And Inspiration struck…

In the last few weeks it feels more than ever before life has inundated me with a rush of new people, lots of fun events and creativity creativity creativity…. With Hong Kong Art fair passing us by it got me thinking about What “art” is? and what it really means to be an “artist”?

As Andy Warhol said - "An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he or she – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them."

A few weeks ago some friends of mine who own and run an art gallery (www.ufoartgallery.com) on Graham street were having the vernissage of a new exhibition and had brought the artist down from Germany. I was lucky enough to cross paths with him a few times while he was in Hong Kong. Being the curious cat that I am, wasting no time I launched into asking his opinion on art, fashion, music the likes.

The artist

Hendoc, born as Hendrik Docken in West-Berlin, moved to the forests near Frankfurt in 1968. He works with wood from trees that have been cut down or that have fallen due to the old age. Hendoc believes that each bark of a tree holds up to 300 years of history that’s why they are so special. Another of his favorite mediums is gold leaf, every year he travels over to Alaska to a gold mine where he washes up this precious metal that is used in his works.

Eager to know his view on artists and designers, I asked him what he thought of Andy Warhol’s work, Damien Hirst’s work and my personal superstar Karl Lagerfeld’s work. He had great respect for Warhol and his background, seemed blurry on Hirst’s work but thought Lagerfeld was a genius.

…Business Art

….Art Business

…Fashion Art

…Fashion Business

"Business Art is a step that comes after art" , we got talking about how business and art work together. There always seems to be a clash in the industry between the creative side and the business mind. To a certain degree it is true that the artist always wants to create without any restrictions. But then again business in itself is an art?

It seems to me that as artists / designers mature they first find themselves in their art, creating a style and learning what works for them. Once this process is on its way they then organically find a way to turn it into a game, which not only brings them joy in creating, but also a decent income. Everybody needs to make an income to live but I find that most artists’ motivation is to create for the sake of creativity….

It is always a pleasure meeting inspirational minds, their love for life shows in their eyes and runs through their veins. The energy they give out makes you want to create create create….

Toward the end of our conversation we contemplated the art of life itself….which too has been carefully scripted and planned before we experience it. Nothing ends up in one’s life unless it perfectly supports us in having the experience we want to have. Nothing is ever random or accidental either….isnt it beautiful to know that each of our paintings are beautifully composed

Long Live Art!

www.kanchancouture.com

The Trendy Trench

Recently I have been giving talks about “Trends 2009” and “How to recession proof your wardrobe”, although I am quite terrified of standing up in front of a group of people and giving any kind of presentation the sessions have been loads of fun, love the questions people ask and more importantly when something can be taken away and applied in an instance!

What is a fashion trend and where does it come from?

The dictionary definition is a trend is the general direction in which fashion moves. Each season brings about hundreds of new trends, all stemming from the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Let’s trace it back a step trends are born from designers inspirations which ultimately can come from anything that life has to offer but most popularly: High Culture (fine art, literature, classic music, theatre etc), Pop culture (TV, pop music, movies and celeb culture) and Low culture (these are activities pursued locally by special interest groups outside the main stream and example would be skateboarding culture)

And the winner is…

Among all the trends one that keeps re-appearing and sticks prominently in my mind is “The Trench”, worn by the like likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and anyone who was or is glamorous and fabulous. From an article in the FT – “Think mackintosh meets-dressing-gown and imagine yourself swanning into a cocktail party while sipping a Bellini”

There has been an evolution, the trench is not only worn for the rain, rather been upgraded - to being luxe, to being silk / satin, to being a sexy coat dress. After all in a recession it is all about practicality and finding ways to maximize the use of one outfit.

We have our own version at Kanchan Couture


Should you invest?

If you don’t have one of these in your wardrobe portfolio then I suggest you jump on the bandwagon now now now, its hot and here to stay! A winner hands down.

www.kanchancouture.com