Reinhard Voigt Inspirationskünstler bei Akris Fall/Winter & Cruise Collection 2022/23

Albert Kriemler, the creative director of Akris, is known for working closely with contemporary artists, architects and craftsmen. Designers have often been inspired by cultural productions and art objects (e.g. Yves Saint Laurent x Mondrian), and artists have been asked to either design fashion (e.g. Liam Gillick x Pringle of Scotland), are active in both fields (Hussein Chalayan) or collaborate either in the design process or in related formats such as film or sculpture (Virginie Viard x Xavier Veilhan). One of the first to work with contemporary artists in a truly collaborative way is Albert Kriemler. He invited Thomas Ruff in 2014, and other famous artists followed (Carmen Herrera, Imi Knoebel, Geta Brătescu, among others). Since then, each collection has brought to light new technologies in digital printing, design processes or in fabric technologies in a groundbreaking way that combines rich materiality with luxurious workmanship. In the 100th year of Akris‘ existence, and introduced by Susanne Neubauer, Albert Kriemler discovered the work of Reinhard Voigt, a German painter and ceramist (*1940) who spent more than half of his life in the US. Voigt developed his unique style as an art student after he had been strongly fascinated by his mother‘s cross-stitch embroidery. The simple but effective process of reducing images to a grid of cross stitches and squares laid the foundation for Voigt‘s artistic elaboration of patterns. This eventually led him to his lifelong exploration of the beauty of the female face, the flower and the landscape, very unusual motifs in post-war German painting. How much beauty can be packed into a structure? In addition to their fascination with colours and high quality materials, this question unites Kriemler and Voigt, and the quality of their individual explorations into the depths of structure has led to this collaboration.

Coordinator for Reinhard Voigt: Susanne Neubauer

Sources:
https://eu.akris.com/pages/akrisfall22-reinhard-voigt
Lookbook and défilé film
Inspiration