• The Azerbaijan Equation vs. Gender Equality at Miami Art Basel

    Written by pari

    A Personal Essay by Ludmilla Christeseva

    The Art Basel show in Miami ran through December 5th thru 9th, introduces and re-introduces artists from around the world. Turning downtown and Miami beach area into a hub of art exhibitions and events, the primary art show in the United States brings the art society together not only for festivities and inspiration but also for great deals in the art business. After consuming art for one week on the sunlit South beach, interpretation is obligatory.

    The diverse artistic expression of The UNTITLED Art Fair on Ocean Drive in South Beach seemed to offer the most exciting art collection with a focus on gender issues. There, in booth B 27, male artist Faig Ahmed from Azerbaijan introduced his Liquid Design carpets, hand-made by female weavers from his home country. As a typical Persian rug could be overlooked, the distinct psychedelic nature of Ahmed’s works is undeniable and one is left to ponder the widely overlooked cultural and historical nature of what lies behind this traditional tapestry.  

    Since at nomadic times some 2,500 years ago at least, tapestries have been embellishing homes in the Middle East. Designing a place to live and raise our children, however, we should remember that this is the place where gender equality begins and where every object can be intertwined with issues of power and subjectivity, gender and class, culture and individuality. One might be able to see beyond the pleasant aesthetics of hand-woven carpets: they are historically produced by women, yet marketed by men.

    Sustained by traditions centuries-old and crossing cultural boundaries, women are widely recognized as the carpet weavers. In villages, women have historically woven carpets for family use and would teach their daughters these skills. Girls would have a greater chance of marrying if they were skilled weavers, textiles were a part of young girls’ dowry to their future husbands whom they, perhaps did not wish to marry. They would take great care in following traditions. Carpet weaving would serve for them as a way to share their stories about daily life, tribal culture, thoughts and perhaps, impossible dreams.

    While providing comfort, warmth as well as decor, tapestry speaks about gender inequality and unpack power relationships in society. The Liquid Design rugs by Faig Ahmed are no exception. I can see through the colour palettes that they are still produced by women but appropriated by men who try to tell the world a different story rather than that of women and carpet weaving which are almost exclusively linked.

    Being both amused and distracted by the manufactured defects, which were skilfully appropriated in the art world of the Azerbaijan artist and conceptualized as a series of handmade woolen carpets, we have gradually moved beyond the suggested psychedelic understanding. This colourful digitalization was executed by the Middle Eastern women and submitted at the world’s largest art fair by a young and talented male artist. Capturing the assiduous cultivation of authenticity and diversity in Faig Ahmed's rugs, I was wondering if his artistic exploration of the field of artisan know-how and creativity connected to today’s contemporary solutions, empowers the women who work for him, to learn by doing. In this part of the world, women are products of cultures that maintain the traditional roles of females to remain at home and know how to take care of families and raise children.  Restricted to their households, tribal art functions both as a duty and for enjoyment, but also as a language widely used to tell women’ stories, feelings and dreams. This language, however, has remained unvarying throughout generations. The yearning of a young woman to get married is still always the emphasis.

    Represented by the Sapar Contemporary gallery in New York City, Faig Ahmed has been exhibiting his handcrafted collection of the psychedelic creations worldwide, gradually earning his status as a spiritual contemporary artist. Suggesting an excited invasion of the traditions of tapestry and I would say of traditions, in general, Faig Ahmed involves ornaments in his artistic language. To me, the meaning of an ornament is, on one hand, a decoration and is a way to organize an object, but on the other hand, it acts as a constant repetition, which is regular and stable. So are the traditions, which are passed down from one generation to another, repeated, and cherished. We are not allowed to change or question them and are therefore afraid.  Using the habitual patterns, Faig Ahmed is developing trust. But what kind of message do his works actually carry? How are social values and norms communicated and discussed through his innovative approach? His disobedient behaviour found in this series of bizarre psychedelic carpets brings many women together in the production process. To me, the weaving in the works of Faig Ahmed is not about decoration or interior solutions, but rather it is about women’s rights which are rooted in patriarchy, which women unconsciously or consciously choose to sustain through generations. When speaking about carpets, we would agree that the best ones come from the Middle East, where the position of women is bound by patriarchal norms and gender inequality. No doubt, his rugs are amusing works of art, yet they are strongly associated with the gender issues of the Middle Eastern cultures.

    While Europeans for centuries eagerly adorned their homes with the best handmade carpets exported from the Middle Eastern countries such as Morocco, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, to name a few, I was wondering if gender inequality issues, weaved in by women themselves, could be explored, questioned, and eradicated through the same process? Some women find weaving to be an enjoyable means of passing time and a way of expressing themselves creatively, yet it has never been a feasible form of income generation. But what if we reverse the culture of carpentry through learning by doing or by creating a different design pattern together, in which we connect the traditional craftsmanship and artisan know-how with contemporary digital trends. Meanwhile, we might agree that it is important to be mindful of words, actions, and objects in our homes, which can perpetuate or combat gender stereotypes. To me, only when the conditions are right, can anything be resplendent?

  • Kirsty Mitchell —Wonderland 2th December–3rd March

    Written by Fashion Tales

    On 7 December, Fotografiska opened the doors to Kirsty Mitchell’s fairy tale world in this winter’s major exhibition Wonderland – a dream world to be
    enchanted and embraced by during the darkest months of the year. The magical creations and woodland sets of Wonderland both move and fascinate. Mitchell embarked on the intensive 5 year project in the summer of 2009, a few months after her mother had tragically died of cancer in 2008. It became her escape from a painful reality as she sought her way back to the fairy tale world they shared throughout her childhood. In the woods around her home, the characters from Mitchell’s imagination were given free roam in front of the camera. A journey through a healing grief in a fairy tale kingdom …

    The story of Kirsty Mitchell and her Wonderland project is much like a fairy tale. A multifaceted fairy tale in many respects.

    –For the first time, the exhibition will include all 74 photographs featured in the Wonderland book. The exhibition is a true fairy tale experience – like a brightly coloured firework display where magic and reality meet on the journey we call life, says exhibition producer Lisa Hydén at Fotografiska.

    It all begins with a young and successful fashion designer who studied art history and had a very close and loving relationship with her mother, an English teacher whose great passion was literature and books, a joy which she would constantly share by reading aloud to her daughter.

    When the mother is diagnosed with a brain tumour, the daughter’s world comes crashing down and in her grief she turns to the ancient woodlands that surround her home, deep in the English countryside. With incredible attention to detail, she plans and prepares her photos by designing the most spectacular costumes and props, some of which take months to complete. Each piece is a tribute to her mother, forged from the daughter’s faded childhood memories of the books they once shared, mixed with the sadness of her adult grief and her new found spiritual connection with nature.

    Together with a small team of models, a makeup artist and her husband, out in the woods she then builds stunningly beautiful sets for each photograph. Each filled with drama and characters that capture the imagination evoking a strong sense of recognition, despite being entirely new creations from her own mind. As part of the project, the daughter starts to write a deeply emotional blog about her grief and the project in the woods, a blog that increasingly attracts more attention from people who can understand to her experiences and relate to what she is going through.

    The story behind Mitchell’s Wonderland book, which will now also take the form of an exhibition at Fotografiska, is as magical and spectacular as her woodland photographs.

    –We felt that somehow my mother was with us, so it was important that we always went to the woods as planned, regardless of the weather. So we hauled these creations through snowstorms and downpours to let that which was supposed to happen actually happen. The overall feeling of this tribute to my mother was that it just needed to be done. It was like escaping to a place that felt deeply meaningful, in the midst of everything else, says Mitchell.

    The ambition was to create a book, a book of the highest quality to reflect the great, heartfelt love that existed between mother and daughter, and it was to reach a large audience. Several publishers made contact as the project became increasingly widely known, but all involved compromises.

    –At that point, I was contacted by a big name in the industry who suggested that I should self-publish and that it could be financed by crowd founding. Then we’d be able to get enough money together to use the best designers and printers. So we set it up, my husband and I. Once we’d registered the project on Kickstarter, we were really on edge, wondering if anyone would be interested. Then it started ticking upwards, again and again, because it turned out that so many people wanted to get involved and contribute, Mitchell explains.

    The book achieved it’s funding goal within 24 hours and after 28 days. Wonderland became the most funded photobook in crowdfunding history raising £334,000, with the first edition selling out completely within 2 months. And the result – a photo book unlike any other of the absolute highest quality in all respects from the paper to the design. A book that does justice to the photographs and this daughter’s tribute to her mother. Everything planned and managed down to the last detail by a heavily pregnant Mitchell, who eventually gave birth to her first child on Christmas Eve 2015, just 2 days after the book was delivered to it’s supporters all over the world.

    But the drama of this story doesn’t end there. Eight months later, new mother Mitchell was diagnosed with breast cancer whilst in Italy printing the Second Edition of her book and the next chapter of the challenges of life unfolded.

    –I just focused solely on getting through it and put all my energy into my recovery. Now, two years later when I’ve been given the all-clear, I have so much creativity trapped inside that needs to get out. I know how much healing is to be found in expressing your innermost feelings, whether through words or a creative process, and how rewarding it is to share this process with others.

    https://www.fotografiska.com/

  • Designers Guild introducing spring summer 19 ‘VERONESE’

    Written by Fashion Tales

    This season Designers Guild draw inspiration from the opulent beauty of sixteenth century Venetian art and introduce an entirely new and contemporary way of using florals, resulting in a collection that is both complex and delicately nuanced. Discover a collection with a quiet compelling beauty.

    Serene fabrics feature an evocative new style of photorealistic blooms and delicately shaded florals in a variety of scales, with elegant and sophisticated chenille textures and timeless geometrics. Wallpapers include sensuous textural effects and incredible statement panels that reinvent the notion of decorative florals. With the definitive library of over 5,000 plain textures too, including unique sustainably sourced small scale weaves and versatile additions to our outdoor portfolio, we present a new season imbued with modernity.

    The colour palette of the collections celebrates the luminous, translucent quality of Veronese’s frescoes and the heightened clarity of photorealistic art, in a contemporary palette. Discover layers of soft colour and new shades of pistachio, vanilla, rose and olive, with tints of sky blue, silvery grey, chalk and peony.

    https://www.designersguild.com/

  • AVAVAV collaborates with Add to Bag founders

    Written by Fashion Tales

    On Tuesday 27th of November AVAVAV released a collection in collaboration with Viola Bergström and Fanny Ekstrand, founders of Swedish fashion podcast Add to bag. As both parts had been aware of each other a longer period of time – they got a phone call one day from Adam Friberg, founder of AVAVAV who wanted to collaborate in some way without really knowing how or in what way.

    We put our great minds to work, and after a while we started to work on a mood board, and somehow the idea of a collection was born. We went to Florence and AVAVAV HQ to sketch and look for fabrics together with Linda Friberg, Creative Director at AVAVAV. The result was a collection of 5 pieces and 1 accessory” says Fanny Ekstrand, one half of the Add to bag-duo.

    The collection is naturally produced with AVAVAV’s core idea to excess leftover fabrics from all the beautiful material that are being produced in Florence to the world’s leading fashion brands, and from these make use of and create smaller, exclusive collections with minimal impact on the environment.

    It feels like the perfect match working with AVAVAV since we both try to combine fashion with sustainability. The main idea is simply based on pieces we use the most, with every item being a statement piece. They are easy to dress up and down, as well combined with each other in unexpected ways which give them both a longer and a more exciting life” says Viola Bergström.

    In conjunction with the launch, Add to bag will release a podcast episode about the creating process, where the listeners are taken on the journey from idea to actual first pieces, to understand the process of how a garment is made.

    …………………………………………………….

    About AVAVAV

    AVAVAV are based in Florence, in the heart of Italy’s centruries-old tradition of textile manufacturing to the world’s leading fashion brands. AV takes care of the overflow of many beautiful fabrics and create small, exclusive collections with weekly releases, all by production with minimal environmental impact and at a very attractive price level. Just over a year old AVAVAV have been named one of Italy’s most promising start ups. The company is run by Linda and Adam Friberg, two of the founders of well-known brands Cheap Monday, Weekday and Monki. Clothing, shoes and accessories are sold online and in the store at Smålandsgatan in Stockholm, which runs as PR office, showroom and e-commerce.

    https://www.avavav.com/

  • Transparent Sound is back with new speakers mixing craft, Scandinavian design and innovative tech

    Written by Fashion Tales

    Six years ago the first version of what became a speaker loved by design and music interested people all over the world was created for the first time: the Transparent Speaker. Now, a few years later, Transparent Sound is back with two versions of the Transparent Speaker and a limited edition named UPCRAFTED, where they together with skilled craftsmen are continuing to move the boundaries between design, technology and craft.

    The first version of the Transparent Speaker was born during an internal lab 2012 and quickly received a lot of positive attention. The year before four friends had started the company, initially named People People, with an ambition to show an alternative to all the complicated tech products on the market. After some years of product development and internal organisational changes four have become two. Per Brickstad and Martin Willers are now back with Transparent Sound and exciting speakers in both familiar as well as new designs.

    The driving force for Transparent Sound have always been a curiosity, a desire and a will to question what tech products mean and bring to people’s life. Per and Martin sees themselves as craft nerds, with an almost unhealthy relation to details. They aim to create emotions with their products and to make people co-operate with the nature to a greater extent. Their design approach takes inspiration from the Scandinavian functionalism, but also includes contemporary elements, materials, textures as well as details.

    Due to their interest in craft, and the respect for our nature, Per and Martin have the latest year, except for continuing to improve their Transparent Speaker, also developed a limited edition collection of handcrafted speakers that will be released in the end of November. The collection is called UPCRAFTED and has been created together with skilled craftsmen. The collection consists of three ”up cycled” speakers: one wood speaker, one ceramic speaker and one steel speaker. The collection solely consists of 10 versions of each speaker.

    ”With the collection UPCRAFTED we aim to investigate to what extent an advanced tech item also can be a beautiful design object. To investigate where the line goes we have decided to work with real natural materials and talented craftsmen. There is something truly exciting in letting components transform into new formats, where the products are modular and to some extent also circular: a refining process where we let the product ”up cycle” to an even better and more unique product. We like the idea of things getting better with time,” says Per, Head of Design at Transparent Sound.

    In a time where tech products are often complicated and often feel old already after a year or so, Transparent Sound strive to be an alternative. The name ’Transparent’ stands for different things: except for a charismatic and unique design the name also mean a questioning of the industry within which they operate, and an attempt for a more open, honest and sustainable business.

    The company’s ambition is to create qualitative tech products that age with dignity and can be passed on to the next generation. The chosen materials and the manufacturing process focuses on being modular and repairable to make sure as few components as possible are thrown away. All speakers from Transparent Sound include a Bluetooth function, and for those who wish the speakers can also be upgraded with voice disorder and multi-room-systems. The definition Transparent Sound also refers to the fact that the speaker gives a correct translation of a recording.

    The different speakers in the UPCRAFTED collection have been designed together with skilled craftsmen. The Wood Speaker together with Dry Studios, the ceramic speaker together with the ceramist Hortense Montarnal from Lyon in France, and the steel speaker together with Jonas Majors from Mörkö. The collection will be released the 30/11 and will be available in a limited edition of ten of each via transparentspeaker.com. The steel speaker will be available at a prize of 25 000 SEK and the Wood and ceramic speaker for 15 000 SEK. The ceramic speaker will except for Transparent Sound’s own web also be available at Empreintes in Paris.

    Except for the UPCRAFTED collection the Small Transparent Speaker is finally also available for preorders. It’s a more neat and white version of the original product. The first batch consists of 999 speakers and will be delivered to all pre-order buyers after Christmas. A beautiful gift proof will be
    delivered as well if you wish to give the speaker as a Christmas present to someone. The small Transparent Speaker is for sale for 5000 SEK, and the black original speaker for a prize of 10 000 SEKThe can both be ordered via transparentspeaker.com

    To see more of what they are up to, also follow them at @transparentspeaker on Instagram and Facebook.

    About Transparent Sound

    Transparent Sound was for a couple of years run as a side project by the design studio People People. The first version of the Transparent Speaker was 2012 uploaded on their blog and the positive reactions immediately took off. The post got viral and on the followers request the speaker was launched through crowd funding. Between 2013 and 2017 the speaker popped up in many interesting contexts, for example in music videos for world artists such as Snoop Dog, Britney Spears and Will.I.Am.

    2018 two of the original founders, Per Brickstad and Martin Willers, decided to focus on the speakers fully hearted and are now re-launching the brand with some exciting projects. They have, among other things, collaborated with skilled craftsmen from Sweden and France for a collection called UPCRAFTED where components are reborn in a collection of hand made speakers. They are also finally releasing the anticipated small transparent speaker. All speakers are designed to be as much timeless interior design objects as a great sounding piece of Electronics. They have also been carefully considered down to the last detail to ensure quality and functionality, but it also carry a hidden mission - they want to radically change and clean up the dirty consumer electronics industry that is currently trashing our planet.

    http://eu.transparentspeaker.com/

  • ASUS creates art together with BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD and invites to the exhibition ‘NOT YET!’.

    Written by Fashion Tales

    NOT YET! is a collaboration between ASUS – one of the world’s leading companies in the digital era and BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD which challenges our notions of what an artist is. Together, we combine sophisticated engineering with a creative expression and the results blur the boundaries between utilities and artworks. The transformed object is a super thin and lightweight Zenbook S with the latest hardware. BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD characteristic expression is inspired by unrestrained creativity - which both collides and harmonizes with the computer’s sleek design.

    For the collaboration with BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD, ASUS has delivered a Zenbook S in a burgundy red color that isn’t available in the Nordic region, so BLUNDLUND.CO., LTD had a unique object to be inspired by and work with.

    BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD was founded in 2012 by Moa Bartling and Sebastian Bacigalupe, formerly acting as independent artists and designers, but today it is BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD the creator. The studio stands for a boundless creation in which they produce art that defies prevailing conventions and transforms objects and motives we are accustomed to into creative expressions that trigger our thoughts.

    Inspired by courage and the history of ASUS, BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD has created an exhibition that has the task of getting the observer to ask questions. The exhibition includes, in addition to an exclusive BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD/Zenbook S – acrylic paint on canvas, painted sculptures - and Johan Antoni from JAM and DJ Smutskatt stands for the music. Johan has been a hub within Stockholm’s electronic music scene for two decades and in combination with the visual impressions, participants and the music will create a unique symbiotic artistic experience.

    BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD works with an idea that we live in a world and time where we take things for granted. Is it the present that is interesting to human existence or do we need to strive for the future? It’s about never ceasing to develop, to always get better and never give up, which is in line with the ASUS slogan ‘In Search of Incredible’, which means being passionate about technology and driven by innovation.

    The punk movement is one of our most important sources of inspiration, both creatively and in our lives. There is an agreement that we create a world inspired by ASUS, but where we act independently to achieve an interesting result. Everything is DIY and that no prerequisites are needed. It creates a dedication and honesty that rarely appears in corporate context.“

    Competition and auction
    ASUS will arrange a contest that takes place in social media, it is a photo contest that starts on November 14th. Everybody will be able to participate in the competition and the winner will win an exclusive copy of the very limited (3/3) Zenbook S / BLUNDLUND.CO., LTD.

    A Zenbook S / BLUNDLUND.CO., LTD is also auctioned, next to the works by Banksy and Andy Warhol, under the auction agency MIX A LOT: Contemporary Art, Street Art & Photography and ending November 12 at 10:27.

    ASUS / BLUNDLUND.CO.,LTD
    NOT YET!

    Erik Nordenhake AB
    Lill-Jans plan 6
    114 25 Stockholm

    Link to BLUNDLUND.CO., LTD / Zenbook S at Auktionsverket:
    https://online.auktionsverket.se/181⅕88741-blundlund-x-asus-x-intel/?sok­mix+a+lot

    ASUS has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry and is a leading company in the new digital era. ASUS is the world's third largest laptop manufacturer computers, and since the beginning of 2016, it is now the largest computer manufacturer in the consumer market, both in Sweden and throughout the Nordic region. Currently, ASUS has a global staffing force of more than 17,000 employees, including 83 employees in the Nordic region.
    http://www.asusnordic.com/se/

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