Exhibition Report: Dysfashional Berlin | Maison Martin Margiela |

In a calming contrast to the breathless hype of this year’s MercedesBenz FashionWeek Berlin, the city hosted the Paris based exhibition "Dysfashional". It is an exhibition that changed our concept of fashion, of art and their overlaps. The pieces displayed, created by some of the most esteemed fashion designers of today, are a refreshing reaction to a "literal" notion of fashion as uni-dimensional collections of clothing and accessories. The prefix "dys" perfectly mirrors this disturbance to the process, the element of blurring the lines between the concept of a garment and a piece of art.

We found "Production Originale" (2007-2009, Produktion Mosign, Luxemburg) by Maison Martin Margiela one of the most inspiring installations. The installation of classical room interiors, reduced to the black and white life-size print of the rooms' walls on simple white screens, creates only an optical illusion of the spaces. This well-thought out and archaic Trompe-l’œil appears as an unmasking of the construction of beauty. It reveals the message that little is needed to evoke what we perceive as beautiful. It is the demystification of design.

This approach of revelation and demystification of design is a touchstone of the integrity of brands in today's hectic luxury fashion industry. For us, this approach gives the chance to reflect on your work and helps us to reach what we call our philosophy:

Passion Of Perfection

Art as inspiration - Our highlight of the ArtBasel 2010: Ran Hwang

Ran Hwang

"Dreaming of Joy", 2009

Buttons, pins, panel, 120x270cm

Kashya Hildebrand Gallery

at SopeBasel 2010 during ArtBasel2010.

"For art establishes the basic human truths which

must serve as the touchstones of our judgement. The

artist faithful to his personal vision of reality,

becomes the last champion of the individual mind and

sensibility against an intrusive society and an

offensive state.”

(John F. Kennedy)

How right Kennedy was. Art inspires us and inspiration is the ingredient that makes our lives extraordinary. The yearly ArtBasel, the world's most esteemed display for artists, allows us each year to face an avalanche of inspirations and impressions. One artist, however, has touched our senses and taken our breaths away this year the most: Ran Hwang.

The Korean artist, born 1960, creates pictures of unique expression. Using thousands of simple buttons and pins, she creates large wall installations that only from afar show their breathtakingly vivid picture. Through the immensely repetitive manual work facing the white wall, she says, the experience of her own installations is a form of performance that leads toward finding oneself, like a monk practising Zen.

What struck us in her works was the vision which leads her from the first hammered pin to the precise, vivid and emotional expression of the finished work. Her installations represent a fight for freedom of the individual mind and expression and serve us as a touchstone of our judgements. But regardless of all intellectual examination, it is the incredible beauty of her work that left us speechless.

In the end, it was the vision within her work, the breathtaking beauty of its expression, and the inspiration her message gives that moved us deeply.

In all her works, we see the ceaseless application of her -and our- philosophy:

Passion Of Perfection