‘Living Room’
‘Living Room’ will be open to the public at B&N Gallery from 17 to 23 February 2012, 12:00 until 18:00. The Private View will take place on Thursday 16 February from 18:00 to 21:00 at: B&N Gallery |
‘Living Room’A London Fashion Week exhibition project Curated by People Of The Labyrinths / Geert de Rooij & Hans Demoed Included Designers & Artists: Hans Demoed and Geert de Rooij are strongly associated with the fashion scene that has flourished in the Dutch city of Arnhem. The fashion academy at arteZ has built an ever-growing international visibility for its very particular approach to fashion education. It attracts students from all over the world for its thorough fashion education programme that persistently retains the accolade of being one of the world’s top five fashion schools. Themselves graduates of the academy, Hans and Geert have chosen to remain in the city. Living and working in Arnhem, their own practices constantly intersect with the ongoing evolution of the design and cultural scene of the Netherlands’s compact fashion capital. As designers they established their own label People of the Labyrinths in 1984. In addition to its base in the Netherlands, People of the Labyrinths later had its own spectacular concept store in Moscow for a number of years. The brand currently continues with its flagship store in Arnhem’s picturesque fashion quarter and a pilot concept store in Amsterdam in addition to being sold in bijou outlets across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Over the years, the collections have diversified into a number of lines that include cosmetics and design for interiors, effectively transforming it into a handcrafted lifestyle brand. Both the brand and its particular manifestation confirm that Hans Demoed and Geert de Rooij are characteristic of the highly individual and freethinking approaches to fashion that are now so strongly associated with the identity of fashion at arteZ. Furthermore, they remain active in the evolution of Arnhem and its creative economy in numerous ways ranging from teaching at the academy to involvement in the city’s internationally acclaimed fashion biennale and other high-profile design projects. Perhaps most importantly of all, as its most striking ambassadors, there is something about their relationship with Arnhem that harks back to the Dutch Golden Age; a time in which the personal taste and flair of individual players was an important asset to both the development of the Netherlands’ mercantile spirit and its rich cultural landscape. As an elliptical means of teasing out the unique position of Arnhem in contemporary fashion for a London audience, Hans and Geert have been invited to curate a gallery presentation during London Fashion Week. Under the title of ‘Living Room’, they will transform B&N Gallery in London’s Shoreditch into an elaboration of Arnhem’s fashion sensibility from the personal perspective of two creative practitioners who are themselves intrinsically part of that particular spirit. Their personal interests go way beyond fashion in its most narrow sense to virtually all forms of design, patronage of the visual arts and collaborations with artists. For example, in the past their own fashion brand has undertaken collaborations with internationally established artists such as Erwin Olaf, elaborating a vision of fashion that is informed by the Netherlands’ long passion for all forms of art and culture. Thus, their ‘Living Room’ will initiate a discussion about fashion in a far broader context. As the London audience – professional and all others who are interested- will surely find in their ‘Living Room’, fashion in Arnhem is something that is living and breathing and constantly renewing itself through an enthusiastic engagement with design and the visual arts of all disciplines. ‘Living Room’ will be open to the public at B&N Gallery from 17 to 23 February 2012, The Private View will take place on Thursday 16 February from 18:00 to 21:00 at: B&N Gallery The exhibited designs of Hella Jongerius, Studio Job, Studio Makking & Bey, Jurgen Bey, JKN Alexander van Slobbe and Roderick Vos are commissions for Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum. The designs of Rick Tegelaar and Klaas Kuiken were acquired through Arnhem Coming Soon. For press enquires, to request for high-resolution images or relevant professionals who might wish to see the presentation outside of the gallery’s exhibition opening hours, please contact Ken Pratt at info@nlpopup.co.uk or on +44 (0) 794 384 4676
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