British-Iraqi designer Walid al Damirji is obsessed with fabric. His London studio is bursting to the brim with a fascinating treasure trove of historical textiles, from embroidered Chinese silk to Victorian taffeta, Edwardian linen and 19th century religious robes. This rich archive of collected fabrics is the backbone of his eponymous fashion brand By Walid,…
Category Archives: PIONEERS
Swirling lines move through Georgiana Houghton’s art like loose threads or tangled masses of unruly hair. Now and again eyes or faces peep through their midst, meeting ours with a deep, penetrating gaze. A visionary artist and medium with remarkable foresight, Houghton pioneered an expressive language of abstraction that was well before her time. So…
Great towering spires of rock point towards the heavens, while clouds form dreamy, billowing puffs that drift out into endless space. This is the mystical, magical world of Russian-born, 20th century master Nicholas Roerich, a daydreamer who explored art as a pathway towards spiritual awakening. Throughout his long and incredibly prolific career Roerich sought various…
Swedish artist Hilma af Klint is one of the 20th century art world’s best-kept secrets. An abstract painter of extraordinary talent and foresight, she pioneered a deeply spiritual strand of abstraction centering around Theosophy, spirits, seances, and the occult long before her male counterparts like Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kasimir Malevich. Yet she kept…
One of the greatest problems faced by the fashion industry is the ongoing production of virgin materials, in a world that is already overflowing with waste. The fashion accessories brand BEEN London are one of a new generation of designers tackling this issue head on, by only working with repurposed, recycled and renewable materials. From…
In 2001, two Danish artists, Henriette Heise and Jakob Jakobsen set up a makeshift, educational experiment in their Copenhagen apartment: it was called The Copenhagen Free University (CFU). In the vein of utopian, liberal arts institutions like Black Mountain College and the Free University of New York, their venture was a reaction against the increasing…
Germany’s Kunstakademie Dusseldorf is widely recognised as one of the most radical art schools in the world. The 1960s and 1970s were a particularly profound period for the academy, when ground-breaking teaching methods gave rise to progressive new forms of performance art, painting and photography. Since then, the school has remained a respected centre for…
Founded in 2018, global fashion brand Pangaia make minimalist, relaxed lounge and sportswear with a difference. All their fibres and fabrics are made from naturally derived or recycled sources. They also work with some surprisingly unconventional raw materials, including seaweed, wildflowers, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables, many of which would otherwise end up in waste. Working…
The Bauhaus remains one of the most iconic and influential art and design schools of the modern world, and its legacy lives on today. Founded in Weimar by the great German architect Walter Gropius, the school’s aims were visionary and utopian. Gropius’s goal was no less than an entire unity of the arts, bringing all…
Global sportswear brand Patagonia are passionate about the great outdoors, and the role we play within it. On the one hand, their clothes are tough, durable and built to last, designed to withstand the wildest and most remote adventures the planet has to offer. But Patagonia are also deeply aware of the destructive impact clothing…
In 1933, an art school like no other was founded near the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina: its name was Black Mountain College. While the experimental and progressive art school only lasted for 24 years, its legacy has survived far longer. Black Mountain modelled a new, open-ended and unstructured way to teach liberal arts,…
From remnants of antique rugs to recycled denim and swatches of old cashmere, Uruguayan-American designer Gabriela Hearst demonstrates how high-end fashion can be made in the most sustainable and ecologically aware way. Along with her eponymous fashion house, Hearst is also creative director of the established fashion house Chloe, and in both ventures, Hearst wants…
Jenny Saville’s raw and physically direct paintings are all about the true reality of human bodies. Flesh is her primary subject, and she paints it creasing, flopping, squishing and folding over itself in a way that is all too familiar to anyone who has given birth, or experienced the visceral process of raising young children….
American fashion designer Mara Hoffman launched her eponymous brand in 2000, showcasing loose, easy-wear dresses, one-piece swimwear and trouser suits emblazoned with bold colours and wild, Matisse-like prints. Fifteen years later, her brand had become an international hit, with offices spread across the globe. But by now Hoffman was painfully aware of how wasteful and…
Personal relationships were integral to the pioneering 20th century sculptor Louise Bourgeois, so perhaps it is no surprise that themes of motherhood crept into many of her most famous works of art. Whether addressing her relationship with her own mother, who died when the artist was 21, or her own shifting role as she herself…
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