Unique knitwear by striKKs

Designers knits right here in Maastricht

Encounter with striKKs

Since few months designers Maartje Boer and Suzanne Vaessen launched striKKs: a new concept in knit design. This week I went to their studio in Boschstraat 108 in Maastricht and it was very inspiring to see this designers working on their dream.
This is just a preview and if you want to meet striKKs and their unique knits come to FASHIONCLASH Market this weekend (3 & 4 December). Or just take a look through the window of their studio in Boschstraat.
http://www.strikks.nl/

Some of their designs are also availible in Max Art&Fashion in Maastricht.

CASH & CARRY

Maastricht is for sure the place to be this weekend!

FASHIONCLASH Market will celebrate it's first edition and our friends are having a temporary Open Studio / Shop 'CASH & CARRY' this weekend. Heggenstraat 13 in Maastricht (Opposite Trader's Pop).

Designers Lena Berens, Theda Schoppe and Matylda Krzykowski are showcasing and selling unique jewellery, bags, drawings, clothing and objects.

Toegepast 16: Les Nouveaux

picture by Kristof Vrancken

LES NOUVEAUX
For the sixteenth time in a row, Design Platform Limburg offers the chance to talented designers to develop their work and theirselves.
Coached once again by the fashion designer duo Ti + Hann.
Out of fourty kandidates, five recently graduated designers were selected to showcase brand new work (a part of) their universe in Z33.
A diversity of disciplines are shown: graphical design, jewellery design and product design. Overall great presentations and very nice work from all designers.

Toegepast 16: Les Nouveaux can be viewed in an exhibitions from October 30, 2011 to February 5, 2012 in Z33, Hasselt. http://www.z33.be

FASHIONCLASH MARKET

If you are looking for special gifts for the holidays or to find something exclusive for yourself? You have to visit FASHIONCLASH MARKET next weekend, where more than 40 young designers are selling their unique clothing, jewellery, accessories, furniture and design.
3 & 4 Decemberer in Centre Céramique (Avenue Ceramique 50) in Maastricht.






FASHIONCLASH MARKET Designers: An.S, Barike, B-MADE, Charlotte Kan, CHEQUITA & CHRISTIAAN, Clara Scharping + PYG, Dido Yland, Einstern-Design, Els Boeren, Furansu, Ine Theuwissen, Inge Rens Jewellery Design, Studio Janina Loeve, IXX-Jolijn Fiddelaers, Kuppers & Wuytens, VA-TOUT, LORE LANGENDRIES, Manouk Hasebos, Marjolijn van de Ven, Marsha Kessels, Martine Kwakernaak, Mieke Dierckx, MIEK, MLY by Emily Hermans, Monique Poolmans, NIKKI GILING, Nina Führer, renskeversluijs, Pepina Peculiar, Romy van Geffen, TURINA.Jewellery, fantast, Sonja Schödel, Starfish-Jewels, SÜLZKOTLETT Fabian Seibert, StriKKs, Swantje Langeheine, TITI + THE GERMAN KID, Veronica Vartic, Studio Vincent, THE MASTERS, workshops for kids and more!!

Make sure you also stop by at FASHIONCLASH STORE, in the Rechtstraat 88!

Open day at ABKMaastricht

ABKM Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Maastricht opened doors last weekend. FASHIONCLASH visited the academy together with Kunstbende fashion participants. Here are few pictures from fashion-textile and product-jewellery department. http://www.abkmaastricht.nl/

Architecture of Fear

Architecture of Fear
02.10 to 31.12.2011
http://www.z33.be

Architecture of Fear explores how feelings of fear pervade daily life in the contemporary media society. The cause of fear seems interchangeable and constantly fluctuating. Shifting from one thing to the next, often relating to invisible or indirect phenomena’s (terrorism, viral diseases, pollution, financial crisis), anything has the ability to become a potential threat. Rather than an immediate emotional strategy for survival fear is becoming a constant low level feeling in the background that gives rise to a new global infrastructure based on security, prevention and risk-management.

Architecture of Fear brings together a selection of international artists and designers that reflect in different ways on the society of fear, ranging from registration and critical research, to exploring its emotional, social and spatial mechanisms.

Artists: Bureau D'Etudes, De Geuzen, Floris Douma, Laurent Grasso, Ilkka Halso, Susanna Hertrich, Charlotte Lybeer, Jill Magid, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Tracey Moffatt, Trevor Paglen, Marie Sester, Kin Wah Tsang and Els Vanden Meersch.

Tessel Brühl - 'In hope of making grieving Tolerable'

Tessel Brühl’s project, In Hope of Making Grieving Tolerable, began with a book about intuition; this in turn led to a series of mourning fashions: garments which show outside how we feel inside, and which make the sorrow, pain and fury, as well as hope both bearable and wearable. The project culminated in a film, a moving and impressive plea for grieving openly and sharing one’s grief. Tessel Brühl: “Grieving no longer forms part of our culture. Death is the end, with nothing after it, this while, for the survivors, it has just begun.” http://tesselbruhl.nl

'Don't shoot the messenger' by Vincent van der Valk

Last weekend I went to Het Huis van Bourgondie to see the first solo performance by Vincent van der Valk: 'Don't shoot the messenger'.
I have seen Vincent play in 'The Lonesome West' (Daria Bukvic) and in 'Oh my God, it's a horse' (Casper Vandeputte) he impressed me in both productions with his acting performance.
'Don't shoot the messenger' is a dynamic and contemporary theatre performance about the search for the truth about the world. He holds a mirror up to him self but also confronts the audience with it. Are we really free to make our own choices? What's real and what is fake? Heavy questions and issues come together in an exciting and clever performance where all of Vincent talents successfully come together. It is certainly one of the better performances of young theatre-makers I've seen recently. Shoot or don't shoot the messenger? Vincent van der Valk proves to be a very promising actor / theatre-maker.



I really like the poster and image design by that Badly Designed Suitcase.

Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2011

Few weeks ago Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven celebrated it's 10th edition. Graduation Show of Design Academy in Eindhoven is included in the program and is a highlights each year. I saw lot of great projects but here is my selection of the projects that really got my attention.






For more projects and information: http://www.designacademy.nl/EVENTS/GRADUATION2011.aspx

Wooden Textiles by Lenneke Langenhuijsen

designer Lenneke Langenhuijsen

Textiles made of wood? We think of wood as a solid material only.
Lenneke Langenhuijsen travelled to the South Pacific island of Tonga to learn and document the ancient craft technique of beating bark fiber into a textile. In Tonga the locals beat the bark of the Paper Muberry tree to make cloth.
 As part of her 'Wooden Textiles' project she has documented this ancient craft in a short documentary and expanded the basic principle to create a new, flexible fabric. Experimenting with techniques often only applied to textiles, such as dyeing and embroidery, she displayed them in an 'inspiration book' to showcase the full potential of wood as a basic for fabric.
She created a collection of interior textiles as well as a set of wooden stools formed and 'upholstered' with multiple layers of fabric. Engineering the beaten wooden fibers using textile techniques such as sewing, dyeing and embroidery, she creates a new fabric that can be washed at 40 degrees. A great example of a designers’ concern to document a craft story, rediscovering and reviving ancient indigenous techniques.
http://www.lennekelangenhuijsen.com

Don't forget to watch the documentary!

Designers watch out! by Chia-Pin Yang

“Is design the exclusive domain of designers?” That’s what Chia-Pin Yang wondered.
And so, he asked over 100 fellow Taiwanese urbanites for their on-the-spot design ideas. Yang was surprised to discover that these amateurs could give professional designers a run for their money. Their unique and insightful ideas included: a picnic table complete with built-in tree – guaranteeing a spot in the shade, a flower-shaped wind turbine to give this form of eco-energy a friendlier look, and a housing complex in the form of a cruise ship.

Yang compiled the best ideas in a book, Created in Taiwan, also including his interviewees’ original sketches. Designers watch out!

'Wait Here' by Philip Lüschen

Artificial lights, old magazines, smelly people. Philip Lüschen came up with a project 'WAIT HERE' that breaks through the passive dynamic of endless waiting in waiting rooms.
Philip Lüschen just graduated cum laude from Design Academy in Eindhoven. The project contains a book including tips and tricks for any waiting room inconvenience and two objects designed as practical implements but when not in use, function as icebreakers. The objects also stimulate our imagination.

I accually know Philip from high school, it was a very nice surprise to bump into him again and to see his project. Well done!
http://www.philipluschen.nl

'Le regard de personae' by Malou Swinnen

From October 27 2011 till January 8 2012 Malou Swinnen exhibits the new series "Le regard de personae" at the MMH (Fashion Museum Hasselt)
Malou Swinnen (b. 1944, Neerpelt) lives and works in Hasselt. As an artist she enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad and her pictures are regularly exhibited. They are also part of several collections: Photography Musea (Antwerp and Charleroi), the Ministry of the Flemish Community, the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), and various private collections. The fascination for the face, skin, the pose, the look and attributes are constants in her work.
In 2010 she was invited by the Art Bank for artistic research. In connection with their exclusive collection of textiles and accessories she re-portraited the looks and the genre and in that way gets the series "Personae" (1995) a new follow-up.  This collection shows pieces from designers like Raf Simons, Hussein Chalayan, Martin Margiela, Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Bernhard Willhelm, Rei Kawakubo and A.F  Vandevorst.

This may be your perfect opportunity to see PRINTS! if you have missed it.
http://brankopopovic.blogspot.com/2011/06/prints-in-fashion-and-costume-history.html

http://www.modemuseumhasselt.be

Pleasemachine footwear

designer Anna Zaboeva showcasing her brand
Pleasemachine in Paris at [C]Kult exhibition 5 & 6 November

Meet Anna Zaboeva was born in Siberia and based in Budepest Hungary where she has a shop called 'Siberia'.
She studied film making before moving to Hungary, to study at the school of industrial design. She started making shoes for herself and friends, and soon found she could not meet the growing demand for her designs so she created the brand Pleasemachine.
Pleasemachine shoes are unique and stylish, often created out of recycled materials.



Take a look!
http://www.pleasemachine.net

Daniela Barros

Daniela Barros

One of the designers that I met at the [C]Kult exhibition last weekend was the promising fashion deigners Daniela Barros from Portugal.
Daniela Barros graduated from Oporto Fashion Academy 'EMP'in 2008 and since her graduation she has produced several collections and has started to develop her brand. The collection that she presented in Paris showcased some very beautiful and well tailored pieces. It is a feminine and sophisticated collection with very nice textiles, prints and details. There are also some very cool styling pieces and accessoires.

Take a look at her work.
http://danieladebarros.blogspot.com/
http://www.notjustalabel.com/danielabarros