Dear iDEALS, I recently met Charlie Le Mindu in Athens , the French-born hairstylist and headpiece designer, now based in London. He came to visit Athens and participate at the ART ATHINA fair, in mutual project between Dapper Dan magazine, ATOPOS Foundation and Vassilis Zidianakis.
After studying at the French Hair Academy, Le Mindu went on to establish himself as 'Resident Hairdresser' at Berlin nightclubs White Trash, RIO Club and Barbie Deinhoff's after performing a series of 'Live Cuts'.
Le Mindu now operates a salon from his East London home, and regular clientele include Lady Gaga, Carri Mundane, Peaches and Jodie Harsh. A regular contributor to Vogue Russia, Elle and French Vogue, Le Mindu launched his first wig collection in February 2009. He is considered as the biggest thing London exported recently, a real creative eccentric parallel to the likes of Gareth Pugh…
(photography Emma Tempest)
FilepMotwary: Charlie you are not even 25 yet and you have managed to prove that it takes more that talent to become establishment. How do you see your career’s height and the international interest that blossomed?
CharlieLeMindu: Well I’m only 23 and I’m never happy of what I do. I need to do more and more all the time. For me its impossible to know where is my career height right now and I want to continue working non-stop. I love what my work so much and like to do lots of different thing in my career. I can’t stay doing only one thing. My “make-over” show is coming out in June on French online Konbini TV, titled “ Charlie s treatment”, something I really enjoyed filming. I don’t understand people who devote themselves in only one task.
Did you plan your life?
I wish I could do that. In 10 years I’ll be on an Inland with 50 puppies! But honestly, I’m kind of off plans it as I never know how long I am staying in Berlin and when I’ll arrive in London. So I never know what tomorrow brings.
(photography Emma Tempest)
How difficult it was for you, one day working at a hair salon and the next creating hairpieces for the likes of Lady Gaga and Peaches or legendary B52’s even?
It’s really easy since I never stress! Apart when I have to take a plane which I'm so scared of! But I still work home and do my clients in the day. In the evening I become a designer. It’s almost like a ritual of a drag queen though my life is far from something so cheap. I have more fun and feel more creative than them!
(photography Emma Tempest)
You always work with human hair. Why not synthetic?
Yes, I detest anything fake ! I love real fur real hair! Though I love people who had plastic surgery and detest “fake” mentality.
On your website there is a price-list with your services to private clients. Someone would expect that you would stop this ritual and focus on your collections…
Yes! I actually stopped since a year now. Someone needs to update that site (laughs)
What is the reason you are visiting Athens for exactly?
Vassilis Zidianakis, the founder of Atopos invited me to do an intervention at the amazing Art Fair that he his organizing as part of ART ATHINA in collaboration with Dapper Dan magazine. Also, for the boys! This is the real reason!!! So WATCH OUT! (laughs) I love Greek names; they make me think of the comics like Asterix!!!
Have you been in Greece before?
No I had no reason to go there before but I’m so exited. I’m so bored of the sadness of London!.
(photography Filep Motwary)
Charlie, what is talent for you?
Someone who doesn’t copy other people’s ideas. That’s unique for me.
How does talent become a real value and necessity for an industry?
Well that how u starts I think u just have to be really creative and show what u can do. Do things even if its something you don’t want to. The rule is to be as creative as possible. I hate going to exhibition or catwalk and see something I can buy. I expect to see something not accessible, something that makes the difference.
To what percentage are you happy?
23 % like my age!
(photography Filep Motwary)
What is the most important thing you achieved as Charlie Le Mindu, the brand?
Its still the beginning and it will go bigger I’ll achieve some more stuff this next season for sure! It feels like nothing yet but I have lots of projects which are on the way and it s going to work. Surely lots people will love it!
You are an artist but yet you are not. Where is the red line separating your work from art?
I don't know. I don't feel I m a designer either as I feel better near creative people than fashion people!
Your work is pretty extravagant. It’s a sculptured poem each season. What does it take each time to create a collection?
It takes long time but I am lucky to have a good team working with me! My main guy called Rich who is amazing and the rest are just employees. It takes around 2 weeks for a wig or 5 for a all the outfits. But for the next collection I have been crazy on hair !!!
What are the morals of your profession? And how about your own morals?
I don’t have any morals.
What is the most important thing in fashion at the moment Charlie?
The NEW GENERATIONS !!!!!! Also I think the influence of Sex. Look at all those girls who are hopelessly trying so hard to look like a prostitute but they cant! As Dolly Parton once said, Dolly " it costs a lot to look so Cheap ".
Can you suspect where fashion will be in five years from now?
In a way I do. I hope though that the fashion writers and bloggers will take it to a state that it’s more fun.
Why is London so contemporary compared to Paris?
Because the French are late and so conservative. There is only one exception though and that is Mr Jean Paul Gaultier . All the other `French Houses” are owned by strangers like Italians or Germans, so of course they are good. The French people need to come out more and change their habits!
And why when the contemporaries move to Paris, tend to become Bourgeois?
Because Paris is beautiful! I love French people and the way they party and as I said, all the big houses are there! It s less freedom, more fun and less superficial!
What do you enjoy the most, the procedure or the result?
The result. At one point, during the last collection, I came to a point where I had to stop, as I couldn’t stand near hair anymore. It became a problem.
Credits on the first four hair photographs : Photography: Emma Tempest Hair: Charlie Le Mindu - using Fudge Make Up: Kenneth Soh using Mac Pro and Alpha-H Styling: Svetlana Prodanic Retouching: Gareth Pritchard
Models: Clara at Next Models London and Georgia Frost at Select Model Management
The film has been commissioned by Charlie Le Mindu to the duo Menelaou & Rueberg. Konstantinos Menelaou is the director and Marlon Rueberg looks after the art direction.http://www.menelaouandrueberg.com/
Dear iDEALS Thom Browne's first presentation in Paris was probably the most shocking from the men's SS11 presentations. Inspired by Kubricks masterpiece, Browne's hero comes out in the open, spotless.
Dear iDEALS, during the weekend my friend/photographer Mara Desypri allowed me to go through her photographic archives. It wasn't long after that I discovered a folder of photos from Diane Von Furstenberg's visit in Athens a few months ago. Mme Von Furstenberg came to Greece for a presentation of her SS10 collection. This post focuses on her beauty. Indeed she is a gorgeous woman.
By the way , I think I am in love with her blond assistant.
The second part focusing on the collection is coming to you later.
For the past three years that Isterografo Fashion Issue is breathing, one of the main points we set as “Must Task” was to include Maison Martin Margiela in our pages.
It wasn’t an easy one, as proved repeatedly, since I tried so many times to get though and finally manage to even have a response back. The mystery around MMM was growing bigger and bigger each time thanks to silence..but I wouldn’t give up..What makes Maison Martin Margiela so intriguing really? MMM has almost a self-masochistic behavior compared to how other Houses function.
There is a syntactic order somehow, that leads to a completely individual outcome each time. After twenty years the House was first launched, it remains a pure inspiration both in fashion, art and literature.A conceptual label that keeps on going, with no boundaries set by the changes of society or the world or even the market itself.MMM is continually overexposed, as the collections routinely reveal the designer's techniques and interests in their very construction. Bearing visible stitches, exposed hems, tailor's markings, and external shoulder pads, the collections never fail to intrigue, shock or delight.
Martin Margiela was born in Belgium in 1957. Early in his career, he became part of the Antwerp Six, the group that put Belgium as a solid member on the map of Fashion and its members included, Dirk Van Saene , Dirk Bikkembergs , Marina Yee, Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, and Walter Van Beirendonck , at the time all graduate students of Antewerps Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1984 he joined Jean-Paul Gaultier's design team, an experience that would profoundly shape his fashion sense. Leaving Gaultier in 1988, Margiela launched his own label, which soon became known for his theme-oriented collections.
His "Flat Collection" moved sleeves and armholes to the front, so garments would lie perfectly flat when not worn. His 1996 "Photoprint Collection" consisted of crepe garments printed with images of fur coats and heavy sweaters. Other collections have used broken dishes and bacterial mold; still others have featured no new designs, only favourite pieces from previous collections that have all been re-dyed in gray color.
Margiela always puts on a show, using vacant lots and old subway cars as runways, and marionettes and hangers as models. In 1997, Margiela was hired to design the women's ready-to-wear line for Hermes. His first Hermes collection proved he could color inside the lines when required to;
In late 2009, Martin Margiela quietly left the House he founded without a replacement.
Since then, his dedicated team took over, stepping on the worries of failure the press spread around the world.
The Margiela brand remains vibrant and vital without one creative force and its initiative will be studied by the many historic brands trying to stay relevant in the 21st century.
Starting on June 3rd until5thSeptember 2010
Somerset House of London ,hosts Maison Martin Margiela ’20’ The Exhibition;celebrating the 20 years of one of contemporary fashion’s most influential and enigmatic designers.
Following the success of recent exhibitions ‘SHOWstudio: fashion revolution’ and ‘Skin and Bones: parallel practices in fashion and architecture’ this unique exhibition will explore the designer’s artistic and conceptual approach to fashion and continues Somerset House’s commitment to showcasing the world’s most celebrated creative talents across fashion, art and design.
Conceived in close collaboration with Maison Martin Margiela and curated by the Mode Museum, Antwerp, this exciting show makes its London debut where it will be specially reconfigured for the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House, following critical acclaim at the MoMu, Antwerp and Haus der Kunst, Munich last year.
This is our recent conversation, proudly featured in Isterografo’s 7th Fashion Issue.
20 years of Martin Margiela. What was the goal of the House, when it first started out and how it has changed in comparison with today?
We view our work as a proposition to wear what we feel at any given moment.
How difficult it was for a Belgian brand to break into the Parisian bourgeoisie considering that the Margiela heroine is far from bourgeois?
At the beginning, it was just Martin and Jenny (Jenny Meirens was the co-founder of MMM) starting a company in Paris. Then, the team started to grow as the company developed. Today, Maison Martin Margiela is a team of more than 70 persons from 19 nationalities in Paris’ headquarters only. Does that make MMM a Belgian brand?
Martin Margiela dresses in the past ten years evolved into something more than ready-to-wear. What motivated the team into conquering couture, menswear and design objects?
We leave the interpretation of our work to others. As for ‘couture’, we have always shown handmade garments as part of our ‘Artisanal’ collection (line 0) where we rework/transform vintage and used garments of many varied époques to form unique pieces that are made available to our customers around the world. Though certainly not to be considered ‘Haute-Couture’ as it is understood today - our Artisanal production can maintain certain crafts involved in the production of hand made individual garments that have been alive for many centuries and that are difficult to keep within the industrial methods of clothing manufacture today.
Over the years, all the other lines (please see our flyer as per attached) came naturally as a complement to the original ones as the company was developing.
In the early years the brand tag on Margiela items was less visible than it is today. Could you please analyze the transformation and the importance of the signature visibility.
The four white stitches only appear on unlined garments. They were devised so as to, realistically and ideally, offer the option to those confronting the garments for the first time to react to their form and energy, and not just the idea of “brand” as expressed via a label.
What most people consider as our logo – the four stitches in the back with the white label inside the garment - had in fact the opposite purpose: it was meant to be cut off so the garment would be without a label and logo!
It has not changed at all except that before the label was completely white and with the creation of new lines, we added the numbers and circled the appropriate number of the line the garment is part of.
Why is the Margiela team and boutique staff dressed in white?
Original idea: Unity. An expression of team. A reference to the working ‘Atelier’/Studio’s of the past and present, those ‘blouse d’essayage’ that models wear between fittings at couture Ateliers.
Accidental plus point: A way of quickly recognizing each other amid the fray of a fashion show.
We approach white as an expression of our union as a team and also as an evidence of option, an option of expression, be that ours or that of those who choose to wear the clothes we propose.
What is the philosophy of a MMM boutique?
That it represents as best it can the spirit of our work and home. We wish our shops bring an atmosphere of intimacy, calm, encouragement, stimulation and ease. We want that those who visit any of our stores feel as at home there as we do.
Though all spaces inhabited by the Maison share common themes, no two are alike in form, theme or decoration. Great care is taken to respect each building's unique structure and original use. The atmosphere of each shop, adapted and decorated by Maison Martin Margiela, also draws on the prolific and iconographic use of whites – of furniture, objects, fabrics and textures, old and new - typical of the spirit of the Maison Martin Margiela's Paris premises, a former school of industrial design. Furniture and architectural elements salvaged from shops and houses across the world are brought to build on the space’s personality.
What has MMM achieved in its 20 years of existence?
You are in a better position to answer this question than we are.
The Artisanal line brought a whole new chapter in Fashion, What was the main idea behind it?
Line 0 is Collection « Artisanal » for women & men. Since its beginnings in 1988, Maison Martin Margiela has been gathering garments, accessories, used and sometimes new objects across the globe. That these garments and objects may be given a second life whilst respecting and maintaining the traces of the passage of time and use remains one of the keystones of the creative expression of the Maison.
Each garment is reworked entirely by hand in the atelier of the Maison in Paris. The complexity and specificity of each step of such a creative process of transformation will naturally limit the quantity of garments produced.
The individuality of the materials used to create each garment ensures that each is as unique as that which was used to create it. The label, numbered 0, is sewn, embossed or stamped depending on the material used to create the garment or accessory.
How important is for MMM to feel connected with its customers considering the fact that the House itself is a mystery?
Crucial! We hope that they are convinced that they can be completely ‘at one’ with a garment and be happy wearing it and that a garment can reply to the needs and emotions of the person wearing it is a beautiful thing.
We are lucky enough to have a very wide group of men and women who wear our garments. From our point of view we have always paid particular attention to designing for as large a cross section of women and men as possible. We are lucky in that so many people of different ages, shapes, social role and background are following our work! For us femininity is all embracing and is not just limited to one body form or one attitude. Since our beginning our fashion shows have reflected this reality of our collections in that we have always chosen to show our collections on women of varying ages and from varying walks of life. We feel that we are lucky in that this approach is also reflected in those who wear our garments.
To what extent is MMM connected to ART?
We prefer not to interpret our work, preferring to leave that up to others better placed to place our work in an overall context. We all have work that we love, though, possibly regrettably, as a team we have no real connection to the Art world.
Fashion is a craft, a technical know-how and not an art. Each world shares an expression through creativity though through very divergent media and processes.
Paris radiates its own platform when it comes to fashion. Why is the city of light so relevantly fashionable?
At this stage, the inertia that this town has amassed over the years. An inertia that draws creativity and those attracted to it into its core. Yet Paris is not essentially different from any other great city ‘of personality’.
It stands as itself in much and the same way as New York, London, etc. Almost a ‘brand’, its ‘branding’ is of a town that embraces a more individualistic creative expression. Those wishing to begin in fashion tend to start and show here because of the concentration of fashion professionals passing through town throughout the year (that inertia again!).
Would the House wish to link again with another like the past connection you had with HERMES?
Such collaboration was a personal project of Martin Margiela, not of Maison Martin Margiela.
Today there is a blossom of pseudo couture, a lot of designer get credibility without actually deserving it. Many faces come and go in a glimpse of an eye…Everything is moving so fast.. What does it take for a HOUSE to remain in charge in such times?
Courage and instinct.
What are the differences between your men and women customers?
Gender!
How is sex appealing in the MMM collections?
It is to others to interpret.
Has MMM experienced relevant tragedies like the recent worlds financial crisis?
No!
MMM is a result of teamwork. How do new members enter the team and to what extent is the difficulty for a member to leave the House?
We suppose just as easy and/or difficult as in any other team. More generally, there are over 70 people at the Paris HQ. We often compare our way of working to the building of a wall: everyone brings a stone and eventually the wall is built. And everyone needs to bring the stone, otherwise the wall collapses. Everyone has a role within the team, but everyone also has a voice within that team… This is one of the reasons why Martin never appeared publicly, as we all know that if he would have, the light would have been on him, and without him in the light, the message would be different: the work is the collaboration of a team and not just about one single individual.
What is the most valuable moment in the History of Fashion and why?
More often than not we are so close to our work it is genuinely impossible for us to define the ‘how or why’ and especially, experience tells us, to predict the ‘buttons it will push’ in those who are confronted by it. This is as true of the reaction any individual will have to a garment hanging in a store as it is for the professionals of our industry to a fashion show.
What serves to inspire you the most?
Our main inspiration has always has been the extremities and changes of daily life. Our work is solely a proposition to wear what it is we like to create, a presentation of a way in which we see things at a given moment.
As a team we all share so many interests and sources of inspiration, these are all very varied and would take far too long to list here. It is often hard to quantify or describe inspiration. It is often more by osmosis than an active decision.
Each member of our team seeks to explore their own stimulation, be that visual or another. Such stimulation and dialogue varies in direction and importance for each of us.
What are the morals of MMM?
Such notions are not part of our vocabulary.
MMM suffers from a lack of self exposure. Does it happen out of modesty and if not, why is the House hidden in shade from the Glossies?
Even though people tend to think we do not communicate, we feel we are. But we do not use any physical image of a designer to promote our work. If people are touched and like to wear what we propose they are free to buy and wear it. What our designer looks like has, for us, little or nothing to do with this process. We prefer that people react to a garment through their taste and own personal style and not their impression of the individual and group of people who created it as translated and hyped by the press. Unlike actors or singers we do not need any physical form to express our work.
What is modern?
An abused notion that became meaningless…
What is old?
Our headquarters’ building.
How will MMM be on its 30th anniversary?
Let’s speak again in 2018.
A final quote on SEX.
Sex is good.
A conversation with MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA and FILEP MOTWARY
Liria Pristine, a Central St. Martin’s graduate, in just only
four years has produced an impressive body of work defining a
uniquely personal expression in fashion design and knitwear especially. She is the person who brought nothing less than what real design should deliverance today. The following interview gives some more of her character and aesthetics of her work.
Matthew Zorpas: Would you say you have always been interested in fashion and in knitwear specifically?
Liria Pristine: Definitely yes, but maybe not consciously so, I have been interested in textiles and couture for as long as I can remember. I'm lucky to be a mix of so many cultures and always had amazing textiles in my life. Knitwear became an amazing way for me to express my love of color, contrast, and textures. I'm in awe of the creative/innovative possibilities that knitwear offers, but very much in a couture type of way, because when you start involving mass production you start losing these possibilities. Knitwear is a craft, so there is a fine line, with it now being so popular in fashion, because it’s a hard medium to sustain in the world of fashion, as a new designer. A lot of my fellow peers from CSM struggle with this, how to stay creative and innovative yet make money with knitwear in fashion.
How will you describe the concept of your clothes?
The concept of my clothes is to keep being inventive and not to settle on an idea without seeing it through. I owe it to myself and to others to release something that is visually new and simulating. This might take a lifetime to do, but I will keep trying upon each release. I do not want to be part of that fashion world of people that do things for status purposes, for pure money purposes. My work is very organic, and very personal, its very much a feeling, an idea that I will constantly dissect and re-introduce I always try to evolve and re-analyze, a certain design idea, a certain texture. To quote from Louise Bourgeois "I do, I undo, I redo"
What aspect of your knitwear work makes it unique?
I think my work is' hard' and 'structural', which never really fits with knitwear, first thing you think of when someone says knitwear, is soft and cozy...that’s not my knitwear!
What inspires you creatively? Who would you say have been your primary influences?
The possibility of creating textiles inspires me, the idea of making something from scratch, with one ingredient, a piece of yarn, how amazing is that?! That’s all I need to get inspired. I tend to get more inspired by people's stories and their journey, this brings me closer to someone’s work. At the moment I am reading The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, such an inspiring piece of work, so raw, and very rare, he was very unique. Patrick Wolf is also a great inspiration to me, he has a great gift (extremely under-rated)...I wish we would start celebrating our artists before they die...for their work not for their media status. Ray Caesar is another artist that drives me completely insane. I want to jump into his art, experience it first hand, its a visual feast, words can't describe it for me.
Is there any period of history that you relate your ideas to?
Art Nouveau is a reoccurring obsession of mine; I think it influences my textiles a lot; I love decorative arts, endless stream of inspiration. I love surrealism also, maybe love and hate it at times, but I always seem to be drawn back in.
Designers create new trends every season: do you feel that you do the same?
No. Definitely not, I don't really want to work with seasons, I think I create more timeless /classic pieces, I think trends exist because there is so much 'copying' involved in this industry from an unrealistic demand of collections per designer per year. Of course trends can be fun, but how can one fall in love with something that they will so easily get over once the next trend comes along. I never want my work to be forgotten or pushed aside to make room for the next trend, I want my work to be treasured and collected.
UK or Brazil? What projects are you currently working on?What shall we expect from you?
For now, for me...Brazil. I've been doing some freelance work here, but getting back to my personal work any day now! Hmmm, I want to tell you what you should expect from me...but maybe I won't....its here somewhere...between the lines!
How would you describe the world of fashion now?
I think it’s a mess, Nijinsky foresaw long ago that commerce would be the death of mankind. I think the fashion industry needs to be re-evaluated, we need to take care of our young models, our designers, we ask too much of them. And we are losing them, this year we lost many to suicide and bankruptcy. It just needs a few top voices to speak out for them, and that’s all, but people get scared, when commerce is involved, it seems more important then losing lives.
Mass production leading to slave labor, people are so obsessed with buying fashion at a low price that they are choosing to ignore where it is coming from, its not necessary to have so much clothes in this world, so many collections. It all sounds rather heavy, but it kind of is, if we just stop and allow ourselves to think about it.
Design-wise its both boring and exciting...there are few new designers that are fresh and exciting, it's the repetition in fashion that bores me, the rules of a collection, how it should look like, when it should come out, the commerce of it all...I wish there were more copyright laws in the world of fashion and less demand for collections per season. People could have more time to be creative. Fashion (to me) should be an expression of oneself regardless of what's 'in fashion'!!
“I don’t know much about fashion” Henrik tells me but I wonder if he is really aware of the substance his work has.. Young designers understand that success and recognition in the fashion industry does not come without insane late nights, extreme multi-tasking, and odd freelance jobs left right and center. All this leaves barely enough time to sleep and eat.
The life of Danish-born designer manages to run his own self-titled label, which is stocked around the world at exclusive boutiques most designers would kill to sell at. He also runs his own flagship store in Copenhagen, while skipping off to show collections in Paris four times a year. Not content with stopping at clothing, he has traveling installation exhibitions (at shows like Palais de Tokyo and Hyeres Art Festival), and also finds the time to create short films. Oh, and to top it all off he is a champion break-dancer, and has been playing the drums since he was ten years old…Everybody loves Henrik…
(Henrik Vibskov Men's SS11 by BY SHOJI FUJII courtecy of Diane Pernet)
FilepMotwary: Henrik, apart from a remarkable and visionary designer, you are also a source of many other talents. How do you combine them all: music, film, art, graphic design, and drums…? HenrikVibskov: Sometimes, I use elements from the installations for the collections, like in a print... and the installations always breathe the mood of the collection, but they can really stand-alone. And I make the music for my shows. I was basically interested in all subjects both on a small scale like in fashion, where you fumble around with buttons and the smallest stitches as well as the doing installations, that conquer the entire room... and the emotional aspect of music as well. So I combined all together!
(Photo Frederik Heyman)
How do you see fashion today compared to when you first started?
Mhh, I always miss things and then I make them, it's just that. I don't think about fashion and all its rules and systems...
How did you end up choosing fashion in the first place?
There was a girl I fancied, who planned to go to Central St. Martins and I just said, yeah, me, too. But totally forgot it... and when I met her weeks later, she asked me about it. So I called them and got an interview appointment the next day, I prepared a file during the night, jumped in the plane ... and got in. I also got the girl actually.
(Photo Frederik Heyman)
You grew up in the countryside of Denmark. Yet today, your work is solidly breathing in the Metropolises of fashion. What were your real dreams as a kid?
As a child, I was more into break dancing. But I turned out to be very tall.
To what percentage is your childhood connected to what you do today, considering the fact that your heroes are so different from what we call “fashion industry”.
I grew up on the green countryside of Jutland, which is a part of Denmark. I was introduced to drums by my brother and started break-dancing later... that was really my world and I still very very much need to go to the countryside sometimes today and of course you can see the influences in my work..
Your presentations are also an interesting matter to discuss. Every time they look like a sci- fi scenario accomplished by another angle and point of view, yet truly original. What it is you want to give out?
The installations work as a stage, they interact with the models and the collection. They reflect the collection as well, but that's not their main purpose, I always want to touch something more universal with the installations, than with the seasonal collections.
The procedure you follow each season while creating a collection?
I don't set a theme for a collection. The shape of the collections is slowly modeled by a complex process of continuous gathering of images and inputs. It can be a thought of a detail or small research project, something from an exhibition, a lady at the market, a book or a character."
Last time I was in Paris your were sitting 5 meters away from me at the Bernhard Willhelm show. I thought it was great. Are you friends?
Yes we are.! He is great.
Do you feel that designers should support each other?
Yes definitely. We have two physical shops in Copenhagen and Oslo. Oslo is very spacious so we can display some of the installations and also invite friends and artists to show there. We also have a webshop, where we sell the mainline as well as other designers like Bernhard Willhelm, Bless, Walter van Beirendonck and Stine Goya and many more.
What is fashion today Henrik?
I am not too much into fashion I must say... I have a boat that I share with some friends and I'd rather go sailing on it, than strolling around the shops.
Where is it heading?
Good question, I don’t really know...
How do you keep your balances? What do you enjoy the most in Fashion?
Being surrounded by friends who support each other and following the same vision; and traveling is great but not too much...
Has recession affected you?
Happily not that much..
I would like to know more about your Grafic Works exhibition in Berlin. What was is about?
I presented a selection in Berlin of my two-dimensional pieces, exhibited alongside installation and knit-works. With colorful and organic shapes that seem like animated beings. My experience with design, textile and pattern certainly helped a lot resulting in a collection works that, in keeping with my philosophy, intertwines a diverse selection of creative fields.
Also you had a book out recently “ Panda People and their Works” . What is it about?
ʻThe Panda People and Other Works.ʻ is my second book. (1st Fringe book) Itʻs showing selected graphic work and using Japanese Binding techniques and 50-page long and a , limited edition, but most of all its a journey into the graphic universe of my Panda People I’m sharing inspiration with!
You keep a very low profile in what you do. How do you promote your work, considering the fact that we live through an era that the face of a designer appearing all over the place matters in order to gain commercial success?
My work speaks for themselves. I don’t need a high media budget. Fashion is a product in the end... But I don't think, I could design with the market in mind. I have to work on 4 collections per year - if I would think about Sales figures, my creative ideas would dry out. I am lucky, that people like the things I do...
Which is the ideal working environment for you?
Filep, you have to come in visit my team and me in my studio. its the perfect work environment because we‘re all friends and having a good time.
What is your moral Henrik?
Puh I don‘t have any moral....Haha! Keep it up..
Note: The interview of Mr Henrik Vibskov is part of the 7th Fashion Issue of Isterografo published by Phileleftheros/Cyprus.Under Copyrights.
Thank you Anna Wallis at Agency V and Frederik Heyman
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