Meeting the minds behind Strangelove is as unusual as they are. On greeting Carlo Gibson and Ziemek Pater, I, of course, begin with the normal ‘nice to meet yous†as one does. Gibson immediately rejoins with, ‘You don’t know that yet,†and of course he’s right, even if he leaves me somewhat disarmed.
My visit to their Parkwood studio is in the run-up to their latest gallery exhibition. Having finished up at the Sanlam South African Fashion Week, with their more mainstream garments, the two designers are taking their designs to a formal art space at the David Krut Gallery for the show entitled Selvage.
Gibson explains that there are two elements to their work their fashion design and their art. And it’s Strangelove’s concept clothes that gallery-goers will see in the David Krut workshop space. Prints of their designs will be on display alongside the garments that they map out. The gallery is a space that hosts the work produced by the David Krut Print Workshop.
‘We have quite a peculiar take on clothes. We like to keep learning [about what we do]. It’s not just about making tops or pants. If we just do that it would be boring,†says Gibson, barefoot and seated beside a scattering of shoe boxes. ‘We think about design more than we orientate ourselves around the trends that go into clothes.â€
He describes the upcoming show as a way to explore the process of making a garment from beginning to end. He points to one of the pieces going on display — an intricate, multipanelled garment, with its stitching and selvage visible. This is deliberate, according to Gibson, the selvage being the ‘edge of the cloth that holds everything together but never gets seen,†and is the inspiration for the shows title.
Pater, working on a garment as we talk, dark cloth pooling on his lap, says that the duo have noticed that when they show concept garments on the runway, they are not understood. As a result they have needed to separate these two elements of their work. One garment from the Selvage exhibit, ‘by virtue of what it is, doesn’t belong in a storeâ€, so Strangelove have put it in a more appropriate setting, which is a gallery, says Pater.
Some garments will be on sale at the exhibit and it remains to be seen what this will mean for the price of a garment sold as art rather than as fashion. ‘It’s on sale because it’s beautiful,†Pater says simply. ‘And usually for a fraction of the cost of what it’s worth.†The work and craftsmanship that have gone into five Selvage pieces is the result of two weeks of intense manual labour, but took three years to develop.
‘It’s a way to show people how complicated it is to make clothes, to show people how we think about making clothes,†says Gibson.
The designers bemoan the fact that, in South Africa, people are not taught to value the design and arts industries enough.
‘People are not educated to see these things as having any value,†says Gibson. Equally, not enough money is invested in thought and creativity, he says. As a result, South Africa does not seem able to turn design into commerce as quickly as countries in Europe, for instance.
Regardless of impediments such as these, the Strangelove team continue to create distinctive designs that straddle both the fashion design and art world.
Strangelove at David Krut Projects runs from September 6 to 29. For more information go www.davidkrutpublishing.com
