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distressed knit testing

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22/04/2021

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How did your working relationship with Hermès begin? What were some of your thoughts when you were approached to design your first Hermès windows installation? How did you feel about working on such a project/collaboration? Return to a loving dream by Alexandra Kehayoglou

September 7 - November 18, 2019
541 Orchard Road, Hermès Liat Towers

The window installation will be on display at Hermès Liat Towers till November 2019.

Known for her handwoven tapestries that capture the beauty of nature and native landscapes, Kehayoglou was invited to create a unique installation that celebrates Singapore's identity as a Garden City.

Exploring the relationship humans have with nature and our surrounding landscape, Kehayoglou took inspiration from Singapore's landscape history - a city built alongside mangrove forests. She was captivated by the beautiful chaos of unedited nature found at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve: a greenery so lush that one loses track of time and place. It's like being in a dream.

With that, Kehayoglou transformed the windows at Hermès Liat Towers into a portal to another reality that gives us a different perspective of the nature around us. Kehayoglou spent ten years depicting fading lands and ecocides through her works, documenting decimation and speaking about lost lands in a bid to draw attention to the harm that we do to earth and in turn, ourselves. In Return to a loving dream, she explores a more magical aspect of this realm, finding beauty in the ordinary and bringing attention and awareness to the importance of nature

"We really don't know what can happen in the future. Planet earth has had cycles, we must learn how to live in harmony with ourselves and each other, and that will be reflected in the way we relate to the earth" - Alexandra Kehayoglou

A reflection on the work presented by ALEXANDRA KEHAYOGLOU in Singapore

I was first invited to make the widows for the Athens store. I was very excited since working in Athens meant to me an opportunity to reconnect with a city very close to my family. I was always amazed by the greek landscape, I was able to explore this landscape with this first project with Hermes. At that time investigating I came across with the poem by cavafy Ithaka, so I started with work with that. It was a nice start because greek culture is familiar to me. I was inspired by its culture and by the landscape.

Can you explain a little more about your interpretation of the Hermès 2019 theme, In Pursuit of Dreams and how did you try and capture it via your installation?

Return to a loving dream. I tried to build a portal to perceive things differently. I spent some time with my work being focused on documenting decimation, and speaking about lost land. This was very necessary for my process but it was sad and exhausting.

In pursuit of dreams gave me the possibility of exploring and going deeper into this idea of a more magical aspect of this realm. I believe we have come to a point where we must connect with the good dreams, with those of hope. Negative dreams will always exist and our mind can focus on them by means of vicious thoughts. Art can be a shelter, a portal to perceive things in a different way. I like to offer that possibility, that is the intention while creating this work. We have to believe in a positive dream. It is something for us to train, to maintain ourselves focused on good dreams. Climate change and nature decimation is something that we have created, we must now forgive ourselves for the creation of such a nightmare, in order to move on.

My intention was to create a portal from a random place in Singapore's natural landscape. I am interested in portraying pieces of nature that tend to be in blind spots, that can be taken for granted, and give them a different perspective. I created this tapestry that weaves trees and plants and mangroves. I intend to build a bridge a place to feel hope. Trees and nature are here to bless us.

What were some of your dreams and aspirations as a child? Has it differed much from your life now?

As a child I wanted to be surrounded by many animals. We had 6 dogs in our house, and 3 cats, there were also turkeys and chickens in my parents house. Apparently my father told me that I wanted to be a carpet maker when I was 7 , 8 years old. When I was a child the thing I enjoyed most was to draw and paint.

Now I also have dogs and I make carpets, which are not just carpets, and also I draw quite a lot for many of the projects I make. In a way it differs a lot the sensation I have towards life, when you are a child most of the time it is pure happiness, now everything is a bit more complex.

Take us through your creative process for this project with Hermès Singapore?

Well the process was very unique since when Hermes Singapore approached me, I was 5 months pregnant, and was impossible for me to travel to Singapore to get inspiration from the places I wanted to visit.

But I really wanted to work with this landscape and with Singapore, so my partner traveled to Singapore and took images from the Sungei Buloh Wetland which I choose from some previous investigations I started to make from Buenos Aires.

Once there, he started to send me images of the manglars and I said yes this is what I want to represent, and using photographs and videos I proposed to make a patch of manglar jungle in a tapestry.

What was the appeal of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and what sort of inspiration did it give you for your window installation?

I wanted to reflect the beautiful chaos of nature in one tapestry, and also explore the idea that you can lose track of where you are in the jungle, you don't know if the roots are going down or up, where is the ground, and I think this is very interesting and unique from the Singapore landscape... it is so rich on vegetation and it grows in an expanding way, and the manglars seem to be opening but actually they are going into the water to attach to something... I believe that the idea of floatation also appears, everything seems to be floating and suspended, like in a dream.

But mainly the choice comes from my idea of finding beauty in the ordinary, and I don't mean ordinary in a negative way, but in a common scene than normally would go unnoticed. I decided to portray an unedited landscape and put it in a special place, a portal to another reality, one in which we treasure every last bit of nature.

How would you describe your artistic practice and aesthetic? What are you trying to explore through your works?

I am not very fond of tags. I am an artist that makes tapestries, carpets, I am a textile artist or a painter or a sculptress. All of these fit my description.

I don't like routines so I try to make thin

gs different each time. Every work we make at the studio has behind hours of drawing, planning and deciding colors. I like to take my practice to its limits, I like working with a team and exploring their limits as well. There are no recipes. I am quite obsessive, and I really love working.

Nature and landscapes feature very strongly as the main subject-matter of your works. Has this always been the case? Is there a reason behind this?

Our relationship with nature and with the landscape that surrounds us has been what ignited every project I have ever worked on. The approach changed though as did my work. Singapore and it's landscape history. A city built in a manglar. The beautiful chaos of unedited nature was what attracted mostly my attention. I was drawn to working with nature since I guess is what I enjoy most doing, being in nature. My work is a reflection of the love I hold for nature.

It is mentioned that your work has become renowned as an outcry against deforestation and devastation, and a call for environmental awareness. What are your thoughts about the environmental issues that we have today?

I spent 10 years depicting fading lands and ecocides mainly from my country. I created hundreds of works that represented the pampas pastizales, an ecosystem that disappears as the transgenic farming goes forward. I have gone deeper into specific ecocides like the two hydroelectric dams that are being constructed in Patagonia, which will kill a river cutting its free flow and violating all regulations.

My main intention was always to bring attention and awareness of the beauty and importance of such landscapes, and as I said before, I now understand that this outcry must be done from a place of love and compassion for ourselves for having created such a nightmare. That is the main reason for which I make art, to share a loving point of view of the situation.

I think the harm we do to the earth is a reflection of the harm we do to ourselves. It will be difficult to change this if we continue to harm ourselves and each other. I think it all resumes down to love, love for ourselves, love for each other, love for the earth. Nature will prevail, always. But we are involved in vicious cycles of consuming and owning not deeply realizing that this resumes in own our hatred. Our lack of self respect. It is not much of nature needing to be saved, but more of us being saved.

We really don't know what can happen in the future. Planet earth has had cycles, we must learn how to live in harmony with ourselves and each other, and that will be reflected in the way we relate to the earth.

What was your fondest memory living in a family with the traditions of rug and carpet making?

This is a very sensitive matter since that family tradition is coming to a crucial point. My father, from whom this legacy I learned is very ill with a devastating disease, ALS. So suddenly every memory becomes special. I have in a way tried to cherish this love for carpet making taking it back to the craftsmanship.

Today I miss discussing future projects with my dad, telling him about from where they contacted me from or trying to solve crazy ideas for strange carpet projects. He has been a silent member of my team, always helping me taking my work further, being critical and supportive at the same time. He used to keep clipings of magazines and press I shared with him and he would go and show them at his factory. I guess today one of my fondest memories are walks with him in his factory, trying to learn as much as I could.

Tell us more about the materials used (surplus materials etc.) and technical skills you have adopted in creating the textile pieces for this window.

I am still working with surplus material from my family's company. This tapestry is made with that wool. Hand tufted and hand trimmed. I Have been using for all of these years material that comes from the factory, wool that exceeds from production or has a color variation and is discarded. This is something that I don't know for how long will be, since my father got ill and the other side of the family that is running the company and myself we are not quite aligned in our values and ideas.

The mangroves sculptures where done by Jose Huidobro, my partner, who besides working with me in the studio has his own studio. He is a sculptor and an engineer and we often collaborate in specific projects. He created these metal structures that where later covered in carpet.

Photographs by Francisco Nocito
Alexandra Kehayoglou All rights reserved

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Return to a loving dream - Alexandra Kehayoglou

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How did your working relationship with Hermès begin? What were some of your thoughts when you were approached to design your first Hermès windows installation? How did you feel about working on such a project/collaboration?

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Try your hand at crafting your own Japanese style 'boro' bag, inspired by the tradition of recycling and reworking pre-existing textiles.

Download our step-by-step guide, designed by textile artist Susan Briscoe
This project can be found, including a stitch guide, in the V&A book Patchwork and Quilting: A Maker's Guide (2017)

Photography courtesy of Susan Briscoe and We Are Studio, line illustration by Eleanor Crow.

Derived from the Japanese boroboro, meaning something tattered or repaired, boro refers to the practice of reworking and repairing textiles (often clothes or bedding) through piecing, patching and stitching, in order to extend their use. It is associated with the indigo-dyed hemp clothing traditional in Japan before the introduction of cotton. Worn areas of cloth are patched over or older garments cut up and joined, with running stitches or areas of sashiko (running stitches sewn through layers of fabric), used for reinforcement and to quilt layers of cloth together. This historical spirit informs the contemporary trend for 'distressed' or repaired-looking clothes.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, boro garments might be handed down through many generations of impoverished rural families, their making an expression of mottainai - conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. This is an extreme example of patchwork's association with thrift, but, as in other textile traditions, the joining of pre-existing materials to create a new fabric has generated a highly distinctive cultural product. Today, boro textiles, often futon covers, are regarded as works of art and a cultural record of homespun cloths, dyes and techniques. The most heavily patched side of a boro panel, prized for its spontaneous and abstract qualities today, is often the back or inside of the piece, as more care was taken to arrange fabrics on the side that would be seen.

One example of a boro garment in our collection is a utilitarian robe which would have been worn by a peasant farmer or fisherman in late 19th century Japan. It is made entirely of recycled fabric, pieced together, patched and further repaired using re-cycled indigo-dyed cotton. The result is a simple kimono that looks curiously contemporary to modern eyes, accustomed as we are to seeing more luxurious versions of this type of garment - either woven, printed or embroidered and often reserved for special occasions. As well as having a distinctive visual appearance, the garment reveals traces of the history of its use - the shredded end of the left sleeve, for example, suggests its last wearer was left-handed. The 'triangular' shaped sleeves are an unusual feature - this shape was perhaps dictated by the shape of the material available.

Susan Briscoe is a designer and textile artist, whose interest in Japanese textiles began when she was teaching English in Japan. She now lives in Perthshire, Scotland, where she teaches patchwork and sashiko quilting, and writes and designs for patchwork magazines and books, including, The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook: Patterns, Projects and Inspirations (2005), Quilt Essentials: Japanese Style (2013) and Patchwork & Quilting, A Maker's Guide (2017), which features more practical projects inspired by the V&A's collections.

Patchwork & Quilting: A Maker's Guide contains fifteen beautiful step-by-step projects for crafters at all levels. Each one takes its cue from a different tradition, including Indian kantha, English wholecloth quilting, Japanese boro patchwork, and the block- and strip- pieced quilts of North America, as well as appliqué traditions from Hawaii and Panama.

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V&A · Make your own: Japanese 'Boro' bag

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Try your hand at crafting your own Japanese style 'boro' bag, inspired by the tradition of recycling and reworking pre-existing textiles. Download our step-by-step guide, designed by textile artist Susan Briscoe This project can be found, including a stitch guide, in the V&A book Patchwork and Quilting: A Maker's Guide (2017) Photography courtesy of Susan Briscoe and We Are Studio, line illustration by Eleanor Crow.

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I've always been a big admirer of Hussein Chalayan's work for as long as I have been interested in Fashion and Textiles, simply because of his groundbreaking methods of combining unconventional materials and processes. His 1993 graduation collection titled 'The Tangent Flows" consisted of a series of buried garments that were unearthed just before the show.

In this collection Chalayan combines textiles with the process of oxidation. Oxidation is the loss of electrons during a reaction by a molecule, atom or ion.When oxygen combines with an element, it changes the appearance of the element. For examples when iron reacts with oxygen and changes to rust.

The collection consists of garments that appear to be decomposed and rotten showing earthy stains in a rusty red shade. The textile used was silk that Chalayan had buried with iron fillings in a garden and exhumed six weeks later. With this he tried to show the audience how quickly fashion dies and how easy it is to recycle. He demonstrates how beautiful the process of decaying and recycling can be.

The structure of the garments are simple yet free spirited. The models almost look as they have walked out of the earth, which has a certain beauty to it. The texture of the silk is very natural, as is the rusty colour due to the extremely natural process the textile has undergone.

While creating this collection, Chalayan has focused attentively on the process rather than the end result, and by doing these unpredictable new forms have been revealed. I like looking at it this way because it emphasizes the importance of the process, not only the finished product and how designers should take risks in their work to produce successful innovative products.

Throughout his career Chalayan has experimented with innovative materials and processes and has explored how technology could create new possibilities in fashion. Some of his notable work includes the 'After Words' Autumn/Winter 2000 Womenswear Collection where chairs and tables transformed into wearable extensions and garments on the human body.

The Remote Control Dress, from his Spring/Summer 2000 collection was designed by means of the composite technology used by aircraft engineers that facilitate airplanes to fly by remote control. The dress was created using a combination of fiberglass and resin, was molded into two smooth and glossy pink-colored front and back panels fastened together.

In his most recent show at Paris Fashion Week, Spring Summer 2016, he presented models wearing stiff-looking, collared overcoats standing under what appeared to be a shower. The garments appeared to simply disappear when it came in contact with the water. Underneath, the white dresses were encrusted with Swarovski jewels and intricate black appliqués, which were revealed as the first white layer of fabric dissolved.

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1. Hussein Chalayan - The Tangent Flows, Central Saint Martins, 1993

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I've always been a big admirer of Hussein Chalayan's work for as long as I have been interested in Fashion and Textiles, simply because of his groundbreaking methods of combining unconventional materials and processes. His 1993 graduation collection titled 'The Tangent Flows" consisted of a series of buried garments that were unearthed just before the show.

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intarsia testing

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intarsia sample

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sample

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Life needs water. But this fluid tends to evaporate over time into a gaseous state. 
Drying out is a chemical process that takes hours, days or even weeks.
Without enough water the organisms metabolism is stopping. 

Using high resolution cameras with macro-lenses or the microscope, i timelapsed more than hundred sequences of various organic motives which were drying out.

The visual aesthetics and drama of these transformations captivated me. 
That's why I searched for the best scenes and moments  to create this Shortfilm. 


A film by Christian Stangl

Music composed by my brother Wolfgang aka meercrob. 

Vocals by Alexandra Grandl

Timelapse-Software Development: Mario Zeller


Produced in 4K UHD

Soundtrack available at
https://music.apple.com/at/album/dry-out-single/1546388110?ls
https://open.spotify.com/album/3DTOZ32oylg98zRiapeKZn 

Selection of still-frames:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianstangl/albums/72157717475367488

No non-microbial animals were harmed in this video.

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Brushing testing

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growth and decay

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previous work installation