International Woolmark Prize [Part 1]: Interview with Asia Finalist ffiXXed

Here's an interesting story. Do you know who the winners of the 1954 International Wool Secretariat (now known as the International Woolmark Prize) were? Neither did I until I found out that it was none other than Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent who were only a mere 21 and 18 respectively. From that moment on, fashion history was made as those young designers have now become household names worldwide.

Fast forward to 2013, the IWP is a modern interpretation of the original award that promotes the use of fine Merino wool by ready to wear designers while addressing elements of commerciality, adaptability, innovation and a global mindset - everything a designer needs to know in order to succeed in today's market. With the likes of Victoria Beckham, Donatella Versace, Diane von Furstenberg, Franca Sozzani and Tim Blanks on the judging panel for last years competition, it goes without saying that it's a big deal. You never know, a young Lagerfeld lies among these talented finalists and now's their time to prove it.

I was lucky enough to interview one of the nominees (good news down below!) on the day of the IWP Asia Regional fashion show at the W Hotel. ffiXXed is a collaborative art and design project initiated by Kain Picken and Fiona Lau in 2008 that is focused on the production of unisex, ready to wear garments alongside a variety of art and design projects.

Their recent autumn/winter 2013 collection featured garments that spoke of "renovation, restoration and rejuvenation that marked the making and unmaking of the spaces in which we live" as a catalyst for their design process. Physically, these clothes were largely inspired by the different layers of partially demolished buildings that reveal an unexpected collage of colours and textures that is both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Here's a quick interview with the designers, Kain Picken and Fiona Lau.

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Who serves as your inspiration?

Definitely our friends and the domestic environment that we live in. We’re quite fond of the work by Japanese architectural firm SANAA with their beautiful, clean minimal spaces.

I always like to imagine our clothes alongside these living spaces because they combine work and play in the same environment. We're very much into clothing that can be worn in a variety of contexts which is why we aim to reengineer everyday clothes that appeal to everyone for practicality and comfort.

What did you guys have to prepare for this?

For the IWP, we had to create 6 outfits where 5 of them were conceptual designs and the last being a physical head-to-toe outfit. Evidently, the collection also had to be made mostly out of merino wool (80% to be exact), and those who got selected would go to the next round where all 6 of the pieces will have to be made and shown at Milan fashion week.

You’ve worked in Berlin, Hong Kong, New York City and Melbourne. Which city do you call home?

To live, we love Berlin but New York is also a great city. Different cities have different vibes but if you want to get work done then it’s got to be Hong Kong. We source fabrics here in Hong Kong so it makes sense to have an in-house sewing production in the Wutong mountains (Shenzhen). Efficiency is a big plus here with things happening so fast and you also have easy access to fabric shops. The art and culture in other cities make up for their slower working pace though.

I also know that you guys have several art and design projects up your sleeves. Can you explain to me a little about your side projects?

The exhibitions and art projects we work on are a continuation of what we do in parallel to our collections. It allows us to work with a wide variety of materials in a different context. One of our first experiences was to help curate an exhibition for other artists who crossover with fashion and sculpture work. For us, things like metal sculptures are just another way of interpreting clothing and it definitely helps us conceptualize our collections.

What is an essential item that you cannot live without?

Actually, in a depressing kind of way, I admit that it’ll be my laptop because, as designers, we constantly use it to search for inspiration. It also provides a connection to the outside world as our location is quite far from everything else. For clothing, we’re always concerned about comfort so a simple T-shirt is definitely an essential. As designers for ffiXXed, we try to create enhanced versions of everyday basics.

What do you think of the fashion scene in Hong Kong?

We are seeing lots of young creative people with a blooming awareness of fashion around the world. What’s interesting about Hong Kong is that there’s a diverse spectrum of style with one side being full on luxury and the other being funky street style.

Is there anywhere in Hong Kong that you particularly like?

Sheung Wan. There are areas there that have so much heritage with traditional Chinese “cha chaan teng’s” mixed with an interesting combination of western style boutiques and cafes. It’s all very calm and quaint and it’s always a peaceful retreat to catch your breath from the hustle and bustle of city life.

ffiXXed received the honourable award to move onto the next stage as finalists for the Asian region where they will be showing a 6 piece capsule collection at Milan fashion week. A big congratulations to them both!