The continuous blossoming of Asian designers is both evident and spectacular, especially concerning their contributions to innovation. It’s no surprise that Singapore will host the inaugural Maison & Objet Asia in March 2014, as this year’s Parisian exhibition already offered up a taste…
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Cozy designs from the Parisian design trade show
Designers at this year’s Maison et Objet seemed unfazed by global climate change, coming equipped with fresh designs that reflect notions of warmth for interiors. From sculpted wood to tabletop fireplaces, here are a few of the notable pieces conjuring up a cozier ambience. The decorative wooden walls by…
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The NYC menswear edition invites other design disciplines to take the show beyond fashion
Now in its fifth year, Capsule aims to offer something different than the expected fashion tradeshow. Inspired by the simple idea that expanding one’s awareness beyond their primary industry fosters creativity and progress, this season the New York installment of Capsule introduces “Vignettes,” a set of unique installations that bring together ventures in art, design, literature and beyond for the opportunity to share experiences and ideas. The eight enterprises given the open-ended invitation to present include Best Made Company, byKenyan, Gingko Press, Hugo & Marie, Jack Spade, King’s Country Salvage, Matter and New York Art Department. Taking the shape of pop-up shops, mobile galleries and sculptural structures, the following are three vignettes that stood out for their originality.
Given their plot, Best Made Co erected a 14′ x 16′ canvas tent to serve as a experiential mini-shop and homebase for all visiting outdoor enthusiasts. Offering refuge from the menswear madness the massive tent is stocked inside and out with everything one needs to live in the outdoors, whether in the remote forest or the middle of a city. While the site may seem a bit out of place at first glance, Best Made’s commitment to making high quality products with a rich history parallels the mission driving many other brands showing at Capsule. “To put us in this context seemed like an interesting juxtaposition, but it also made sense. We see it as an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of interesting people that would probably enjoy what we’re doing, and vice versa,” says Best Made designer Hunter Craighill.
“It’s also a good opportunity to launch a handful of new products and get some feedback on the direction we’re moving in,” adds Craighill. “We think the other exhibitors will appreciate the different products we offer, and the details we consider.” These soon-to-be-released products include a rigid, all-purpose gear bag made with waxed canvas, ballistics nylon and kevlar; a T-shirt made with Japanese cotton slub; and a wool blanket by Pendleton for Best Made.
Taking a design-driven approach to the open-ended brief to create their own Vignette is NYC’s design shop and manufacturer Matter. Conceived by head designers Jamie Gray and Danielle Epstein, the skeleton of a structure acts as a sort of dressing room shrine. As Gray puts it, the concept creates a “slice or portion of a retail or showroom experience, capturing the intimate moment of being in the dressing lounge.” At the center of the set-up is Boxer, a modular storage system Matter debuted at ICFF earlier this year. By starting with the furniture and designing the structure, the two designed their Vignette from the outside in, or “working backward” as Epstein says. This unconventional approach allowed the structure design to evolve naturally from the its first sketch on a napkin through digital design and, eventually, construction.
“Capsule had this vision of design not necessarily being just about fashion or just about clothing or just about one particular aspect, and that’s something where we also see a lot of potential,” says Epstein. Speaking to this idea of crossing over the boundaries between design disciplines, select garments by like-minded labels can be found displayed throughout the structure alongside Matter designs.
Brooklyn-based creative agency Hugo & Marie created a minimalist structure that acts as a transparent gallery showcasing work by artists the agency represents. Consisting of little more than a few pieces of free-standing scaffolding, the Vignette offers passerbys a moment of tranquility with a place to sit and consider art as design.
For a closer look at the creative use of space in these three Vignettes see the slideshow.
Images by Graham Hiemstra
Global themes from the Parisian trade show
On our visit to the menswear portion of the Capsule show in Paris last week, we noticed several emerging themes—while vintage and customization hold a place of honor, along with knitwear, the most significant newsflash seems to be the return of prints (in color!), and a resurgence of short-hemmed pants for summer 2013.
Beyond basic customization are the silkscreen-processed pieces made by the audacious Sangue, our most thrilling discovery. Backed by a subversive artist based in southern Italy, Angelo, Sangue employs a unique technique to make chameleon-like T-shirts and shorts. Patterns range from traditionally painted ceramic tiling on houses and stone walls to natural scenery and plants, leaves and wood details. His clothes work like the pieces of a puzzle, constructed by putting a cut pattern on a surface, taking a picture of it and printing it on the T-shirt pulled taut over a hand-made canvas on which the screen process is applied.
The process as intriguing as the results, the effect is stunning and the shirts really look like they could seamlessly blend right back in with the background they were inspired by. Started only a couple of months ago, Sangue met a great success at Capsule, attracting distributors from all over the world.
Japan brought many young designers and interesting newcomers, most of them working with natural fibers. Among them, No No Yes, the “leather tailor laboratory” based in Tokyo, presented delightful printed, bleached and tie-dyed leathers, as well as artistic, half-erased patterns blending black letters, animals figures and exploding yellow sunflowers. Along with the leather jackets the line comprises unisex tunics treated and destroyed with an all-over wash for a semi-transparent finish (the women’s version has a thin, knotted elastic belt). Spring/Summer 2013 will also include a sleeveless vest in ultra-smooth leather which can be used as a scarf or turned into a shoulder bag or whatever the wearer feels like.
Also washed and distorted was the natural, casually elegant monochromatic-gray line by the Kobe-based Ryu. Working only with natural fibers like linen and cotton, the designer processes them for an aged look. His line features towel-like cotton T-shirts and graceful, almost-threadbare cardigans as well as beautiful jacquards for hoodies. Each pieces showcases Ryu’s impeccable attention to detail and finishing, from the cut of the lapels of the sport vests to the thumb holes on sweater sleeves.
The new line of crafted clothes by ALF in Kojima—the birthplace of Japanese jeans—is also made with natural material. In this case, however, the designer works them in order to obtain beautiful, shiny finishes, ultra-soft indigos or structured roughness for a series that evokes Asian work suits, all in blue.
Demonstrating a sense of French chic, Monsieur Lacenaire revisits the classic men’s wardrobe with knitwear techniques and luxurious Egyptian cotton. The brand specializes in what they call “knot tricks,” playing with matching its knit cardigans with the knotted wool belt of its chino pants. Upon closer inspection you realize that the belts aren’t actually removable accessories, but are part of the waistband on the trousers. This season Monsieur Lacenaire is mostly focused on the revival of the old “k-way” set-up on hoodies, allowing them to be folded into a reversible pocket on the back so it can be carried as a purse, instead of the deigned drape over the shoulders.
Another example of French hipster chic is Tigersushi Furs which was launched with the success of the famous Tigersushi electro music record label with the purpose to dress that sound. In the concept store in the Parisian Marais, unisex tops, navy striped shirts and short-hemmed pants are displayed along with vinyl records.
At the shoe booth we fell for the lovely, original and colorful sneakers from Topman, which go well with the new eccentric line of garments comprising painted-like printed flowers bombers and long knotted sweaters. Also noteworthy were Mark McNairy‘s UK-made dress shoes with colored soles and animal-hair and leather uppers.
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