Trains, Planes & Automobiles
It was a busy week of Travel as Treana stopped over in Whistler for the night on her way back from NYC – 24 hours later she was on a plane to Paris. Taking a moment to snap a few shots, Treana shares her week in transit.
Interview with Joseph Wu
Obakki’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection is inspired by primitive geometrics as they relate to craft and design. Our first instalment titled, Assembly of Origami references the definite pleating, creasing and folds within the collection.
In early July, Obakki commissioned the talents of professional origami artist Joseph Wu to create a large-scale illustration to feature in our Spring/Summer 2012 editorial shoot. Last week we caught up at Gene Coffee Bar just a few blocks away from the Obakki Factory in East Vancouver. Joseph folded a giant green gorilla as we chatted about the project over Americanos. See our conversation below…
Hi Joseph, thanks for meeting this morning. Let me refresh your memory on the project – last summer you worked with Obakki’s Founder, Treana Peake and Art Director, Jamie Anderson to develop an abstract art piece that was used in our editorial shoot. Describe the piece and the process in which it was created.
I went into the office to meet Jamie and Treana and we looked at some early sample development of the collection. Jamie had also pulled together a group of reference images for the shoot. Based on what I saw, I decided it would be best to create something very basic looking, but flexible enough to be morphed into different shapes. I wanted it to be able to adapt to whoever or whatever was being shot alongside. What I came up with was a fairly basic pleated form. It’s not rocket science, but it looks good – it can change its shape, be twisted, stretched and easily stored.
I was also very pleased to find out that Evaan Kheraj was to be the photographer. I had worked with him in the past and knowing his sensibilities I was confident that he would get the most mileage out of the piece.
Working with our team, you used our seasonal moodboard to interpret the themes and inspiration behind the collection. What was it like to create origami art within the context of fashion?
Fashion is a bit outside my usual realm of expertise, but creating origami in another context is pretty much what I do everyday. I work as a commercial illustrator, using origami as a medium as opposed to the more traditional: painting, drawing or digital design. It’s not unusual for me to be given a setting and a theme that I know nothing or very little about – I learn enough to get into the project and find something that will work for it.
The major theme of our Spring/Summer 2012 Collection is primitive geometrics. Describe how your background in science and geometry is applied to the art of folding paper.
Folding paper is very geometric – a number of the leading artists in the field of origami have come from scientific backgrounds. In fact, one of the top artists in the world was once a laser physicist. He shares a number of patents with the jet repulsion laboratory, which pertain to lasers and fiber optics. Many math professors, architects and others who deal with geometry and mathematics on a regular basis are drawn to origami. For me, it’s the coming together of left and right brain. I have formally studied computer science and psychology but I’ve always enjoyed being artistic as well. Origami lets me play with both halves of my brain at the same time.
Obakki is one of many clients who have commissioned your talents – you have created pieces for Volkswagen, Intel and Stoli Vodka to name a few. What does origami have to offer such a wide array of companies?
A big part of it is based on the vision of the art directors at the company that commissions the work. Most of the time I’m dealing with agencies and not with the client directly. Often there is some connection to paper; sometimes it’s just the cool factor, or there might be a scientific side to the product. For example with Intel it was based on being creative within a mathematical framework. With Stoli Vodka it was all about the paper as they are the only vodka company in the world that still uses paper labels.
This collection draws influence from the art of origami by applying pleating, creasing and folding techniques to fabric. In 2002 you took part in the Many Faces of Denim submission series by Nylon Magazine using a meter of denim to create a face-like form. How does working with fabric compare to paper?
It’s very different – I usually end up starching it but there are other ways. For instance, people that do towel folding have found techniques to hold the fabrics shape that don’t work with paper and visa versa. Most of my methods don’t translate well to fabric, I usually end up starching it like crazy until it ends up feeling like paper. A couple of times I’ve used iron-on fusing to really stiffen it up and allow the fabric to to hold folds. Even then, I still starch and stitch certain parts just so the piece won’t come apart later.
Obakki is very much influenced by the West Coast lifestyle: versatile, beautiful and culturally infused. How does living in Vancouver inspire your art?
I was born in Hong Kong but I grew up here. I was four years old when we came to Canada, so this is home. I love the fusion of culture that happens in Vancouver – when east meets west. Unconsciously, my work draws from this – the idea that origami as an art form is closely associated with Japan, but it’s not exclusively a Japanese art. Every culture has developed some sort of folding technique as they learned to make paper, just most didn’t develop the art very far. Because Japan did, we art stuck with this Japanese name and the idea that it is a Japanese art although it’s quite universal. Because of the history of origami it only seems fitting that a very cosmopolitan, multicultural outlook on the arts will help the craft develop beyond the tradition. It has only been over the past 50 years that techniques have really exploded. I like to tell people that we are in the renaissance of Origami. Those of us that are doing well are setting the groundwork for future generations of origami artists.
What is your vision for the art of origami?
I would like to see it accepted as a valid art form, there is still a lot of stigma associated with it. Some people see it as something they did as a kid and they can’t get past that. Despite my own attempts to promote the art, gallery owners hear the word origami and their eyes glaze over. In 2007 I staged a very successful show in downtown Vancouver, which featured artists from all over the world. The event garnered a ton of press attention and public interest. But opinions still remain the same, which is a hurdle I’ve been trying to jump for over 12 years. Hopefully in the future we will start to see a progressions, Obakki is taking a step in the right direction to change opinions on how origami is viewed.
Shop the Spring/Summer 2012 Collection and visit www.origami.as for more information on Joseph Wu.
