This week, contemporary artists Alexandra Baumgartner, Beatriz
Crespo, Florence Reidenbach and Su Ling Gyr are displaying their own
personal confrontations with femininity at the GYNAECEUM exhibition in
Berlin.
Curated by Tippi Ling, the installation is set in a 1920s apartment —
a rather fitting location considering the exhibit’s questioning of
female confinement to the domestic space.
Baumgartner’s collages will explore themes such as social constraints
and the decay of the human body, whilst Crespo’s paintings examine the
daily rituals in women’s lives. Reidenbach’s combination of folklore and
fantasy delves into the creation of feminine identity, whereas Gyr
analyses notions of beauty throughout history with her multimedia
approach.
GYNAECEUM is not just a beautiful ode to the female artistic talent
of today, but also an empowering retrospective on just how far we’ve
come.
beatrizcrespo.com
Read the full article here.
Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers,
Standing at 6 feet 5 inches tall and covered in tattoos, perfumer Ben
Gorham doesn't strike one as the conventional type. Then again, neither
are his fragrances. BYREDO, which only has 12 stockists worldwide
including a flagship store in its place of origin, Stockholm, certainly
does the 'niche' in niche perfumery more than justice.
Thriving on a Swedish minimalist aesthetic, the look of each
fragrance is uniformly sleek and modern—or perhaps it is down to the
fact that the creations don't need fussy packaging or advertising to
sell themselves. Since 2006, Gorham's brand has put forth fragrances
that focus on the quality, not quantity, of raw materials used,
nonetheless resulting in wonderfully complex constructions. The latest
are Black Saffron, an oriental composition based around the costly spice
and omnipresent element of his Indian upbringing, Bullion, an
interlacing of pink pepper and black plum with a symphony of rare musk
and wood ingredients, and—in tune with 2012—Apocalyptic, a wood
fragrance composed of fire iron, black raspberry, oak moss and birch.
In the following interview, Gorham discusses his transition from Fine
Arts student to head of his own perfume label and the challenges that
come with it, collaborations with the likes of M/M (Paris) and what
otherwordly territories he hopes to demistify through fragrance next.
The
name BYREDO is derived from an Old English term for evoking scent and
the first creations were made DIY in your own home. Did you want to
bring romance back into this multi-billion pound mass industry, or was
it just an instinctual decision?
I think there was always an element of romance or poetry in my
approach but in terms of choosing the name it was a very practical
process. I wanted something that reflected the nature of my project but
was also unique. Plus I was able to register the .com which was
extremely important seven years ago!
You speak about "bringing together the best of old and new" in
your brand. What are the advantages of the old perfume industry and the
one we have today, respectively?
The advantages of the old perfume school is that it was focused on
very beautiful, unique raw materials as opposed to today's industry
where I find beautiful perfume ideas are buried under seventy or eighty
raw materials. The new part in BYREDO has been the compositions and the
simplicity of the fragrances, as well as the approach to product and
distribution.
Is having only a small number of stockists the idea of rarity
increasing desirability; should there be a certain aspect of elitism to
perfume?
The choice to work with a few select stockists was more based on
their ability to sell the ideas of the products that I created, and
those stockists were actually very limited. I wasn't strategic enough to
connect the idea of rarity to desirability but it was always very clear
for me that the elitist view of the perfume industry did not apply to
BYREDO. My idea today is really that these products are for anybody who
can appreciate them.
How was your reception within the industry as a Fine Arts graduate without any formal training?
There were some challenges in the beginning and many questions in
regards to my lack of pedigree. But I think the products spoke for
themselves and it's really been the one thing that's transcended the
industry's traditional framework.
What has been the biggest challenge of creating perfume?
When I initially started there were technical limitations because of
my know-how. Today, it's more in terms of running a decent-sized
business which comes with its own complications.
You have done collaborations with Fantastic Man, Acne and M/M
(Paris). Fashion, art, perfume — how do they all in your mind correlate
to one another?
In terms of collaborations I thought it would be interesting, since I
lacked a background in perfume but had a very specific idea, to invite
other people into that creative process. Both Fantastic Man and
Acne were built on that idea. M/M (Paris) has been more of an ongoing
partnership, they are very much helping me clarify my idea. I am
extremely fortunate to be able to work with such talented people.
What is the one smell you would like to capture in a fragrance which has not been done yet?
It used to be apocalypse, but now that I have done it I am more interested in space, outer space.
What is the new fragrance you are working on at the moment?
I am very much about the smell of gardens and landscapes right now. It is an ongoing project I hope to finish by the summer.
http://byredo.com
Later,
Carla
Read the full article here.
Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers,
Everyone seems to have their own reaction towards and way of dealing
with sexuality, from the blushingly coy to unapologetically extroverted.
Former sculpture/jewellery design student and LCF graduate Taeseok Kang
created a handbag collection based on the subject.
"The concept was sexual displacement from human body parts. Every
single bag relates to an expression of my sexual identity, and the
obsession with sexual imagination," he says. With artificial hair and
leather being Kang's fabrics of choice, this translates into designs
ranging from the quirky Wig Bag to the more bold Booby Bag. "Some people
will need courage in order to carry the more overtly sexual bags," the
designer admits, but those with a good sense of humour will probably be
more than happy to tote a Taeseok Kang around town.
http://showtime.arts.ac.uk/bg
Later,
Carla
Read the full article here.
