With a week’s worth of womenswear and menswear shows kicking off today, a new crop of fresh design talents will be making their London Fashion Week mark.
For this season, expect to see the collections of David Koma, Holly Fulton, J.JS Lee, J.W. Anderson, Michael van der Ham and Simone Rocha on the runway, as well as Christopher Raeburn, Thomas Tait, Nasir Mazhar, Sister by Sibling, Huishan Zhang, James Long, Lucas Nascimento, Tim Soar and Palmer//Harding presenting their unique designs in installations and exhibitions.
Helping them flourish in the fashion capital is the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN initiative, founded in 1993 and sponsored by Topshop. The scheme offers young creatives a platform to showcase their designs at Somerset House, as well as offering financial and business support.
With past recipients including Alexander McQueen, Matthew Williamson, Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou and Meadham Kirchhoff, the future is looking more than bright for this next generation of fashion talent. After all, there’s nothing like a new kid on the block to shake things up.
Kathryn Ferguson is one of a new breed of filmmakers who cut their teeth in fashion film. Over the past four years she’s moved from making shorts for designers such as Richard Nicoll and Katie Eary to experimental films such as Máthair, a visually startling exploration of her Catholic roots.
Having curated Birds Eye View Film Festival’s Fashion Loves Film strand at the BFI, on Friday Ferguson launches new festival FASH/ON Film with the British Fashion Council
With multiple projects in the pipeline, Belfast born Ferguson is undoubtedly a name to watch. Twin spoke to the filmmaker about her work so far…
What was the initial impetus behind you picking up a video camera?
I first picked up a camera in 2005 during the final year of my Fashion BA at CSM. I was frustrated with the flatness of two-dimensional imagery and wanted to try experimenting with creating immersive visual worlds combining moving image and sound.
How easy did you find the transition between working as a stylist to working as a filmmaker?
My passions pre-filmmaking had always lain heavily in photography and art direction. I dabbled in styling as a way of supporting myself throughout my BA but as soon as I made my first film Tingel Tangel, an experimental dance film featuring Paloma Faith, in 2005 I was sure it was film I wanted to pursue. However at that point I didn’t have the skills or know how to progress. In 2007 I decided to submit this early film to Birds Eye View Film Festival and to my surprise it was chosen for their UK Shorts strand at the ICA. This acknowledgment by them inspired me to throw myself 100% into filmmaking. During this time I made lots of experimental short films leading me to apply for a Masters in moving image at the Royal College of Art in 2009. My time there saw a transformation in my work and as a result have moved further from fashion and more into experimental film. I find film a totally thrilling medium to be working in as the boundaries are limitless. My initial step into moving image via the world of fashion has quickly evolved into a heady desire to tell stories via the medium of film whether it be documentary, music video, short films and beyond.
Your work, such as Máthair is very experimental – can you talk about some of the techniques you use in your work? Máthairis the film that I feel really defines the area in which I am now most interested. Previous to the RCA, my work had mostly consisted of commissioned based fashion and music projects. The RCA was a fantastic experience as it forced me to work beyond an aesthetic and come up with my own brief and ideas. This was quite challenging to begin with but once I got going I decided I wanted to make a film about my mother but still adopting the visual style I was drawn to which is often creating worlds via montage / collage. I wanted the film to be a mix between the real and the hyper real. The reality of my catholic upbringing in Northern Ireland juxtaposed with an imagined hyper real fantasy version.
Máthair 2011, film stills
Máthairclearly draws on your own Irish background and ideas of faith, but what other ideas or cultural references are you drawn to in your work?
I feel my work seeks to create a sense of immersion and ecstatic experience through narrative and non-narrative experimental film. Taking influence from my background working with fashion designers creating experimental films to encapsulate their seasonal collections, I have developed a strong interest in the relationship between dance and movement, particularly around the tactile surface of fabrics in motion. Through a series of works that glean ritual and quasi-religious encounters, my practice combines elements of performance, religious iconography and symbolism, acknowledging early abstraction through the medium of film.
However, I’m becoming increasingly interested in women’s issues and now feel that my next series of films should be reflecting the female voice. There needs to be more stories about women told by women.
A lot of exciting work is happening in fashion film, particularly by women, why do you think they’ve become so important both within the fashion industry and film?
I think it’s an incredibly exciting time for film in general, especially as so many women are finally picking up a camera. I’m really interested in how the female protagonist will be represented in fashion film. Generally speaking up until recently the majority of films have been through the male gaze so it will be fascinating to see how women will be portrayed when their image is predominately created and shot by female directors. Fashion film is a fantastic medium for young designers to showcase their work without the crippling costs of the catwalk and marketing campaigns. It gives them a voice and a way to reach out to the world via the internet. As it is still a genre very much in its infancy I am interested in its future development.
Tingel Tangel, 2005, film still
Lady Gaga / Dazed Digital, 2009, film still Richard Nicoll S/S10’2009, film still
How has your own work evolved since your early films?
My early films were visual experiments. I came from a world, i.e fashion, where image making is driven by an immediacy to create. Now that I’ve moved into other areas of filmmaking I finally feel like I can slow down and concentrate on making films that interest me on a more personal level.
I still feel like I’m only on the first step of my film career. I am very conscious of wanting to tell stories and I’m definitely moving more and more towards both narrative filmmaking and documentary. High aesthetic used to be the driving force in my work and now I’m very keen to start making films where it’s secondary to a storyline or other people’s stories. Máthair was the first step in that direction for me. Real people fascinate me, I want to tell real stories but with my own take and aesthetic being applied.
You’ve worked for BEV and are about to go on tour with the British Council – why is it important to you not to be working in isolation as a filmmaker? My work with BEV was driven by a desire to work with women in general. As a festival, they supported me by showing my first film which is really what kick started all of this in the first place. I’m very keen to work with other women and truly believe films about women made by women are the way forward. I also find the work I am doing with the British Council thrilling, as I will travel the world working with filmmakers and creatives. I think travel is the best way to open your mind and I am sure it’s going to inspire me. Filmmaking as a practice is very immersive and my work as a curator for BEV, the British Council and more recently The British Fashion Council means I meet other people whose work I appreciate and I get to talk to them in depth about their practice. I also really enjoy working with others whether it’s in a teaching / lecturing role or a project collaboration. I feel being out in the real world conversing with people informs my work as much as experimenting in an edit suite.
What is FASH/ON Film all about? FASH/ON Film is a new initiative I’ve been working on with the British Fashion Council for the past few months. We’ve been talking about it for a few years in fact but now is the first time everything has come together and been made possible. It is an initiative that will bring together both emerging and established filmmakers and fashion designers via a series of curated film screenings, Q&A’s, feature film premieres and film mentoring schemes.
What are your ambitions in terms of filmmaking?
My long-term ambition is to tell stories. For me 2012 is the year I plan to take the next step towards this ambition. I am currently writing a treatment for a long format documentary film with fellow female filmmaker Elisha Smith-Leverock. We met in Paris at a film festival in October and spent most of the night talking heatedly about women’s issues. We have been working closely on this since and now I feel it’s on the precipices of being realised.
Sicilian born Marco Glaviano is most famous for the beautiful women who have posed for his camera. Throughout his prolific career, he’s photographed more than 500 magazine covers for publications such as American Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Elle, and is responsible for many of the iconic images of models such as Cindy Crawford, Eva Herzigova whose sex appeal summed up the Eighties.
Glaviano was also a leading pioneer of digital photography and his was the first ever digital photograph to be published in American Vogue in 1982. For his first ever UK exhibition the focus is purely on his camera’s love affair with the supermodel; the sweat, sex and hair that bewitched a generation.
Marco Glaviano: Supermodels is at The Little Black Gallery, 13A Park Walk, London SW10 0AJ until 24 March littleblackgallery.com
For Fall 2012 at New York Fashion Week, Jil Sander’s more affordable little sister Jil Sander Navy presented a collection of modern brilliance.
While having elements of the sporty couture look that has been present at Jil Sander for the past three seasons, mixed in were more smartly tailored pieces; shirtdresses, wool overcoats and contrast collar shirts in a palette of salmon pink, tomato red and lashings of navy blue.
Accessories provided the quirks that differentiated this from the haute minimalism of the Jil Sander mainline and gave the collection a more everyday wear feel. Chunky platform shoes, luxe leather backpacks, grosgrain bow belts and Alice bands created a look that was prim Princess on a school day. Emminently wearable, elegant and feminine, but of course in the Jil Sander way.
Scarlett Hooft Graafland is an explorer. Whether it’s travelling to remote parts of the world to take images of extreme communities, or simply blurring the borders between straight photography and sculpture the Dutch photographer pushes into new territories. Having lived with Eskimos in remotest North Canada for four months to rural China her photographs mix the surreal and the sublime.
Twin spoke to the 38-year-old about her work…
How long have you been a photographer? I’ve been a photographer for eight years. Before I used to take photos but not in such a serious way, those pictures were more documentations of sculptures I made. It was only later that I started using photography as the actual work, the “end product”.
What kind of photographer would you describe yourself as? I would rather describe myself as a visual artist who makes photographs. I trained as a sculptor, first at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, later at Parsons School of Design in New York. Inhabiting the border between straight photography, performance and sculpture, my photographs are records of highly choreographed live performances made in remote and often surreal landscapes. Many times I refer to a more profound cultural discourse of my surroundings.
Your photos are so otherworldly, what locations have you travelled to to make your images happen? I’ve traveled to many places, most of the time locations that are hard to reach, like a small Inuit settlement in arctic Canada, the salt desert in Bolivia and high in the Norwegian mountains where the herds of reindeer live. I also spent time in the south of China, this was a challenge language wise.
Are they of spontaneous moments or do you plan them? I like to do some planning before, but most of the time, once you get to a place, the circumstances are different to what I had in mind. Also the fact that I am dependent on the local community has some impact on the actual photo, how much they want to help me, where we can go, how close we can get to the reindeer for example, a lot of unexpected situations I have to work with. Also the weather is an important factor, sometimes I have to wait for days, in a few cases weeks, for the weather to clear up. So a lot of improvisation.
Is it difficult as a female photographer going to remote places? It can be difficult, I had some tough situations. But many times I happened to meet really nice people, people who were willing to help. I also try to go to places where I have some contacts, through friends, friends of friends, that really helps. And mostly I use my intuition, who to travel with, where to stay at peoples houses etc.
What inspires you? I like to find places where people live close to nature, places where it is hard to survive and where the power of nature is strong. It is fascinating to me to see how people live with old traditions, and to be able to live with them for some time, to experience a little that way of life. I normally stay for a few months at the time to get a better understanding about the living circumstances, the culture, etc. And this knowledge can also have some impact on the photos I make.
My work is rooted in a Western tradition, but it also enters all sorts of engagements with new traditions, other cultures, remarkable locations, and fascinating people. I have gradually built a nomadic oeuvre that is intercultural while also displaying a strong unity of style; temporary in its individual landscape interventions, but long-term in its engagement with the world.
What’s the most amazing thing you’ve seen as a photographer? I don’t know the most amazing thing, but living with a semi nomad Inuit family on their sled and traveling on the sea ice for a few weeks was an amazing experience. It was in springtime, when it did not get dark and in the middle of the night the light was kind of magic. In that time I made the work “My White Night”, a dog sled carrying a big “moon” through the winter landscape.
Where next do you want to travel to? In March I’m going to Bolivia, to the Altiplano. I’ve been there many times already and it’s an amazing place! I work together with a Bolivian artist, Gaston Ugalde, and it’s very special to travel with him and his crew through the highlands in a Landover with piles of materials on top of the roof.
Do you have an upcoming exhibition or publication? The 16th of March is the opening of the show ‘Almas Saladas’ at the Museo Nacional de Arte in La Paz, Bolivia, together with Gaston Ugalde. Also I am working on a book right now about all my works made in the Altiplano, that will come out in April, published by W-Books.
Do you remember your first pair of DMs? Twin”s Editor Becky Smith certainly does and still dons them now and then for an instant flash of Nineties nostalgia. For the second in their series of #firstandforever stories in collaboration with Dr. Marten”s, online magazine Le Cool, asked Becky to relive her first love – a pair of black DM boots.
Read Becky”s story here and reveal your #firstandforever tale .
For the relaunch of Vogue Paris’ website this week, editor Emmanuelle Alt took an approach Twin can’t imagine many other Vogue editors braving. Clearly unafraid to embrace her silly side, Alt has enlisted top models, Karmen Pedaru, Kendra Spears, Jasmine Tookes and Anja Rubik, as back-up dancers for her retake on Wham!’s Eighties classic, Wake Me Up, substituting slogan tees for Vogue t-shirts.
With the spotlight firmly online, it seems a fitting time to announce Twin’s own soon to be unveiled web redesign. While we can’t promise any George Michael, we know you’re going to love the newlook Twin website. Just watch this space…
Noemi Klein’s jewellery has an elemental magic to it. Gold rings with the look and feel of mined minerals are layered between rings inspired by rib cages, bird claws and branches. Sparked by her own minimal style, Klein’s jewellery has a gothic prettiness that aches to be piled on and set against a black backdrop. Originally from Trier in Germany but now creating her pieces from a studio in East London, Twin spoke to the 34-year-old about her work and method…
When did you start making jewellery and why? I started making jewellery when I was studying English literature eight years ago, partly because I couldn’t buy the pieces I liked and partly as a way to relax from the stresses of having to write essays. My hobby evolved into more serious metalwork when I was given cast off pieces of equipment by my dentist father, which got me started working with silver.
How many collections have you done? It’s difficult to say because I work on each piece for itself. They then become parts of collections. I would say I make something like two new pieces each week.
What materials do you use in your work? My work is made mainly from silver and gold, sometimes I use natural stones and recycled parts of vintage jewellery.
What objects and ideas inspired the current collection?
All my work is based on various aspects of the natural environment: landscape, anatomy, and most recently astronomy and geometry.
For current pieces I was inspired by Greenland photography by Markus Buehler, and abstract space painting by Don Davis. Someone gave me some amazing fish bones from the Philippines that will form the basis of new work, and just now for this underwater series i’m really into the story of the Venus flower basket.
Do you design with a certain woman in mind? Yes, me! I tend to make what I want to wear or what I like to look at as an object. But I find that all kinds of different women like what I like, and men, too!
Is there a particular film or book that inspires your work? My favourite book is a Japanese novel called Kokoro, which roughly translates as “the heart of things”. There is a certain directness in it and the idea of the dark side in the quest for enlightenment which appeals to me, and I suppose you can see those in my work.
For the same reasons I love Luc Tuymans paintings and Robert Adams photography.
What role does jewellery play in style for your? My clothes are mostly black so I wear single, simple pieces of jewellery during the day. When I go out I layer up on rings, and I’ve been seen covered in chains wearing one of my body pieces.
What are your working rituals? I mix a straightforward German work ethic with a pretty dishevelled attitude to life, which in practice means I work a lot, on a various different projects. At the moment I’m working on commissions and a couple of collaborations (watch this space), plus i’m thinking about new work all the time, so no 2 days are ever the same.
His first photograph in Vogue was of a Balenciaga hat, but with his original visual eye, it was only a matter of time before Parisian photographer Guy Bourdin’s images were international fashion perrenials. His work with French Vogue, coupled with his intuitive, ground-breaking advertising campaigns for Charles Jourdan shoes, changed the nature of fashion photography. Emphasis on the product was transferred onto the image, and in doing so, a new narrative was established, independent of the product itself.
Bourdin’s subsequent success afforded him additional artistic licence where lurid, eccentric and overtly sexual images explored the controversial themes of domination, violence and death, provoking accusations of misogyny and a morbid pre-occupation with mortality. Rarely seen images of his work are currently on show at Michael Hoppen Gallery, including a selection from his series for the 1980 Pentax Calendar, which serve as a fitting tribute to an artist who died 21 years ago in relative obscurity, and is considered to be one of the most influential fashion photographers of the Twentieth Century.
If London is known for anything as a fashion capital, it’s nurturing and supporting a hotbed of creative talents all across the design spectrum.
For a second year running, Selfridges has selected its Bright Young Things. The project allows 15 newcomers from the worlds of fashion, art, design and food talents to create a window display for its Oxford and Duke Street stores.
With participants this year including womenswear designer/illustrator and CSM graduate Sorcha O’ Raghallaigh, who specialises in intricate metallic coloured and lace designs (Lady Gaga is a fan) and designer Maarten van der Horst, who gave a new and fashionable life to the otherwise dreaded Hawaiian prints, it’s a testament to the design talents that the Big Smoke has to offer.
For those more interested in non-fashion creativity, interior designer duo Tinker & Tailor have created a Twitter-friendly interactive space, while coffee connoisseur Jack Coleman made his own personal ode to the art of the brewing and roasting.
There’s never been a better reason to stop and take a closer look. Rush hour crowds notwithstanding.
Bright Young Things is on until February 29. selfridges.com
Clinic is one of South East London’s most renowned poetry, music and art collectives. Founded by Sam Buchan-Watts, Andrew Parkes, Rachael Allen and Sean Roy Parker and based in New Cross, the group organises exhibitions, readings and workshops alongside publishing an annual poetry, illustration and photography zine.
The collective’s readings for the V&A’s Selected Poems series, with readers including Liz Berry, Matthew Gregory, Tim Cockburn and Abigail Parry, are now available for listening on the Clinic website.
With titles such as The Age Of Insecurity, Hermione And Frog: Honeymoon Days In The Blue and Google, the playlist is sure to be an entertaining audio experience no matter what your poetic taste.
What would you do if a man approached you in the street and asked you to put on his headphones? For 167 out of the 200 people Michael Burdett asked, their response was to listen. What met their ears was a version of Nick Drake’s soaring Cello Song, not heard for over 30 years.
In the Seventies, Burdett was a post-boy at Island Records when he came across a dumped tape intriguingly labelled, “Nick Drake, Cello Song. With love.” It was 20 years before he actually listened to it, discovering an earthy version of Drake’s famed song and another few years passed before he decided what to do with his discovery. Inspiredly, instead of releasing it into the online ether, Burdett travelled the length and breadth of Britian, stopping some famous people and some not on streets, hills and work places to offer them a chance to hear the song. Each time, he took a portrait of the listener.
The results are now on display at the Idea Generation gallery in East London. The Strange Face Project, takes it’s name from the first line of Cello Song and also refers to the expressions Burdett observed of his listeners and a fitting ode to one of music’s lost talents.
The Strange Face Project is at the Idea Generation gallery until Sunday, February 12. ideageneration.co.uk
Few men possess the kind of personal style that can start a female fashion frenzy. But Karl Lagerfeld, the world knows, is no ordinary gentleman. Last Wednesday his Net-A-Porter range, Karl, sparked a global rush for cutaway leather gloves and stiff necked white collars. And thanks to some innovative use of augmented reality pop-up windows, shopping online has never felt so communal. With windows in New York, Paris, Sydney, Berlin and of course Net-A-Porter’s hometown London, this was a truly Twenty-first century collaboration.
While many of the key items sold out in a flash, there are still many covetable pieces, sleeveless biker vests and gladiator sandals for two, that are just a few clicks away from landing on your doormat. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get online with Karl.
Yesterday marked the end of the Spring/Summer 2012 couture shows. The proverbial creme de la creme of fashion, only allowed to show during this three-day short Fashion Week through a Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture membership – haute couture doesn’t mean high dressmaking in French for nothing – showed a degree of craftsmanship and attention to detail all across the fashion spectrum.
Twin recounts our haute couture highlights from Paris…
Alexis Mabille
Proving that haute couture doesn’t have to keep to a demure palette, Mabille punched up the colour factor with his neon designs. Inspired by photographs of Lisa Fonssagrives and Christy Turlington, the creations in fabrics ranging from metallic lame to guipure lace proved that even when it comes to couture, girls just want to have fun.
Bouchra Jarrar
Working with crepe de soie, fur collars and wide-legged tailored trousers, Jarrar’s collection was a take on casual luxe. A bit of tomboy and a dash of urban sophisticate resulted in a whole lot of effortless cool.
Chanel
No couture week is complete without Karl Lagerfeld’s latest mind musings. Taking the double Cs to a more ethereal place this time around (airplane runway, anyone?) resulted in a collection of beautifully hand-embellished pieces in icy blues, ivories and midnight blacks.
Elie Saab
Elie Saab is the go-to designer for anything feminine and delicate, and this season was no exception. Lace and crystal embroidery on nude, pastel pink and pale lemon high-waisted dresses and A-line skirts made being a woman that bit more enticing.
Giambattista Valli
It may only be Valli’s second showing on the haute couture circuit, but the Italian designer proves that he can hold his own among fashion’s heavyweights. With a plethora of expertly tailored feather, lace and embroidered pieces, he’s as couture as they come.
Jean Paul Gaultier
In a beehive and winged eyeliner tribute to Amy Winehouse, Gaultier sent out a collection that was every bit as eccentric and nonchalant as the late singer herself. Encompassing pieces such as back to black shirt-tail hem skirts, leather varsity jackets and silk kimono coats tied at the waist, Winehouse probably wouldn’t have wanted her couture any other way.
Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal
Leave it to the house of Margiela to put an unconventional spin on couture. Rope, braided bracelets and hundreds of pearlescent buttons were turned into knee-length trench coats, colourful micro dresses, and slouchy blazer and pegged trouser combos, proving that recycled fashion doesn’t have to be drab.
Valentino
It has only taken a few seasons for Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri to fully establish their trademark of girlish and graceful designs at Valentino. Marking a sweet end to haute couture fashion week, this collection of chiffon, lace and tulle in fine floral prints had a glamourised Charlotte Brontë/Jane Austen novel feel to it. Piccioli and Chiuri clearly have a talent for capturing fashion daydreams.
A multi-media exploration of the interaction between fashion, movement and appropriation, the House Of Yvonne exhibition showcases the work of Colin Self, Kenneth Anger, Sophie Macpherson and Clare Stephenson.
Self’s colourful pencil drawings of female subjects from the 1960s, addressing the zeitgeist of passivity and fear during the Cold War, as well as the escapism that entertainment offered during this period, will be on display.
Whilst Self’s work is a thoughtful reflection on the isolation of the individual, consumer culture and politics, the screening of American film artist Kenneth Anger’s 6-minute short film Puce Moment offers an exploration of Hollywood hedonism.
Glasgow-based creative Sophie Macpherson, known for her work on the formation of self-identity through communication, presents an archive of Barbara Hulanicki for Biba dresses for the exhibit, while sculpture artist Clare Stephenson has created digital cut-and-paste martini glass designs as a representation of decadence.
Showing in the Victorian-style interior of temporary arts space The Hidden Noise, House Of Yvonne is an interesting and eye-opening fusion of art and fashion.
House Of Yvonne is on display at The Hidden Noise, 1/1, 24 Hayburn Crescent, Glasgow, G11 5AY, until February 11. thehiddennoise.info
Central Saint Martins graduate Mary Katrantzou is undoubtedly one of fashion’s current favourites.Those who haven’t been able to grab one of her highly-coveted digital print pieces now have the chance to own a fluorescently bright handbag created by the Greek designer.
Part of her collaboration with Longchamp and now available exclusively at Colette Paris, the totes in 3D prints of lanterns, orchids and aquariums are the perfect excuse to put a bit of Katrantzou in your closet.
As a fashion editor, Grace Coddington has created limitless fantasy worlds, earning a reputation for a meticulous eye and rare imagination. Now a new exhibition of her ex-husband Willie Christie’s work shows her not only as an image-maker, but as the image itself. Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, Coddington collaborated with her then husband on a series of experimental fashion photographs. The little seen results are now part of an exhibition of Christie’s work at London’s Eight Club. From hauntingly lit scenes of cinematic glamour to striking and powerful monochrome portraits it’s an opportunity to gaze at the beauty of one of fashion’s most important and enigmatic visionaries.
Willie Christie’s Limited Edition Collection is on show at the Eight Club, London EC3 until 24th February.
This month Covent Garden’s Aram Gallery brings together a pick and mix cross section of the design world’s fascination with 3D printing. The umbrella term for Rapid Prototyping or Additive Manufacturing, 3D printing allows designers to use strands of, typically, polyamide or nylon in place of ink to create 3D objects based on a computer drawn image.
The nascent print form was adopted for producing prototypes but is now being explored as a means to an end. The Send to Print / Print to Send exhibition unites designers and studios both emerging and established to showcase not only the enduring significance of this stage in the design process, but also the potential of this technology.
Highlights include Chau Har Lee’s exquisite heels – a departure from more conventional footwear, but nonetheless visually arresting – modern tapestries by Chloe McCormich and Nicholas O’Donnell-Hoare and Assa Ashuach’s textual homeware. These designers are not only experts in their fields, but dare to dabble with 3D printing to take their designs to the next level.
Chau Har Lee comments: “My knowledge of traditional shoemaking helps me know how and where I can break boundaries. Importantly, although my most conceptual designs are showpieces, they are still built to adorn the foot.”
Perhaps Chloë McCormick sums it up best, though, when she says, “the intention of Warped Tapestry was not to work against new technologies but to find a balance where they would work with each other.”
Send to Print / Print to Send is at The Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5SG until 25th February. thearamgallery.org
Assa Ashuach, Twist Loop Light
Chloë McCormick Warped Tapestry, 2010
Chloë McCormick and Nicholas O’Donnell-Hoare, Tapestry Spectacle, 2011
(Top) Chau Har Lee, Rapid Form Shoe, 2009
Images courtesy of The Aram Gallery and Shira Klasmer.
Sam Winston is serious about doodling. Whether he’s drawing circles or rearranging words, his painstaking works play with shape and language to talk about life and death. From tomorrow he’s holding a pop up registry office in the Royal Festival Hall where he’ll commemorate the quarter of a million lives that are born and die in the space of 12 hours around the world.
Members of the public can add themselves and their loved ones to the work. Each circle will mark the ebb and flow of life, showing people as more than just a number.
Sam Winston: Birthday will be at the Royal Festival Hall 27 January – 29 January, 10am – 11pm. samwinston.com
For fashion students, photography lovers and art fanatics, Claire de Rouen’s bookshop, hidden away above a sex shop on Charing Cross Road, was an oasis of rare prints, signed editions and fledgling publications. A larger than life character, with her striking ageless style and ever present alsation pug Otis, Claire’s passing last week after a prolonged illness is a loss to all who prize independence and personality and to those resisting the creeping tide of a homogeneous culture.
There was room for everyone in her shop, all were free to browse or buy, and on her shelves young talent jostled happily alongside huge names. Twin can only thank and pay our respects to a woman who strove to deliver the best and allow the young to flourish.
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