from Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 2002, by Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom, the studio represents all that what makes Scandinavian design so desiring: a modest and simple style with an extraordinary twist.
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PHOTOGRAPHY / jan kempenaers

2012-11-27T11:14:00.000+01:00

Artists from belgium have often a raw and essential approach, you see it in the work of Ann de Meulemeester, Maison Martin Margila or Sofie Claes. On the other hand is there the rich tradition of mappig and mirroring the reality, you can find in the paintings from Early Netherlandish painting, which was characterized by a high colour impact and a strong attention for details. One artist from Belgium combine and reflect both styles, his name is Jan Kempenaers.
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ART / axel brechensbauer

2012-11-25T14:36:00.000+01:00

Humor is indispensable for the modern human. Humor functioned as a socio-cultural phenomenon on the one hand, on the other hand as a aesthetically medial complex or as a personal or artistic expression. Humor it´s essential for our culture and defined us as humans. Many artist has shown that humor can be more as an amusing film or a bad joke. Andy Warhol, Maurizio Cattelan or Marcel Durchamp make humor to the main part of their work or implemented it as a kind of subtle commentary in the work.
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