ART FLASH: FERMATA BY OS GÊMEOS

By Catrin Davies, WGSN, 27 December 2011

The Brazilian street artists have created a fantasy world of brilliant colour perfect for future VM inspiration. 


Referencing hip-hop culture, fantasy fiction, folklore, politics and the landscape of urban Brazil, twins Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo - aka  Os Gêmeos - have become the country's highest-profile street artists. This all-encompassing exhibition, titled Fermata (meaning to pause, or hold), is a mammoth undertaking, with all the works made in, and specifically for, the museum space in the coastal town of Vila Velha.


The brothers have curated the entire exhibition space, creating a 360-degree experience that immerses visitors in the Os Gêmeos world, with all its yellow-hued eccentricity. A great exhibition for VM inspiration, Fermata features large-scale installations and new paintings and multimedia illustrations. WGSN loves the caravan centrepiece, which embodies the brother's eclectic style, in line with our autumn/winter 2012/13 Hyperculture macro trend.

WGSN link

Conveying Eco messages

Lush, London
Nudie Jeans, London
Looptworks
Selfridges, London
Howies, London

WGSN link

DESTROYED DESIGN: GRAHAM HUDSON X PATRIK ERVELL POP-UP

Non-profit arts and culture organisation BOFFO unveiled Patrik Ervell's pop-up store in collaboration with the British architect. NY

The second annual Building Fashion event launched the temporary retail space designed by London-based architect Graham Hudson to house Patrik Ervell's utilitarian fashion line. On first glance the store looks like it's under construction, with building scraps, scaffolding, crumbling walls and exposed pipes. The concept for the store explored destruction and decay, transforming it into art and design which seamlessly matched Ervell's menswear and womenswear pieces. In line with WGSN's Eco Hedonism macro trend for autumn/winter 2012/13, the store uses recycled rubbish and rubble to creatively merchandise the product.

Destroyed design NY pop up -WGSN link

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FANTASY WORLD: IRENE NEUWIRTH POP-UP

Part fairyland, part prehistoric landscape, the Irene Neuwirth pop-up store is a visual extravaganza, NY.


Fluid metal-work, lush plant-life and glass pods are key components in the fantastical VM display at jewellery designer Irene Neuwirth’s TriBeCa pop-up store. The biomorphic installation – titled Fibulae – is a collaboration between Neuwirth and Brooklyn-based architect Marc Fornes of TheVeryMany.


The store was unveiled by non-profit arts and culture organisation BOFFO during the second annual Building Fashion event, with Neuwirth's designs displayed under large glass domes set into a curvy metallic sculpture made from 7,000 brushed aluminium panels. The spectacular, other-worldly golden structure was entirely pre-cut and assembled on the premises.


"I LOVE THE CONTRAST BETWEEN MY VERY MODERN AND FEMININE GEMS AND MARC'S REALLY MODERN AND CONCEPTUAL WORK."

Irene Neuwirth

Inside the 19 pods, Neuwirth's feminine necklaces and earrings hang delicately from tree branches appearing as minature landscapes, parallel to a wall of vivid green foliage. The installation is in line with WGSN's Wonderlab macro trend for spring/summer 2013.

BOFFO & THE LAKE & STARS POP-UP

Non-profit arts and culture organisation BOFFO has opened the fourth installation in its second annual Building Fashion series with New York-based The Lake & Stars and New York design studio SOFTlab.

Nikki Dekker explain what drove the collaboration forward. "We chose SOFTlab because they approach design the same way that we do. They take references that don’t have to do with architecture in a similar way that we design our lingerie using specific humorous and nostalgic references."


Working on a retail space isn’t typical for SOFTlab. The design firm is best known for interactive gallery installations. "We always say that design happens in a vacuum and commercial happens somewhere else," said Szivos. "We wanted to merge them in this project."

The intimates designers Maayan Zilberman and Nikki Dekker worked with SOFtlab owner and architect Michael Szivos to create a space that merges commercial retail with art in a thoughtful way. The design duo, the first intimate apparel line to win an Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, wanted to juxtapose sexual peep-show references with the nostalgic idea of a children's viewfinder toy.

Visitors enter the shop and are greeted by a matt black wall with protruding 3D structures where shoppers can peer into dichroic acrylic boxes and see a kaleidoscopic view of the retail space and mannequins behind the wall. The dichroic acrylic changes colour depending on the viewing angle. Peeking underneath the wall are 10 sets of feet wearing black Nike Air Force 1 hi-top sneakers with The Lake & Stars logo, a collaboration between the brands. The shoes are available by special order.  

Inside the black structure is a stark white retail space housing the merchandise and 10 bespoke mannequins designed by Rootstein, each wearing disheveled wigs, styled in ponytails or buns, and a bright orange lipstick. The mannequins, which each wear a piece from The Lake & Stars past 10 seasons, serve as a retrospective for the designers. 

The brand designed 125 pieces exclusively for the pop-up, which represent bestselling styles. Hosiery, hand-painted pumps, branded candy, sleepover toothbrushes, voodoo candles and magnets are also for sale. The bras, underwear and chemises hang on reflective laser-cut hangers with The Lake & Stars logo. Bras retail for around $125 and a pair of panties retail for around $40.

This is The Lake & Stars' first US pop-up and the brand doesn’t have a standalone location. "This is a great way to test what it’s like to have a store and how it would do," said Zilberman. 

Ohne Titel pop-up store

Design duo Alexa Adams and Flora Gill of Ohne Titel are the final designers to showcase their installation as part of BOFFO's Building Fashion project. Collaborating with architects Easton & Combs' Rona Easton and Lonn Combs, the retail space - open for just two weeks - worked a selection of A/W 11/12 and pre-collection pieces into a red maze. The aluminium structure created a woven 3D pattern through the use of interlocking teeth, which could be easily altered by the architects. New York.