V&A Textiles Archives Reinterpreted

Posted on by Emma Neuberg
Photobucket

Violet Daisy, Digital Animation, Emma Neuberg, 2012.

Here at the Slow Studio, London, we have been working  on a research project (between Chelsea College of Art and the V&A) that builds upon our passion for the trad-tech convergence and trajectory.
We have been studying the traditional stencil prints of 1920s Paris used for fashion and interiors and reinterpreting the original artwork and swatchbooks through digital imaging.
The final collection of new textiles will be presented in silk swatchbooks and animated digital sequences.
The launch of the collection and the exhibtion will be during the Chelsea Flower Show in London.
Watch this space!

Louis Vuitton and Mental Capital through Craft

Posted on by Emma Neuberg

The Louis Vuitton collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is a fascinating one in so much as LV is the world’s iconic brand for supporting craft and artisanship today.

Yayoi Kusama is well known for suffering from mental illness; indeed, she resides in a psychiatric ward, as mentioned in the Louis Vuitton film.

The extent of her life’s work is an indication of the need and containment gained from her practice. Remember Louise Bourgeois’s image:

Here at Slow Textiles, we have been talking about the importance of mental capital as the potent yield in craft, art and practice for several years. Hitherto, this has not been a fashionable conversation.

Mental capital not only creates social and cultural capital but resource capital too. What more extreme example is there than Marc Jacobs holding a Kusama Vuitton handbag?

The connections between these (practice, mental capital and resource capital) need to be spoken of more  (and researched) so that we may expand the conversation of craft and its relevance today – beyond the limited dialogue of craft as Etsy-inspired glocalism.

  Yayoi Kusama as a young artist in one of her installations.

  Yayoi Kusama today at her Tate retrospective, London.

The Crafts Council in the UK recently launched their Craft in an Age of Change report. Here is a page of the typical questions it addresses (click to enlarge):

These questions are the same questions that have been asked for 40 years both by the Crafts Council and the Design Council in the UK.

The limitation of the questions constrains the development of discourse, understanding and insight.

In our opinion, at the Slow Studio (UK), this narrow perspective is outdated in a GDP thinking kind of way and, paradoxically, restricts growth of the sector.

Nowhere is mentioned the deeper human drives and needs for gesamtkunstwerk – regardless of economic recession and ecological disaster.

The Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama collaboration gives us a great place to start.

 The young artist covers all surfaces with pattern. 

Exquisite British Textile Details at McQ A/W 2012

Posted on by Emma Neuberg
The beauty of the details in yesterday’s McQ show at London Fashion Week express a very British style. 

The autumnal leaves, devoré textures, velvet appliqué and ribbon-work flowers all speak of the rich traditions of textile work and craft in the UK.

Nature is so present in these garments and textures; they are a reminder of our proximity to the natural world of the northern hemisphere here in the UK and, moreover, the sustenance that felted  wools, tartans and handwork imbue when they clothe us.


This inspirational first ‘haute’ collection for McQ (by Sarah Burton) communicates firmly textiles’ relationship with nature and, in turn, human industry, engagement, skill, tradition and endeavour. 


Cutting Edge Fashion and Textiles Lectures Now Booking!!

Posted on by Emma Neuberg
We’re delighted to announce a new season of sustainable fashion and textiles lectures straight from the Slow Studio. 
Topics range from why western society is compelled to consume such quantities of stuff to the thousands of deformed people whose parents were exposed to cotton crop insecticide in the name of fast fashion.
To view the lecture list, go here.