Architectural Clothes: Interview with designer Nahum Villasan

by Ezra Natalia

A normal work day for Nahum Villasana, the man behind Architectural Clothes, lately includes waking up before six in the morning to make it to his day job teaching English at an elementary school in Mexicali, Mexico. After the school day ends at three, he goes back to his house to start working on clothing designs. He often knocks off at around six or eight in the evening, but sometimes, if he has a project, he'll be up until two or three in the morning. And the weekends? You'll find him on Saturday mornings teaching the History of Universal Costume at the design school where he studies.

The latest collection to result from Nahum's rigorous schedule is called "The Armored Body." The thinking behind it, he says, was a "review in the way the body can change. It's looking for an escape in something that is designed for the self, an emphasis on the structure of the body. The body offers us an opportunity to imagine new forms in clothing structure, to protect the human with a variation of garments, as garments need a body to become a pair.”

When I asked how he came up with these breakthrough ideas and put them into action, Nahum revealed how he rarely does sketches. Instead, he chooses to visualize the shapes and cuts, and materialize them immediately over the final fabrics. If he likes the final result, whether or not it ended up as he had it in his mind, he'll stay with it. Sometimes the mock-ups lead to more ideas, or sometimes he'll just separate the pieces again and use them in other projects.

Nahum has wanted to design clothes from a young age, and would also like to try his hand at sculpture or architecture—sculpture to develop his sense of aesthetic and architecture to learn about the space in which you can work. "But I will continue doing clothes," he says. "It's something I enjoy." When asked about local designers he admires, he says "I don't know so much about designers in my town because it is not so big, but there’s a friend of mine named Beatriz Torres who I admire so much. The aesthetics that she has been developing are very rigorous and unique, not to mention how avant-garde they are. She also knows so much about the history of costume, which is a subject that I teach at the design school.”

For more on Architectural Clothes, contact Nahum by e-mail. More images after the jump.

bARBARA í gONGIN

by Ezra Natalia

Fascinated by graphic forms and primitive silhouettes, Danish fashion designer bARBARA í gONGINI delivers a collection of black wedding dresses and conceptual knits based on the old traditions of her native Faro Islands. A spiritual and political person, Barbara uses eco-friendly jersey and believes fashion can be a strong instrument in changing the world's view on the environment and sustainable products. Her aim is not at quick growth or high volume sales, but instead to ensure that a high level of innovation and quality can be achieved over a duration of time.

Barbara finds inspiration in many things, besides her everyday surroundings. Audio and visual mediums are important to her, but it's the minimalism and functionalism of Nordic and Japanese design that she finds most influential on her methods of thinking. She divides her collection into two extreme points that come together making a coherent point of view. I-rEguLar is the creative side, where Barbara plays around with various themes, bringing together art and design. REguLar is a more basic version of I-rEguLar, but still a very personal expression on form.

Barbara's ambition for creating things never stops, and she hopes to expand her collection to include shoes, bags and jewelry in the future. Her goal is to be among the pioneering leaders within womenswear internationally and we think she'll have no problem achieving that.

I am so very happy to find out this post written by Kate.

I am so very happy to find out this post written by Kate.

check her blog also: www.katecusack.blogspot.com

Zipper Jewelry featured on Cool Hunting

Many thanks to Ezra Natalia who wrote a very insightful article about Zipper Jewelry. View the article first published on Cool Hunting's website here.

To read other features by Ezra Natalia, visit ezranatalia.blogspot.com/

Vice Mails!

Love to the Vice and Vanity duo, they are super humble
people indeed,even in a person! Thank you! So please
don't forget to check www.vicevanity.com, go crazy and
splurge your cash for them fab gem!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Ezra,

Many many thanks for your kind words!
It sure brightens our day to receive fan mail:)
Thanks again for the article on coolhunting, it's great.
We will keep you informed on the next collection which
should be out soon.

Keep in touch!

Aaron Kao
Vice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Ezra,

Sorry for the late reply as it has been a really
hectic week for us. Thank you again for your kind
words,we really appreciate it! We would like to send
you a Brissa as a token of appreciation, do let me know
your mailing address. Also do let me know which items
are of interest to your friends and I'll let them know
the prices.

Best,
Aaron
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vice & Vanity says,

1.Ora Necklace - SGD$89
2.Neala Brooch - SGD$63
3.Theola Necklace - SGD$110
4.Cait Necklace - SGD$169
5.Portia - SGD$93
6.Prudence - SGD$93

Unfortunately the Hedwig is no longer in production!

If you do not have Paypal, that's fine they accept
bank transfer or credit card. Just let me know which
items you would like to purchase and they will send
you an invoice. Alternatively you can also pay for
them with your Paypal and they will ship it to you.

Margaux Lange: Barbie Jewelry

by Karen Day

For many of us, the day we realized we just didn't have the childhood imagination required to play with Barbies anymore was a sad day in history. Fortunately, jewelry designer Margaux Lange found a new way to keep Barbie in our lives, with her clever accessories made of various Barbie body parts. Margaux's unusual designs are full of youthful spirit, but it's clear her fascination with the cultural icon is much more involved than childhood antics.

Intrigued by the role Barbie plays in our formative years and the concept of wearing the body on our body, Margaux examines the doll's composition to create her own. Her unique ability to relate to the individual body part allows her to create beautiful jewelry that at times is so intricate the plastic princess isn't recognizable.

It's clear Margaux spends a considerate amount of time thinking about how Barbie relates to society today, with a Ken kissing Ken brooch and a heart necklace made of Barbie's voluptuous chest.

While wearing plastic ears in our own ears may feel a bit creepy, the wit and originality that the earrings provide relieve any hesitation you may have. We particularly love the giant punk rock pendant, with its electric blue eye-shadowed Barbie doll eye set in black pigmented resin (below).

To purchase Margaux's Barbie jewelry you can shop online at her website or Etsy.

Additional reporting by Ezra Natalia

Kate Cusack: Zipper Jewelry, Costume Design and Window Dressing.

by Ezra Natalia

For Kate Cusack, the New York-based jewelery designer, costumer and wig-maker, her iPod's shuffle setting is an apt metaphor for the ups and downs of her hectic lifestyle, “The shuffle bounces all over the place and reminds me of music I like, but don't always remember to choose. Sometimes the song transition nicely from one to the next for a while, but other times there is a streak of things I am not in the mood for.“

Kate is one of those lucky NYC creative types, cobbling a living from various related pursuits, for whom every day is different. You can often find her at home steadily working in her studio or rushing all over Manhattan shopping for a show. But the young designer says her favorite days are those that combine everything, “when I can pick up supplies I may need for my zipper Jewelry while I am out looking for fabric for costumes.”

Her first Zipper Pin came about in 2002. Having recently finished designing and creating costumes for a children's dance theater company, she got her hands on bags and bags of zippers. Picking up on the current trends in fashion, the iconic Chanel Camellia and the sartorial thrift from the 1940s (designers used extra fabric from dressmaking as decorative elements), she started experimenting.

The resulting accessories reference the elegance of depression-era resourcefulness while simultaneously deconstructing fashion and costuming—not to mention their readymade aesthetic appeal. The curving, layered forms that Kate comes up with celebrate the sparkle of the metal teeth and the endless possibilities that the linear construction affords. A zipper is, after all, little more than a line, perhaps the simplest of design building blocks.

Her costume design career and zipper jewelry have grown on parallel, sometimes intersecting, tracks over the past few years. After spending four years studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art, creating costumes made of unlikely materials and collaborating with the community on parades and festivals, she moved back to New York. There, she found work designing costumes for a number of small off-off-Broadway shows, as well as at top NYC costume shop Parsons-Meares where she made costumes for Broadway and Disney.

Squeezing in stints as a window dresser, it was when creating five Marie-Antoinette-style wigs made entirely from plastic wrap for Tiffany & Co.'s 5th Avenue store, that her zipper jewelry first got noticed. The woman in the visual merchandising department who hired Kate admired the zipper pin she'd affixed to her jacket so Kate made the second zipper pin as a thank you.

Currently enrolled in a rigorous three-year MFA program at the Yale School of Drama, Kate continues to produce her line of zipper jewelry and recently finished designing costumes for a series of short plays based on the life of Barack Obama called "Obama Drama." And, of course, the one-woman wonder also finds time to maintain a blog called “Kate Update" for her most current work and magazine features, etc.

To buy zipper jewelry (the hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind pins, bracelets and necklaces start at $85, $110 and $400 respectively), shop through her Etsy store. Custom designs based on style and price are also possible by contacting Kate directly.

Nikicio.

by Ezra Natalia

Established in 2006, Nikicio is an Indonesia-based label that infuses humor into traditional menswear-inspired cuts. Creative Director Nina Nikicio's wit shows up in a quirky embroidered dress, quilted bags and a hand-embroidered blanket. Her first collaboration, called Millimeter, with Ginetta Dadia, a young talented accessories designer is also a playful approach to fashion, using colorful hand print-shaped designs.

Nikicio's anti-fashion approach, ignores the dictates of seasons, looks beyond trends and shuns the idea that fashion has to be "cohesive" or "sensible" and the unconventional thinking has paid off. After joining the Studio Prive Spring/Summer 07 collection, most recently Nikicio participated in Singapore Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 08.

Sticking to this more authentic concept, Nikicio is personally attached to each garment and chooses smart fabrics that can be worn a variety of ways. "I want the collection to be personal," she says, "a part of a person's everyday life but we all know that people hide sometimes, and I try to bring them a comfortable place to conceal, take the load off and dress up."

Below are a few more insights from the designer.

Do you think that drawing is an innate talent or you have to learn it?
I am a firm believer that talent is meaningless without any effort and hard work.

What happened to the fashion designs you made when you were kid?
The first thing i made using sewing machine was a handkerchief when i was seven. I don't know what happened to it.

How important is illustration, music and photography to your collection and how much does it influence your work?

Whatever bands I listen to at the moment will affect my work. For vol.3 I listened to Joy Division and The Kills a lot. So the collection feels tougher and raw. But i still keep the main essence of Nikicio in mind every time i design the collection.

Which other art, places or people inspires you?
This might sound odd, but laborers, the elders and poor people on the streets inspire me. Unlike us, they don't have a choice to dress themselves. They just throw whatever they have. I find their way of dressing to be truly unique.

You reveal some of your techniques on your blog . Do you always follow one rule, many rules or do you have any at all?
I have one rule for Nikicio which is that I never use an overlocking machine. All the seams and finishing have to be sewn according to couture standards. But for Nikicio's projects, I have none. The projects don't necessarily link with Nikicio and they are dedicated for people who takes risks and take fashion less seriously. It's totally different market from Nikicio.

By your clothing's proportions, I can tell one of your favorite influence is menswear cuts, why is that?
My biggest influence in fashion is actually my father. He's the man of exquisite taste. He always has the best shoes, pants, shirts and jackets. And I never liked tight-fitting clothes so I was constantly raiding my brothers closet growing up. On top of that, there's nothing sexier than a woman wearing a man's shirt.

What's your favorite work?
The embroidered quilted blanket from vol.01. It took me months to finish it.

As a fashion designer, is there anything you would refuse to make?
Wedding gowns. I'm sorry but it's just too much pressure.

How do you define your work?
Neat, personal and unpredictable.

What would be the dream situation for you as an designer?
I want Nikicio to be as famous as Persil and as classic as Chanel.

What other local designers you admire and respect and why?
Obin. She managed to bring Indonesian culture forward and never limits her designs.

Last but not least, where can we get your stuff?
Just send us an email to sales [at] nikicio [dot] com to order. We're going to have an online shopping web by next year so it's easier for our overseas customers amd we're also going to be stocked in Fab.e boutique, Kemang (Jakarta, Indonesia) very soon.

vice and vanity.

Vice and Vanity is a jewelery design studio in Joo Chiat, Singapore where the feeling is that vice belongs "in your heart and soul." Former Club21 employee Vivi Masturah Lim and Fine Arts graduate Aaron Kao are the designers behind the collections that focus on necklaces, bracelets and brooches.

Each season, the Singaporean duo manages to push boundaries and come up with dazzling design that expresses their quirky and surreal ideas. Their collections represent anything from poetry to existentialism and beauty.

Says Aaron, "We always try to originate new ideas, never restricting ourselves to a certain style or look. Our style is a work in progress and may or may not surface so quickly over a few collections. It takes time to develop a style. For every collection we always ensure that the quality is there and we want people to pay for something that has a lot of thought and effort put into the creation."

The duo has already graced the runway with renowned fashion label Baylene and has also been scoring raves from Harper's Bazaar, Juice, Seventeen, Her World, Revolution and I-S Magazine with their original designs.

Here’s what they said about their latest collection, "We want to create collar pieces and they came from sketches of abstract shapes. It was a time when we wanted to move away from identifiable aesthetics. I realized we already had that tendency in the last collection titled 'One Two.' We also wanted to challenge ourselves to break away from the typical acrylic silhouette style adopted by many designers and to stretch a 2D raw material into an end product with more volume, dimension and layering."

Prices (in Singaporea dollars) range from $79 to $169 and necklaces come in elegant boxes, yet another aspect of Vice and Vanity's attention to detail. Designs are available from Vice and Vanity, Zainab, Talullah Tu and Mardeu. Care for the pieces requires common sense, “No crocodile attacks, nuclear fusion or genetic experiments.”

face projects.

When they're not listening to bands like Phew, Googoosh, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Las Grecas, fashion designer Solomon Chase and visual artist David Toro are at work on their new avant-jewelry project Face. Starting the project about six months ago, their first Face product is their Bindi that comes in a variety of incarnations including plaid, plaited hair and a reflective smiley face. It will be sold at the World Fringe installment of New High (M)art in Lost Angeles' Chinatown as well as directly through their site.

The latest facial region they've turned their attention to is the eyebrow. Their "brow-hats" come in many different shapes, all in a highly reflective material — perfect for haunting the outdoors at night!

With veils, glasses, visors, eyebrow wigs and more, their experimentation seemingly knows no bounds. There's no typical day for Toro and Chase, each one is magical.

The duo say they've always felt that when they have an idea, they should attempt to create it without hesitation. As now, past collaborations testify to their interest in simple products that are not only simple in form but also in function and concept. Their belief is that these type of ideas seem to hold strongest.

So why face jewelry and not anything else we might ask? They answer that face jewelry is an exploration, uncharted territory. Not much has been done with the face yet it's such an important part of our lives. Their thought was, why not transform, adorn and accessorize our faces? Faces have such a complex and interesting structure and each one is unique, attributes that the two have found very inspiring.

While their unusual creations might seem the work of fashion extremists, Toro and Chase claim mediocrity is their biggest inspiration though they admire others that take risks, push boundaries, genres, and work heavily with concept over pure aesthetics, citing the NYC-based designers Telfar Ohne Titel as favorites.

Advice from the designers? "Wear face accessories and your life will improve." Check their website for additional retail locations in the near future. Bindis are $30 for a set of three and $50 for a set of five. Reflective eyebrows are $30 a pair. Glow-in-the-dark Bindis are $10 each.

hanna nyman.

Prior to graduating from the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, textile designer Hanna Nyman already had the interior industry’s attention for her intricately-designed wallpapers. Hanna works mostly with patterns that change shape, as she enjoys the tension when something beautiful transforms into something new or acquires an unexpected function. This is clearly evident in her work.

Floral patterns emerge from the paper's surface and her wallpapers become three-dimensional. Even better, the wallpaper is designed so that each user peels back a select section of the wall allowing customization of the the pattern and giving each wall its own identity. Hanna also designs origami sculptures and lights to enhance texture and interactivity within a space.

Inspired by the poem "Skogen Skapar" by Ann Jäderlund, which Hanna interprets as "a crazy story about strange things happening in the forest, like an urban jungle," she uses her own work to tell stories. "My work is narrative rather than functional."

Check out Nyman's work currently being exhibited at A World of Folk, a design and craft fair in Norway. More info is available on her website and contact her directly to inquire about purchasing her wallpapers.

for coolhunting: http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/09/hanna_nyman.php

mctega jewelry.

By using the mass production techniques of industrial chemistry on a much smaller scale Sarah McLellan and Kristina Ortega are able to create one of a kind pieces of jewelry for their new line named Mctega. Inspired by their pre-med educations and organic chemistry more specifically, the duo use materials known for their ubiquity to handcraft necklaces that are both creative and surreal. From animals gilded in gold, to chunks of crystal and amorphous glass-like plates with colourful hexagons, prices range from $92 to $325.

We recently caught up with the duo to ask them a few questions about their line and how they got started.

What are you listening to right now?
We are watching the Olympics! That is all we have been doing for the past week and a half. No music... Were obsessed!

When and how did you start Mctega?
We started last fall in Los angeles. We are friends and we wanted to see what we could create together.
mctega2.jpg

What's your latest collection about?
It's about our science backgrounds. We both majored in science disciplines until our junior year of college before deciding to study fashion. Even though we decided to pursue fashion, science still shapes the way we think and design.

How do you come up with these ideas and put them into action?
Umm, it’s just like anything else. We come up with ideas in our head but the hard part is figuring out how to make them come to life. It’s a lot more research and trial and error then we thought it would be, but the best thing we allow ourselves to do is make mistakes. They have lent themselves to some of our best pieces.
mctega3.jpg

Why jewelry? Why not something else?
Well we decided to start with jewelry first because it was a great way for us to work together and see what we could produce. Mctega itself was just an experiment to see what we could create together. Our goal is to eventually create a clothing line, but we thought it was much more manageable to work with jewelry first.

Who are some other local designers that you admire/respect and why?
Well we are based in Los Angeles so it has to be Rodarte. We actually met during our internship there. Kate and Laura are incredible. Hands down.
mctega4.jpg

What does a typical day in your life look like?
Well not too glamorous... we both work part time to support Mctega, so we go to work then we meet up and work on our own stuff. We can't wait for the day when we can just work on Mctega.

What's your biggest inspiration?
Bill Nye!

Any advice?
Well we always try to embrace change, which is sometimes hard. We push each other to take risks, not just for the sake of it, but to create something that is new to us and something that we can learn from.

Where can we buy your stuff?
Online at Mctega

for coolhunting web:
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/08/mctega_jewerly.php