Michelle Jank, the Perth-born, Paris-based jewellery and fashion designer, stylist, consultant and all-round wunderkind. In 1991, Jank became a fashion model, officially beginning her career in the fashion industry at the age of fifteen. After only two years at the University of Western Australia, where she tried for a fine arts degree in textiles and jewellery, Jank decided to move on and finally begin working as a designer. Primarily a fashion designer but with a very strong interest in non traditional jewellery, she applies similar techniques to large collars, adorning them with silk flowers, PVC bows and crystals. While her jewellery, sold in boutiques like Belinda Colette and Dover Street Market, is gathering serious buz.

 
photo by Thomas Lillo 

Born in Liege, Belgium, Natalia Brilli studied at the prestigious Cambre school in Brussels. Straddling the worlds of theatre and fashion, she designed sets and costumes whilst simultaneously collaborating with established fashion designers until, after joining Paris’ IFM in 2003, she decided to devote all her energy to her life’s passion: fashion accessories.

When Olivier Theyskens was the designer at Rochas, Natalia was head of the accessories. After she decided to establish her own brand in 2005. She was given the Andam award for accessories in 2006.

Her new Fall-Winter 2008-09, she presents us a dark world evolving around the equestrian theme. The range includes elements like leather rope, chain, braids, fringes, horsehair, goat fur and burned wood incorporated into her trademark leather jewellery and sculptural handbags. As always, it’s beautiful.

www.nataliabrilli.fr/

Amsterdam based designer monique goossens works in a variety of mediums, but she has a particular interest  in ceramics. her work is playful, almost artistic in nature, exploring the conventions of the medium with humour and skill.

Since 2002, getConfused is in charge of Yazbukey website,

The world of Yazbukey describes a very playfull universe, inspired by old musicals (Vincent Minelli…) & Gershwin’s music, tales of La fontaine & Grimm, the movies from Hitchcock to Tim Burton.

We’ve just updated the website with their new collection, have a look: yazbukey.com

Celebrating all things design and fantastic, we wish to bring your attention to the work of 19th century designer William Morris whose work and ideas have had an enormous influence on the course of modern design and decorative arts, inspiring directly for instance the Art Nouveau movement in France and Belgium. William Morris remains in fact one of the most influential English designers. He was also an artist, a writer, a poet and a translator. In 1861, he founded his own design company which produced innovative and alternative works, some of which can still be purchased today.

Along with some of his artist friends of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, he was one of the principal founders of the British Arts and Crafts movement, a pioneer of the socialist movement in Britain, and a writer of poetry and fiction who inspired the creation of the fantasy genre. While he worked for some time as an architect, his most famous creations are his wallpaper and patterned fabrics designs.

Inspired by the writings of the art critic John Ruskin who preached a return to the inspiration found in nature and the medieval ethos of authenticity and craftsmanship, the Pre-Raphaelites refused the hierarchy of artistic mediums, embracing in one movement painting and the decorative arts. Morris can also be considered one of the founding figures of book art, a genre which he helped revive through the legacy of the legendary Kelmscott Press which he founded in 1891.

Finally, the work of Morris also presents an interesting tension between his aesthetic aspirations and political convictions. On the one hand, Morris and his daughter May were amongst Britain’s first socialists, working directly with Eleanor Marx and Engels to begin the socialist movement. Morris, like all his pre-raphaelite friends, also had a violent dislike of the prevalent bourgeois tastes in Victorian England. Yet, on the other hand, even Morris who believed that art should be affordable and hand-made cannot have ignored that, ultimately, his creations were luxurious objects that only could be purchased by the most affluent members of the Victorian upper classes.
Socialism vs the social reality of luxury design part 1…

William Morris article in Wikipedia

To coincide with the unveiling of her Spring/Summer 2008 collection Anna Vince is pleased to announce the launch of her new website.Featuring a comprehensive biography, design statement and a full back catalogue of all her collections, it will provide a valuable and entertaining source of information to both press and buyers.

The site going live also marks something of a triple celebration for the award-winning, Cordwainers-trained designer. Thanks to funding courtesy of the Topshop New Generation sponsorship scheme Anna will also make her London Fashion Week debut this February.

In recent years Anna’s work has won the designer acclaim for her ability blend heritage with modernity to create leather accessories which seamlessly bridge the gap between fashion and tradition.

Now, having cemented her reputation as one of the country’s most exciting accessories designers, a dedicated stand in the prestigious LFW exhibition tents promises to become an invaluable aid to raising her international profile.

To find out more just go to www.annavince.com

Credits:Photo: Babette Pauthier, Make up: Philippe Miletto, Model: Leanne, Text: Maia Adams

James White is a designer and illustrator from Halifax, Canada, He recently develop a series of posters.

www.signalnoise.com

Détournement d’attention is a creative high-end womenswear fashion label.
The concept is a french play on words expressing the rapture/ the diversion of someone’s attention.
Détournement d’attention is an experience narrated by an individual living in a city who has dreams to achieve. Those aspirations are in contradiction with the demands of such an environment leading to a critical appreciation of one’s surroundings translated through satire, poetry, humour……

d23456.com

www.yazbukey.com

Moments In Time, the project of an adventure that became a book

Moments in time, the first book of the designer, is the story of a meeting between the photographer and a little girl, Lou Lisa Lesage.
Edited by the house of Anne Valérie Hash, the book is sold in Paris at the bookshop of the Museum of Arts Décoratifs, at the George Pompidou Center and at the bookshop Galerie 213. In London, you can find it at Dover Street Market and at Liberty.
Moments in time, the first book of the designer, is the story of a meeting between the photographer Fabrice Laroche and a little girl, Lou Lisa Lesage

www.a-v-h.com