The limited-edition packaging for the 15th anniversary of Fresh's Rose Face Mask reads very fresh and spring-like to me so it feels a little weird posting it when there's a fall nip in the air, but I positively had to share its gorgeousness. British artist Jo Ratcliffe was responsible for the graceful, swirling composition.
You would think roses would be a fairly straightforward motif to illustrate, but to get them to look modern and youthful (i.e., not looking like an old lady's nightgown) is trickier than you'd expect. Ratcliffe explained the process to Nylon magazine: "Roses are a very traditional thing to draw, so I knew that I needed to make something that stood out but also fit within the brand’s aesthetic. It was a challenge: We went through a few stages of drawing women, then we removed details but kept the curves and the feminine lines. Then we just reduced [the image] to roses. I started to make drawings that weren’t so botanical looking, but then they looked too much like tattoos. It’s one of those things that you think is going to be very easy, but proves to be quite difficult…with fashion illustration, you need to follow trends, and I just discovered through doing this that beauty products remain quite classic. You can make it modern, too, but the twists have to be really subtle…once I started to draw roses on their own, it felt really difficult to make something that was unique, so I started to add in these paint marks and things that felt more organic and more like a sketchbook. I wanted to create something that was a little wild looking—something that stands for natural beauty." Ratcliffe also told Allure, "Roses feel like a very English flower to me, but also a little bit punk, given their beauty and their thorns. I was inspired by beautiful old botanical drawings of roses and thinking of ways of reinterpreting them into something more modern…I wanted to bring a kind of motion in an irregular way so that it felt a little wild and alive." To do that, she "began to paint with Indian and acrylic inks, layered with a more loose version of traditional roses, which I painted using gouache. I brought in a layer of blue so there was a hint of something unexpected but that also helped bring the sensorial essence [of the product] to life."
You can see how the drawing came to life in this video. I noticed she's left-handed…my fascination with southpaws knows no bounds.
She also made a print for a scarf that was available as a gift-with-purchase at Fresh's Marylebone store in London. Obviously I'm annoyed I couldn't procure it.
Let's take a peek at Ratcliffe's other work, which displays a truly impressive range. We know she can do fashion and beauty illustrations, both from the Fresh collab and her live fashion illustrations during runway shows, like this one for Peter Pilotto:
But she's equally skilled at abstract work.
And more detailed portraits, such as this editorial for V magazine featuring illustrations of supermodels posing with various beauty products. This spread also shows Ratcliffe is capable of putting a different spin on beauty products depending on the client. Whereas for Fresh the design was simply modern and pretty, for this magazine she gave the makeup an appropriately edgy, high-fashion, sleek treatment.
She also works on a variety of animations for top fashion companies. I think my favorite is this Devil Panda/Angel Panda video for Jimmy Choo.
What I was most surprised about though was that she was the one behind the excellent Sephora holiday 2014 graphics. I thought they were so cool that I actually saved an email I got from Sephora spelling out my name in that crazy makeup font as well as the little promo brochure.
At the time I couldn't track down who the artist was, so I'm glad I finally found out. This work also shows how varied Ratcliffe's work is, even between beauty companies. I never would have guessed this is the same artist who created the Fresh packaging.
Overall I think the Fresh piece is lovely and well-thought-out. And if you're actually going to use it, so much the better, as the pretty factor will instantly skyrocket for any vanity or bathroom. I'm also really impressed with the variety of styles Ratcliffe is able to execute – no boring repetition or recycling previous work here.
What do you think?
Today I'm playing detective to decipher who's behind the packaging of a couple recent releases. First, I spotted these two Urban Decay palettes at Chic Profile over the summer. They are exclusive to the French Sephora website and bear the tag of "Pboy", ostensibly the graffiti artist who created the designs.
I searched high and low but could find zero information on this artist. (There is a group of graffiti artists collectively called Poster Boy, but given their anti-consumerist agenda and their collage style I highly doubt they lent their work to Urban Decay.) I've emailed the company and if they provide any info I will update.
The other designs I was curious about come from Laura Mercier. Several recently released items – the Flawless Contour palette, the Candleglow palette and the Reflections of Hope mirror – all have the same illustration style. The windows of Laura Mercier's boutique in Paris are also decorated with these sorts of designs.
At first I thought the artist might be Izak Zenou, who, in addition to illustrating a Sephora collection, also did the illustrations for Laura Mercier's book. But his signature was nowhere to be found on any of the designs for these more recent palettes. Actually, there's no signature at all. I decided to watch this video I found on the company's Facebook page to see if it could provide any clues.
And it did! Look at the lower right at the 1:30 mark, the word "Chesley" appears. One quick Google search yielded the full name. According to her website, NYC-based Chesley McLaren is obsessed with anything French, earning her the nickname of "the French illustrator in New York". She has done illustrations for the likes of Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Henri Bendel as well as a campaign for Bloomingdales called Vive La France. So it's quite appropriate that she's been partnering with Laura Mercier. I do wonder though why none of her work, save for the video above, bears her signature. Anyway, I'm still debating whether to get any of these latest Laura Mercier items for the Museum. They're cute but I don't know if they're a necessity.
Do you like figuring out packaging mysteries? And if anyone knows anything about the graffiti artist for Urban Decay, do let me know!
In total it's a rather large collection, but I think some items weren't offered in the States. I don't recall seeing the bath and body and nail products at the U.S. Sephora website, but they did appear in France and Australia.
Not much background information was given as to why Sephora chose Craig & Karl, but the company was quite pleased with the outcome. As a rep told Cosmetics Business News, "For summer, we were looking for a fresh, pop and coloured collaboration…Craig & Karl are two unique and very talented designers that truly share our brand image and brand values. The collection is full of joy, happiness and, of course, colour…It was a true pleasure to work with them, so we’d of course be open to working with them again down the road. We like surprising our consumers, so if we were to collaborate again then it would be something completely different…we have built a very interesting partnership with them in order to deliver the best quality and translate to the suppliers what they had in mind at the beginning of the project. The colour expertise of Craig & Karl mixed with our packaging and industrial knowledge produced an awesome result that we couldn’t be happier with.”
That's a nice bit of PR, but does collection really reflect Craig & Karl's aesthetic? A quick visit to their website told me that yes, it's totally spot on. Compare the dots, stripes and criss-crossed lines on the Sephora packaging to the patterns on this Washington Post ad.
Or the eye and lip motifs on the duo's work for MCM.
I especially enjoyed the spread they did for Vogue Japan. It takes the idea of Craig & Karl makeup quite literally – it's not the packaging that bears their signature patterns and colors but the models themselves.
Full of Craig & Karl's exuberant colors and playful motifs, the Sephora packaging is a great representation of who they are as designers.
So why didn't I buy anything? To be blunt, I'm not a big fan of their work. I respect what they're doing and I think they're very talented, but it doesn't appeal to me personally. I just can't bring myself to spend money on something I find so, well, ugly. Additionally, the items from the collaboration aren't things I see as a necessary acquisition for the Museum. Remember that I wasn't all that taken with Antonio Lopez's work but I still bought many pieces from the MAC collaboration because I feel that it was something a makeup museum should own and display. Craig & Karl, however…it may be shortsighted, but I don't think this is really a must-have from a collecting standpoint, nor can I see it being used in an exhibition.
What do you think?
A few months ago The Dieline posted about this relatively new makeup brand that happens to have some of the most spectacular packaging I've seen in a while. Pai Pai is a Mexican brand that features the work of different artists on their packaging each season. It's a similar concept to Laqa & Co. as well as the long-gone Stephane Marais line, so perhaps it's not completely groundbreaking, but I love brands that don't have regular packaging and hire artists to create different designs for each product. (If I had my own makeup line, I'd totally steal the concept of having a new artist each season!) Plus, Pai Pai exclusively highlights Mexican artists so as to celebrate the country's cultural heritage. The company's name comes from an an endangered indigenous community in Baja California in the western part of Mexico. Sadly, it is estimated that less than 100 people still speak the Paipai language. I'm not sure whether any of Pai Pai's proceeds go to conservation efforts but it would be awesome if they did.
Anyway, let's get to the packaging, which I'll be looking in reverse chronological order. The most recent featured artist is Guillermo Huerta, an up-and-coming illustrator who collaborates on many different design and fashion projects in Mexico. Titled "Sueño Cósmico" ("Cosmic Dream"), the collection is about Huerta's "obsession with color" and a modern re-imagining of Mexico. My Spanish is rusty, but I think I was able to roughly piece together his take on the collection: "I have always thought more is more. For me, Mexico has always been a starting point…I love to revisit the fantasy and magic that we have and give it a contemporary twist."
Here are the cases.
And here they are with the caps off – the colors are certainly exuberant and appropriate for the spring and summer months.
The slightly more delicate, less edgy work of Georgina Chávez was selected for the fall/winter 2014 collection. Titled "Seres" (Beings) the collection was inspired by wild animals/plants and their habitats.
Prior to Chávez's collection, PaiPai used the work of Oscar Torres for the spring/summer 2014 collection. Torres created brightly colored, intricately patterned works depicting his chosen theme, "Virgen Santa" ("Holy Virgin") which pays homage to the beauty of Mexico's women and also gives a modern twist to traditional representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I love that each one is shown wearing a vibrant lipstick. Oddly enough, the lipsticks are named after flowers, but Torres named each woman so I don't know why they couldn't use his original names. From left to right is Guadalupe, Ofelia and Francisca.
Pai Pai's inaugural collection debuted in the fall of 2013 and featured 9 lipsticks by Alejandro López, an artist whose folkloric work is inspired by the "streets of Mexico, its people, costumes, traditions, fantasies and the way in which they see the most painful situations with humor". It's hard to tell whether these were made especially for Pai Pai or whether they were existing works, but you can see them all here.
All in all, I'm really impressed with Pai Pai's concept of having a makeup line produced in Mexico with packaging that regularly honors the country through the work of different artists, and is even named after an indigenous Mexican community. You can tell a lot of thought went into the brand's development and I know someone there is very carefully selecting the artists (my dream job!) and choosing lipstick shades that are appropriate not only for the season but that also represent that particular artist's aesthetic. See, for example, the vivid, pigmented shades of Torres's collection that go perfectly with his vibrant portraits, vs. the subtle beiges, plums and pinks of Lopez's collection, which are better-suited to his slightly more understated palette.
What do you think? Which collection is your favorite? Pai Pai ships to the U.S. so I see a few of these in my future…I just wish I could have gotten my hands on their older collections!
I thought I'd offer a palate cleanser today after yesterday's somewhat depressing post. Let's take a peek at some pretty little watercolor illustrations from Australian artist Kerrie Hess. While the two collections I'll be focusing on were released way back in early spring, I still thought they were worth writing about now since the illustrations are so utterly charming.
While Hess enjoyed her early career as a graphic designer, she soon realized that fashion illustration was her passion. (I'm sure her sister's work was also an inspiration). In addition to her regular graphic design job for London's The Independent newspapers, she also worked on small commissions for her illustrations. It wasn't long until they got the attention of the fashion world, and soon Hess was creating campaigns for the likes of Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Alexander McQueen. Eventually she began collaborating with non-fashion companies like Le Meurice Hotel (where, incidentally, the husband and I stayed for our honeymoon!) and Ladurée. Now Hess has also made her way into the world of cosmetics.
First up is Korean brand Etude House's Dreaming Swan collection. Hess created a lovely ballet theme with loads of feminine touches – lots of pink, bows, even a hint of tulle.
While Hess's work is chic and fashionable (she names Grace Kelly as an inspiration), there's definitely an effortlessness about it. Indeed, as you watch her work on the Dreaming Swan collection, the dabs of paint seem to flow from her brush with great ease. In an interview with TOTOI, Hess states that while her uncomplicated style stems partly from the fact that she's been drawing from an early age, she also never felt compelled to make a "perfect" drawing. "I did weekend art classes from about 5 or 6 (in my fluro bike shorts no less) and I absolutely recall my teacher telling me that you are never drawing things or people, only shapes and lines. I like this, it takes the pressure off trying to be perfect; and it still stays with me. I also think that it’s the imperfections in an art piece that can really make it. A little smudge here or there links back to the piece being done by hand."
Prior to the Etude House collaboration, Hess did a collection for Lancôme in honor of their 80th anniversary. While I'm peeved it was exclusive to Australia, I can't imagine a better match for this collaboration. Hess was born and raised in Australia but lived in Paris for over a year. Calling it her home away from home, she is able to perfectly capture the sophistication and style that are unique to the City of Lights. About being selected for the collaboration, she says: "As my illustration aesthetic is very French, all about couture, beauty and Paris, we were a perfect match…I love the sense of history of the Lancôme brand and have always used the products myself. It was also really wonderful as an artist to be given a lot of creative license from Lancôme. I always feel that I do my best work when this is the case. And with that trust I wanted very much to create really beautiful images to represent a brand that I personally admire. I hope I have really captured the city of Paris in all of the images, Lancôme being so associated with the city of lights and made the products that we have collaborated on, ones that people will want to keep as much as use." I personally think she nailed it, but have a gander at her work below and decide for yourself.
Additionally, the Lancôme collaboration gave Hess the opportunity to add a little more color to her models' faces than she normally does. She explains, "Working with Lancôme has inspired me to become a bit more dramatic in my illustrations, with dark eye make-up and red lips, whereas I used to keep my faces bare to keep the spotlight on the dresses.”
I really like how Hess is able to adjust her aesthetic to fit both brands. The Etude House Dreaming Swan collection was very girly and clearly meant for their teenaged demographic, whereas the more high fashion-inspired, Parisian-themed Lancôme collection would appeal to women in their 20s and older. And she also emphasized the cosmetics aspect in each by adding some color to the models' pouts (pink for Etude House and red for Lancôme.)
I'm currently browsing her Instagram and online print shop…I'd seriously consider buying this one if it wasn't sold out! What do you think of these collections and Hess's work overall?
What I like about the Smashbox collab is the fact that Robertson created new drawings specifically for the collection – no re-using old images here. In an interview with Glamour magazine (where he previously worked), he states,"We needed to top the Caddy covered in my lip paintings that we did for Art Basel earlier this year, so we decided to do a mini art show with the lipsticks and liners. They’re [like little presents] wrapped in tiny Donald paintings.”
Robertson's remarkable career is basically my fantasy. Early on he was one of the founders of MAC cosmetics, then became creative director of Condé Nast America and helped launched Marie Claire. After that, he went to work for Estée Lauder, where he currently serves as creative director for all brands. Thus, he is extraordinarily well-connected in the fashion and beauty industries. (Hey, Donald, do you think you could hook me up with an Estée exec about getting a real space for the Makeup Museum? Or talk to someone at a publication about getting the Museum featured?) I loved the pieces he did for Vogue Korea:
And this portrait of Estée Lauder for Bergdorf Goodman:
And look! You can buy this bag starting Thursday. I must admit I am tempted despite the Smashbox goodies I purchased.
Thanks to the seemingly never-ending stream of new illustrations that he posts on Instagram, Robertson quickly became known as the "Suburban Andy Warhol", although his massive legion of admirers took him completely by surprise. “People say I am reminiscent of Andy Warhol because he started as an illustrator and then transitioned into art. I am kind of in that position now. Andy’s output was maybe monthly. I like putting out three or four things a day,” he says. “This is a 100 percent unexpected thing… I’m just some schmoe-y guy who lives in suburbia.” He's humble, but the amount of energy he must have to produce so much on a daily basis is awe-inspiring. I get tired just reading about his artistic process, which he describes thusly: "I get up every morning at around four and do my art exercises. I'll fly through Instagram and sort of get a feel for what's happening in the world! Then I'll just pick a medium like paint or sharpies or garbage bags or walnuts or whatever catches my eye! Then you can't stop me. It's like flood gates opening…I can't imagine doing one thing and then just sitting back. We are constantly being bombarded my imagery and ideas. It's like my performance art. I'm always reacting to stimulus coming at me all day." Take, for example, this quick sketch of Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé (plus their respective beaus) at the Met Gala.
I have no idea how he does all these timely illustrations in addition to working a regular full-time job. Oh, he also has 5 kids. Besides possessing a unique artistic talent and incredible energy, he's funny to boot. I found some great quotes in this interview with W magazine:
“This is my revenge on photography which has sucked up all the attention since the 1930s, when illustrators had their own magazines.”
"In life drawing class, they would put a normal fat model up there, and the teacher would come over and my drawing would be tall and skinny, and they would say ‘You fail.’ And I would be like: ‘You know what, I like my drawing better.’”
“I get away with nipple murder on my feed. And everyone keeps saying ‘those are nipples’ and I’m like ‘Yes they are.’ So, now I am just pushing it. It’s like nipple carte blanche.”
Robertson cites Wes Anderson and Damien Hirst as his chief influences, "because the thing about both of them is everything they do feels really hands-on. You can see their hands in their work.”
He also admires the work of John Currin: "If I had one superpower it would be to be able to paint flesh as well as the artist John Currin – he is my superhero! 'Paintbrush Man'."
As for the subjects of his sketches, he says, "I call it 'tongue in chic.' I’m not just drawing stuff; I’m painting ideas or poking at trends that the world is vibin’ on." He also notes that Instagram and his children inspire him. "Instagram inspires my design. I react to it. It is my art exercise. That and my children. I watch what they are interested in and they have opened my eyes to whole new worlds," he says.
I really can't see anything not to like about Robertson's work. It's slightly abstract and painterly, yet definitely embraces the culture of celebrity and high fashion. He's not afraid of color, which I personally love, and I'm especially fond of how he arranges many of his subjects in orderly rows. Rather than being dull, the repetition of these figures has an army-like effect – when I look at his drawings I'm imagining Amazonian fashion warriors marching into battle.
What do you think of Robertson's work and the Smashbox collection?
RMK has borrowed a page from the playbooks of MAC, Smashbox and Addiction by bringing us a collaboration with NYC-based street artist/painter Bradley Theodore. Alas, the stand-out piece in the RMK Street Essence collection is only sold at Japanese department store Isetan, and they do not ship to the States so I'm totally out of luck in getting my hands on it. Nevertheless the collection is definitely worth posting about.
The super-exclusive palette features one of Theodore's signature portraits of a colorful, skeletal figure in profile. This particular one, appropriately enough, is shown applying lipstick. I'm still not sure who it's supposed to be. At first glance I thought it was simply a random woman, but as I read more about Theodore's work I realized it might actually be a fashion or art icon.
Now that we've looked at the collection, let's take a peek at Theodore's work. Weaving together fashion and art in large-scale murals throughout Manhattan, Theodore honors various icons in these fields by portraying them in a never-before-seen light. I don't think the skeletal representations are meant to signify death; rather, I believe he's trying to get to the essence of each person he paints by stripping them down to the bones, leaving only certain identifying features intact.
Theodore also creates some interesting pairings based on real or imagined relationships between his subjects. Take, for example, his mural of Anna Wintour and Lagerfeld. He explains how the idea came to him: “I’ve always wanted to paint Karl, people say bad or strange things about him, but for me and my friends we believe you can always judge a man by his parties. A friend invited me to one of his fashion week parties when I was living in Paris, the vibes in the room were amazing, people were dancing, having fun, all was smiles on their faces. Karl was just cool as hell in the middle of this Great Gatsby style party…New Yorkers don’t really care about wealthy persons, the fact is we all live together in this crazy city, and it’s almost impossible to have a close friendship with someone more than 3 years. Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld, for them, it’s been over 20 years, there's something to be said for that. One day, I ran out of paint and made a quick trip to the art store and Anna walked near to me and jumped in to a car…then I knew I had to paint them together. I wanted to paint their friendship and I let my mind go and just paint."
Especially fascinating is his portrayal of Frida Kahlo and Coco Chanel. "[The pairings] are all about the conversation, just imagining what would a real candid and uncensored dialogue between these icons consist of, if I were a fly on the wall," he says.
But why fashion and art as the main themes? For Theodore, as fashion enables one to take on a persona, it's essentially a form of performance art. "Fashion allows people to become art…it’s the only time in our society that’s truly accepted for you to be a form of art. The average person on the street is trying to convey an image. That image could be an identity, he or she could be building himself as a painting: it might be the most super-glossed up glam queen, or they could be portraying this stupendous image of Madonna.”
Getting back to the RMK collection, I'm still trying to figure out who the woman on the palette is supposed to be. Red hair, pink bow…is it someone totally obvious and I'm just oblivious?! My first thought was Lana Del Rey but she's not nearly on the level of Theodore's other subjects, i.e. I wouldn't consider her iconic either for her style or her music. If anyone has any theories or could provide solid info on who is represented I would appreciate it.
Anyway, I'm impressed at RMK's choice for this collaboration and I hope we see more of them with other artists in the future – although I do hope that RMK would make it available to those living in the States! I also have a hunch that the next time I'm in NYC I'm going to have to take a little Bradley Theodore tour as I wander about. 🙂
What do you think of the collection and of Bradley Theodore's work?
As they did in 2013, Clé de Peau collaborated with an outside artist to create their holiday collection. I was somewhat tempted by last year's collaboration but when I couldn't find any information on the artist they teamed up with I decided to skip purchasing anything. This year, fortunately, Clé de Peau chose Swash London, a company with readily available information. Plus I think the final product is prettier than last year's. 🙂
The Beauté Céleste collection consists of a coffret which includes a palette and lipstick, a pressed powder compact, and a lip gloss trio. I picked up the coffret and pressed powder (the latter was quite difficult to find.)
First up is the coffret.
I liked that the inner part of the box lid continued the star pattern.
The palette comes with its own soft pouch.
I didn't take pictures of the mascara for obvious reasons but here's what the lipstick looks like.
Swash London is the official company name of design duo Sarah Swash and Toshio Yamanaka, who were responsible for the patterns found on Clé de Peau's holiday collection. Founded in 2005, Swash began designing scarves and expanded to include a comprehensive line of women's wear a few years later. Their illustrations have adorned the likes of Barneys, Le Bon Marche and other stores in Japan and France as well as London. Fun fact: the dog in the pattern is based on their beloved whippet Candy and is a motif in many of their designs.
What spurred me to purchase the (admittedly pricey) coffret, you ask? I went to the Swash London site to see if the pattern was taken from one of their pieces, and indeed it was. A modified, star-filled version of an original pattern from one of Swash's fall 2010 collection scarves appears on the Clé de Peau coffret. I love the squirrel and wish he hadn't been dropped from the coffret design.
Here's the powder compact – it was quite a saga getting this into my hot little hands! Since I don't live near a Clé de Peau counter I thought the easiest thing to do would be to order it online. Much to my chagrin it never appeared at the Neiman Marcus website (where the coffret and lip gloss trio were available) or any other U.S. department store except for Nordstrom, where it sold out immediately. I know this because I was checking every other day. I searched on a Monday and then again on Wednesday morning, and it popped up but said it was unavailable. I was determined to track it down, however, and did a live chat during which the customer service rep informed me that a store in Hawaii still had one left. I called and was able to snag it. So long story short, the powder compact wasn't available in many places and mine had to travel over 3,000 miles to get to me.
When I purchased this compact I didn't know whether the pattern also was borrowed from an original Swash design; I just knew it was different from the coffret and so beautifully embossed on the powder itself that I had to get it. Luckily the pattern on this also comes from another Swash scarf, this time from the 2011 spring collection.
In looking at Swash's work, it reminds me a bit of Paul & Joe since the designers have an excellent eye for prints; however, I find their patterns to be far more intricate. Since I'm not a big print person (or a scarf person, for that matter) I can't see myself wearing any of their items, so I like the fact that I can have one of their illustrations in makeup form. And I think their designs hold up well by themselves just as patterns. Some of my favorites:
Getting back to the Clé de Peau collection, I'm curious as to why they chose the patterns they did. My guess is that those were the easiest ones to modify with a celestial background without losing the integrity of the original design. Or maybe Swash just wanted to highlight some of their earlier work. Whatever the case may be, I think it was well-suited to Clé de Peau's holiday theme.
I was intrigued not only because the museum currently lacks anything from this historic brand in its collection, but also because I wanted to see whether the patterns on the products matched the artist's work. Japanese artist Kaori Miyayama was selected by Pola to create the Nocturnal fall collection. After some sleuthing to see if her designs made it onto the products, I chose one blush and the eye shadow palette.
The design comes from one her works in a series entitled TheRoots of Heaven. I find this to be appropriately named given the tall spindly branches entwined with fluffy clouds stretching upwards. The pattern extends to the very edges of the fabric, alluding to a seemingly indefinite continuation past the sky. It's earthy and ethereal at the same time.
I especially like it installed in multiples in this Italian church. With this light, see-through fabric, there's an airiness in this installation that's more apparent than it would be hanging on a wall in a gallery. And their incredible height and verticality better emphasize the idea of ascension into a heavenly realm.
Now for the eye shadow palette. The box in and of itself is so pretty.
I have to say the patterns on the outside of the case as well as the ones on the shadows themselves stumped me. I looked at them every which way and while they vaguely resemble one of the pieces from The Roots of Heaven, I don't think there are exact duplicates.
I thought perhaps the pattern on the outer case came from this piece, #2 in The The Roots of Heaven series.
Upon closer inspection, however, I think it came from #1, shown here (first one on the left). However, there was no closeup of that one at Miyayama's website so I can't be certain.
I can't give a detailed explanation of her work – little information was available online – but I will say I like it. It's organic in that it references nature but also has a spiritual, otherworldly aspect that I find quite peaceful and contemplative, especially in the colossal fabric hangings. I could see myself in a state of tranquility after gazing up at them for an extended period of time (similar to how I get when looking at Rothko). Anyway, I'm always pleased to see a company team up with artists who may not get much mainstream exposure, a highly effective strategy Pola borrowed from the master of artist collaborations, Shu Uemura.
What do you think?
I was going through my Shu storage and realized I had never posted about this lovely little collection released back in the summer of 2007. In honor of the 24th anniversary of the first Shu Uemura boutique in Omotesando, Tokyo, the company collaborated with noted Japanese graphic designer Hideki Inaba.
I just picked up the empty palette, but there were some other items in the collection.
Hideki Inaba has no formal education in design (he studied mechanical engineering), but that has not stopped him from producing cutting-edge work and collaborating with companies such as Nike, Sony and Levi's, in addition to Shu Uemura. Says one critic, "[His work] has an amazing sense of lightness and movement, while his use of proportion and composition is spot on, giving it a very Japanese sense of harmony and balance," while another states, "His gestural design evokes both the calligraphic traditions of Japan and the contemporary aesthetic of computer graphics." He refuses to reveal what software he uses to create the floating, swirling shapes he is best known for, but observers believe it's a combination of computer-generated lines and techniques borrowed from traditional Japanese woodblock printing (ukiyo-e).
Inaba produced his "New Line" series in 2004, which was later used for the Shu collection.
In 2013 Inaba made a return to his earlier work with his "Vecta" exhibition, which paid tribute to the numerous and intricate vector lines used to form his signature shapes.
Overall, I like Inaba's work as I find the swirling patterns to be almost hypnotic. I just wish there was a little more info available about his technique and the meaning (if any) behind his work.
