Here’s a little taste of what our master students will have on offer for SHOW2017! Don’t forget you can also take a closer look at each master’s collection in detail at EXPO2017!

Name: Nastasia Fine
Age: 25
Origin: Belgium

Tell us more about your collection!
The title of my collection means “Child Woman, Love Object” and that’s because dolls are my main inspiration. For me they perfectly represent the spirit of women who have a body like a child but who can also be very sexual.

 

Name: Raphaëlle Lenseigne
Age: 25
Origin: France

Tell us more about your collection!
Last Summer, I bought a book with portraits of Outsider Artists by Mario del Curto called “Art Brut Live” and one of the pictures was very striking to me. It was of Barbara Massart who is a resident at “La ‘S’ Grand Atelier” in the Belgian Ardennes. I became completely obsessed with her work, so I got in touch and went to meet her. From talking to her and what I grasped of her personality, I built the concept of the collection. What struck me about Barbara is that she is a tiny, petite woman but she makes these super voluminous garments. Her work reminded me of those birds who prop themselves up to either seduce or scare off predators. I developed the collection around two ideas: the idea of how we show ourselves to others and the idea of who we actually are. The collection starts with very strict, severe garments with all sorts of textile manipulations spilling out and then it slowly evolves into home wear. The shapes go from very angular and strict to quite loose. Barbara and I are collaborating on pieces as well and hopefully we will continue working together in the future.

 

Name: Ken Thaodee
Age: 24
Origin: Belgium/Thaliland

Tell us more about your collection!
I started out with the inspiring phrase: “By All Means”, because I think it’s applicable to many different things, especially to myself and this collection. The past year I started wondering about the actual value of a garment. The things we make in class cost a lot of time, work and money, but at the end of the year, when everything is finished, everything you make just ends up hanging in a closet at home. Only for a very short period of time, we attach a certain meaning to those pieces. I wondered: what if clothing was less strong and durable, what if clothing was more fragile? How would that affect my approach? I used cardboard and paper in my collection, which are ephemeral materials. It gets damaged, creased or changes shape very quickly and after a while, these materials also start to decay. Is the value of an item of clothing based on the materials it’s made of? Can I attach my own value to it if it’s made from something cheaper? Also, if something doesn’t last for a long period of time and it’s a temporary pleasure is it possible you might cherish it more?

 

♥ to Dominique Nzeyimana & Knotoryus.com for the interviews.