Don't Give Up!
May 13, 2009
The selection of the ITS finalists is a really special moment. It combines on two sides of the same coin totally opposite feelings: happiness and sadness. By the time the jury arrives, we've gone through each page of each of the thousand portfolios we have received. We've plunged ourselves deep into their dreams, we've touched their hopes and their efforts to be admitted to the finals. We've pictured them in our mind as they were preparing their material. And we obviously have our own favourites, that do not necessarily reflect what the Jury decides in the end....
When out of a thousand portfolios only fifty or so are selected, we cannot help but be sad for those who did not make it. Especially because there's always a number of beautiful projects that are inevitably rejected. It's a question of numbers (we do not have room for everyone, and a selection has to be done in the end) and it's a question of taste (one jury goes for certain finalists, another jury would probably choose others). So what we want to do here is talk about some of the young talents that did not make it through to the finals. And some we even met in person in March during our Scouting Tour.
Like Matthew Miller, a brilliant British talent with a menswear collection focused on how young men like to deal with serious situations by turning them into a joke. There was a real debate on whether he should be one of the finalists or not. Everyone was really undecided about him to the last minute, as his beautiful knitwear really impressed everyone. We met him in person in London, and had seen samples of his work with our own eyes, so we really fought for him because we had proof of his talent. But we are not worried about his future because we saw jurors scribbling down his name in their notebooks with that look in their eyes that says "I've got to get in touch with this guy".
American designer Tabor Graham really surprised us. His garments are visual barriers determining what we expose to those around us and give to the public, and what we keep to ourselves, concealed as intimate and private. Like unfinished buildings between the public and private space of the body.
There were so many beautiful menswear collections this year, and German designer Faustine Steinmetz's was definitely one of them. She took the usual image we have of a geek or nerd and by working on alternative cuts and proportions, by giving new codes to garments and playing with prints and trompe l'oeil effects she turned it into a beautiful, romantic menswear collection.
Turning to womenswear Andrei Amado from Germany presented a great collection inspired by "Nadja", a book by surrealist writer André Breton. It is all about letting go, about dreaming and escapism, nudity and nonchalance...even if he did not make it in the end we have no doubt he will find his own way.
Just like Almut Vogel. Beautiful hand drawing for a womenswear collection halfway between bohemian elegance and trashy style, hinting at men's tailoring and street style. Definitely a metropolitan collection, as she claimed in her portfolio. The kind of collection that really expresses the inspiration it comes from well.
And we do not have enough space here but before we talk about a couple of accessories and photography projects, we cannot forget to at least mention German designers Anne-Kathrin Rohr, Sophie Greiner, Sarah Ullrich Christine Kruger (Accessories finalist at ITS#SEVEN) and Jessica Schroder, Israeli designer Hadas Katz, and Polish designer Grazyna Loboda.
In the Accessories field, we were really, really sad about two projects that were not accepted in the end. The first one was by Romanian (though he studies in London) accessories designer Alexandru Adam. By mixing coloured felt with leather and by inserting unexpected details in what at a first glance appears to be just a classical men's shoe, he developed a totally new way. A very personal and, in our opinion, very exciting way to think about men's shoes. The sources of his inspiration (among these some of the most prolific artists of the 20th century like Bunuel and Brancusi) vary although they all have elements that define Alexandru's aesthetical perspective. They form an intricate puzzle which is to be deciphered by each wearer in their own unique way.
The second project we really will miss in the finals is the jewellery one by Serguei Povaguin. We first met Serguei over a year ago in Barcelona, and knew we wanted him to enrol in ITS since then. He presented a collection of four necklaces and one brooch. All his pieces are lined with vintage silk scarves going from the 60s to nowadays, scarves by designers that Serguei admires and was inspired by through the years. Each of his hand crafted pieces of jewellery is unique and one of a kind, numbered following the number of pieces made out of each scarf.
The Photography field was maybe the hardest one of all. The number of high quality projects here was amazing, especially with the online section of the competition, ITS#PHOTOweb, where there were dozens of projects that would have well deserved to be in the finals.
The project by Australian photographers Gavin Bradstreet and Maylei Hunt could be published in a high end lifestyle magazine right away. What is more, they sent an amazingly well prepared portfolio that was a true pleasure to view for us. It will definitely be stored as one of our best pieces in the Creative Archive. Their interpetation of "Originality" (the theme of the competition) focused on the original inhabitants of the land in which they were born and raised, that being the oldest continuing indigenous culture in the world, the aboriginal people of Australia.
Cedric Raccio and Damien Ropero (ITS#FIVE Photography finalist) missed the finals by a hair. Their project was there on the table and the Jury really suffered in not selecting them. Beautifully set pictures and an incredible use of light for images full of depth and power with an incredible amount of literary and historic references popping out of the pictures. Truly beautiful.
Dutch Photographer Beatrice Jansen stunned us with her fantastic project on fake nature in urban surroundings, and the way human beings destroy original nature in the cities because of consumer needs, trying to fix the damage by creating fake landscapes. Pilar Valerio Jimenez from Spain enrolled a project filled with the idea of waiting. Waiting for something to change, waiting for the situation to get better...workers in wait of a job that doesn't arrive, workers arriving from different countries, pictured in their homes, in the streets of their neighbourhood. The space itself seems to await a change, and Pilar uses the light brilliantly to communicate this...
We could keep on writing like this for quite a while, there are more projects we'd love to talk about. And there are many projects that we will support with all our means as opportunities arise, that's for sure. As usual, even if you're not selected that doesn't mean we won't try to help you out.
The most important thing of all though is your will. The will to never give up, to never think that opportunities won't arrive anymore. If you don't try there will be no opportunities at all. If you give up there will be no space for you and for what you have to say with your talent. Keep on trying. That's your winning hand.
