OK Do having BLESS candy tops for dinner.

The German title of the collection, ‘pleading for the present time’ says it: the BLESS state of mind is all about this very instant and the joy that comes along with being “present”. Celebrating the here and now, Désirée Heiss and Ines Kaag focused on food and different ways of having it in their Spring/Summer 2011 designs. The collection aimed to redefine the co-existence between nutrition and clothing, and proposed modifications to eating habits through, for example, new ways of sharing food among friends. It included not only edible garments, or jewellery that could be used as tableware, but also S/M/L trousers that adapt to changes in the body, being able to grow or shrink according to fluctuations in one’s size.

The presentation took place in an old church turned into a home in the heart of Bastille. In the manner of an installation, the models – friends of BLESS – were placed in different, open rooms and given various tasks to perform around food and drinks: some served champagne from a pyramid built as a piece of architecture in corner of the hall, others compiled Bloody Marys in the kitchen or took popcorn baths in the bathroom, while we were placed in the teenagers’ room with Japanese shoe designer Masahiro Kikutani and asked to wear gummy lace and liquorice tops which we were to eat during the show. Style-free and gender-free, as characteristic to the label, we wore classic multicoloured BLESS pieces underneath the candy topping.

Champagne wall and jewelled food.

From our point of view, the evening was a sweet and sticky human experiment. Having been confined to our room during the presentation – and given the instructions “just to entertain ourselves” while there – we projected our inner teen spirits onto the situation and tried to make the best out of what the environment had to offer by not only eating the garments but also talking, taking naps on the bed or playing Kraftwerk LPs on a record player found in the corner. Unaware of what was happening in the other rooms and somewhat at sea in front of the photographers who came to capture the event, we felt conscious about our activities and the fact of being observed. Our modelling took spontaneous turns from playing out the fashion fantasy to attempts of ignoring what was going on outside our room. In the end, it seems that the figment took over.

Popcorn bath.

Light mandalas from the Light Garden exhibition. Photo by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.

Cosmology often manifests as the creation of myths or religions that seek to explain existence and the nature of reality. What does Cosmic Wonder believe in?

We believe in Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science.

The Austrian philosopher (1861-1925), social thinker, architect and esotericist attempted to find a synthesis between science and and mysticism, seeking for a connection between the cognitive path of Western philosophy and the spiritual needs of the human being. He was also a defender of Goethe’s theory of colours arising from the polarity of light and darkness. Like for Steiner, Goethe and colours, light is central to COSMIC WONDER, too?

Yes, we explore light and love in everyday life through our art and fashion. For example, the concept of COSMIC WONDER Light Source fashion project is to dress people with light and, in doing so, produce an environmental effect. And when we say light, we mean many kinds of light – the human body, spirit and soul can also be seen as light. This idea is weaved into COSMIC WONDER Light Source, composed of positive spirit and materials reverberating the light of the natural world.

“We explore light and love in everyday life through our art and fashion.”

Our most recent project with COSMIC WONDER Light Source is The Solar Garden. It is an ecological lifestyle project inspired by the harmonious energy of the Earth and its plants, resulting as a collection of daily and dance clothing made of organic cotton. All products are hand-dyed with herbs such as akane, gardenia, pomegranate, mulberry leaf, rose bengal, catechu, and natural indigo. With The Solar Garden, we want to promote environmental preservation and sustainable ways of making things.

The Solar Garden daily and dance clothing and a COSMIC WONDER FREE PRESS publication. Images by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.

The dance wear collection sounds interesting. And Steiner was into dancing, too! Would you say that his and Marie von Sivers’ expressive movement art, eurythmy (or harmonious rhythm), inspired you, or why did you decide to make clothes for dancing?

Dance wear is a tool for opening up one’s spiritual mind and freedom in daily life. All the pieces in the collection are both for men and women because the spiritual mind and freedom do not differ in sex. Moreover, the clothes can be worn in different ways depending on the climate and the mood of the person dancing.

Can you tell me something about the light art?

We have done numerous art projects about light ever since we started the Centers for COSMIC WONDER, the stages for our open-ended activities in Tokyo and Osaka.

For example, Light Construction was a group exhibition presenting installation, video and music, while Light Streams project focused on photography. We’ve also invited artists to organise events. Kim Gordon, for instance, held a meditative Mind/Body Training session with us. Next, we will have an exhibition called Light Garden. It is based on an installation of two mandalas that can be seen as portraits of light, representing the outward-rippling light waves caused by the inward resonances through which the universe exists within us.

Kim Gordon's Mind/Body Training event at the Center for COSMIC WONDER. Photo by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.

Like OK Do, you work in free pace and format, doing different things by intuition. Is there a certain philosophy behind the freedom of form and content?

We’ve worked without time restraints for over ten years now, choosing the right time to do things by intuition. The same goes for location. And we reevaluate our activities all the time. The periodical COSMIC WONDER FREE PRESS publication works like a diary, expressing the present state of COSMIC WONDER and COSMIC WONDER Light Source projects through certain themes or topics of research at a given time.

“We’ve worked without time restraints for over ten years now, choosing the right time to do things by intuition. The same goes for location. And we reevaluate our activities all the time.”

All this feels like the natural thing to do, and we appreciate the people who understand the concept of our work. We would like to continue conveying positive messages to the world.

Noriko in her home and Le Petit Xiaoxiao café and shop.

Originally from Tokyo, Noriko, 42, has lived in Shanghai for 7 years. She first visited the city through her work for Muji, where she designed interior products and dealt with many Chinese manufacturers. “I have always been interested in production,” Noriko tells us. “The Shanghai area is special as there are many small factories here. I came to China because I wanted to learn the language and get to know the local producers and their thoughts.”

“I came to China because I wanted to learn the language and get to know the local producers and their thoughts.”

Noriko explains that she felt as if she was going back to her own roots when she moved from Japan to China. “Many cultural traditions in Japan actually come from here,” she notes. “I was also intrigued by the fact that Shanghai was so chaotic, so unfinished, and much more aggressive than Tokyo. You know, life easily gets shallow if everything is just beautiful. Here, it’s harder, but more interesting. However, Shanghai is starting to get more organised now, and people are getting more gentle. The city is developing, and maybe becoming less exciting than before, too.”

Noriko’s house is small and white. Built in 1948, it consists of two rooms – a bedroom and a living room where we sit drinking tea from cups hand-made by the host herself. The same cups are sold in Noriko’s home shop: a shelf of items from pottery to woodwork and textiles, most of which are designed by her and made by Chinese artisans – just like almost all the furniture in her house, too. Moreover, the shop selection includes some traditional Chinese everyday objects Noriko has found in random street shops around the city – beautiful and practical things that are often underestimated, and thus hard to find, in the globalising city.

Le Petit Xiaoxiao features ceramics crafted by Noriko and other products designed by her and made by local artisans.

“I’m very interested in primitive design and production methods,” Noriko explains her interest towards Chinese crafts. “In my own work, I try to combine traditional methods with new design.” One of her projects, factory-tshirt.net, sets out to create an online platform for designers and manufacturers to collaborate and learn about different design and production methods through the medium of a classic white t-shirt. On the website, Noriko presents her own T-shirt project involving indigo dying in a farmhouse in Zhoucheng, Yunnan and printing with plaster and soya in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. “It’s nice to know about things,” Noriko says.

The garden in front of Noriko's place is taken care of by her together with her neighbours.

In addition to more traditional crafts, Noriko is also interested in web design and programming. “I don’t like to distinguish between different fields of creative work – people are more complex than that,” she notes. Working at home and for herself, she also likes to experiment with the boundaries between labour and leisure. “I hate the office,” she says. “It’s the most uncreative place in the world.”

“I hate the office. It’s the most uncreative place in the world.”

Like us, many people found their way to Noriko’s through a friend’s recommendation. We heard about the place from Satoko and Kok-Meng, a Shanghai-based couple who met each other at Le Petit Xiaoxiao and later founded KUU design office together. “I wanted to create a small creative community by making my home a meeting place,” Noriko tells us about her activities resonating Chinese communality. “I have made many new friends at my place.”

Mr. Children project brings together children and professionals in the context of fashion. It explores the idea of children as head designers and adults as assistants and consumers.

Organised by fashion designer Daniel Palillo and us, the project will result in a clothing collection for adults as well as documentary material on the design process. It will involve 10 children aged around 5-8 and a crew of professional producers, design assistants, pattern and dressmakers, stylists and photographers. The idea is to encourage children and adults to collaborate and use their creative abilities in an ambitious project which is, at the same time, all about play!

The Mr. Children project will start with a design workshop for children designers and adult pattern makers. At this point, the children will collaborate with the pattern makers to make sketches of their clothing items based on a set of chosen textiles and basic patterns for shirts, dresses and leggings. After the workshop, the designs will be forwarded to the sewers and finally displayed in an exhibition and look book.

Daniel Palillo, Nene Tsuboi and the hooded tower of Helsinki Central railway station.

Traditionally known for its architecture, we believe Finland has recently been more innovative in other creative areas such as fashion and art. So, we sat down with Nene Tsuboi and Daniel Palillo to discuss architecture and urban design in Helsinki from another point of view.

While Tsuboi has contributed to the style of the city through architectural projects with NOW for Architecture and Urbanism, she has also designed colourful flags to take over the grey facades of Helsinki. This art project simulated the urban way of drying laundry outside the windows in Japan, Tsuboi’s home country. Palillo, on the other hand, shapes the street scene through his expressive frocks worn by people ranging from grannies to teenage boys all over Helsinki. He is known to be a big fan of the Austrian painter and architect Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (1928-2000), famous for his experimental projects in urban environments. “Hundertwasser made his own clothes from what he found on the street,” Palillo tells. “He also had projects where people could, for example, paint anything a meter outside their own window in a block of flats.”

Nene Tsuboi enjoys city planning that is not too planned.

Tsuboi finds the spontaneous evolution of places very interesting, and enjoys city planning that is not too planned. “Walking past Tokoinranta almost every morning, I have noticed a melted spot full of ducks in the middle of the ice,” she explains. “One day, The Public Works Department had put up a sign with biological images of ducks as well as information on the species. The place became an official bird-watching spot by accident.” This kind of attitude makes Helsinki a more interesting place. Tsuboi tells that one of her urban design projects with NOW was based on the idea of giving people spaces and seeing what kind of places they make out of them. In the same vein, Palillo is planning to turn his backyard in Ullanlinna into a movie theater next summer.

Finding the digital clock and the hood with a 1:1 print of the building underneath covering the construction site in the tower of the Helsinki Central railway station (normally displaying an analog clock) a good design solution, we talked about dressing up buildings with Palillo and Tsuboi. “Construction sites could be vanished in the spirit of David Copperfield’s airplane trick where he uses a mirror and some smoke to make a plane disappear,” Palillo says. “The City Planning Department should hire magicians!”

“The City Planning Department should hire magicians!” – Daniel Palillo

“Being Japanese, I find it interesting how the functions of buildings are changed from offices to apartments here without the exterior changing at all,” Tsuboi says. “Looking at Helsinki facades, the inside of the buildings is a mystery while in Japan, the purpose of a building is clearly visible from the outside, and when the function changes, they change the whole building.” She likes the big sheets outside Ateneum, the Finnish National Gallery, that tell it’s an art museum. “What if more buildings had costumes saying ‘I’m a home for many kids!’ or ‘I’m a hospital!’?,” Tsuboi suggests.

Ines Kaag + Desiree Heiss = BLESS. Illustration by Manuel Raeder.

Dear Ines and Desiree,

We see your work as something in between art and fashion design. What do you think about this description and how do you see your position in the fields of fashion and art?

I & D: Honestly, we don’t think in categories. We simply do what we do and everybody is free to interpret and categorise it. In general, we see our work as creation of everyday products that are made to be used. However, art projects are welcome since they allow a certain freedom, budget and time to create new products that we wouldn’t have been able to develop otherwise.

BLESS seems to us as something very unconditional, and something genuinely based on personal interest. What is the motivation behind your work?

I & D: To earn our living in doing something we like to do and that makes us advance continuously on another, human level.

How did you get together in the first place?

I & D: We met in Paris in 1993 through a fashion competition and later started a penfriendship. After having visited each other for our graduation shows, we became close friends and started to discuss each other’s work as well as work on small projects together. We slowly slided into a more serious ground when Martin Margiela discovered our fur wig advertisement in i-D magazine and hired us to make wigs for his show.

How big is the company altogether and how do you share the tasks between the two of you? How does it work to do creative things together?

I & D: We have worked in two different cities, Berlin and Paris from the very beginning. In both cities, we have one fixed and one freelance employee, plus in Berlin a person that takes care of the shop. We share all the tasks between the two of us. Our creative work is like a hobby somewhere between the lines of hundreds of administrative emails.

“Our creative work is like a hobby somewhere between the lines of hundreds of administrative emails.”

Could you tell us more about your design process?

I & D: There are no fixed rules or schemes in terms of how we work. Everything is imaginable – it just occurs. Sometimes we develop the ideas 100% together, sometimes 100% separate. At times, one person starts and the other one ends, one person comes up with an idea and the other one makes the prototype, or one person makes something and the other person destroys it. Our tools are mainly words and hands. We never draw.

What are your studios in Paris and Berlin like?

I & D: Both are quite special, somehow like private houses, quite green and charming.

BLESS shop Paris, 14 Rue Portefoin. Photo by BLESS.

BLESS shop Berlin, Mulackstraße 38. Photo by BLESS.

What do you feel are the differences in working in Paris vs. Berlin? Is it difficult to work from two cities?

I & D: The secret is that it´s not Berlin “vs.” Paris, but “together with”. We never actually ended up working in different places but the other way around: we started working like this and haven’t stopped so far. It’s like a long distance romance – it has its pros and cons like any other form of being together. The main advantage is that we remain our own bosses, free to work in our own personal way in each city. The cons are the additional costs and loss of time through internal administration and communication. However, we do meet up at least every ten days in Berlin, Paris or elsewhere.

“Working in two different cities is like a long distance romance.”

Are there any special charateristics of Paris and Berlin that affect your thinking and doing? And how?

D: Living in a capital means that you can get really everything you need. I like that, as well as the light in Paris.
I: I have no reason to move. The sensation of comfort keeps me in Berlin. I have no idea whether it’s the city itself or its trees – and it wouldn’t make any difference.

Despite the fact that you work far from each other you are one as BLESS, always presenting your work together in public. Is this something you make a point of because you are dispersed in different places – taking care of your public presence together?

I & D: You guessed it right. Since we are often apart, it is important that BLESS is clearly a unit. It wouldn’t exist without the both of us: the products, the structure and the vision are a dialogue rather than a master plan.

You’re very mysterious when it comes to your identity and keep your private lives, and even working life, to yourself. We feel that it’s very interesting, especially now that people are sharing more and more in public in general. Why did you decide to do this?

I & D: We are not at all interested in sharing our personal life with the public. Instead, we are very happy to share our products that are made to be shared.

Like your working habits your work itself is also very futuristic. How do you see the future?

I & D: Playful.

Thanks!

I & D: Thank you!