‘We are inherently inspired by art’: Mansur Gavriel Announces a Collaboration With the Alexander Calder Foundation and Shares Art’s Continued Influence on Their Designs

It’s been nearly a decade since
Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel crossed paths at a concert in
Los Angeles. The visionary duo clicked over a common interest in
fine art and vegetable-dyed leather, and in the spring of 2012, the
New York City-based luxury label Mansur Gavriel launched to
critical acclaim, selling out their signature red leather-lined
black bucket bag shortly thereafter. 

Mansur, a RISD graduate who
specialized in textile design, and Gavriel, who studied photography
and fashion at University of the Arts Bremen in Germany, recently
revisited their fine art backgrounds for a landmark collaboration
with the Alexander Calder Foundation in partnership with
mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth. Mansur and Gavriel have since created
a Fall/Winter 2019 capsule collection rife with modernist motifs,
each of which honors the illustrious 20th century sculptor’s
oeuvre.

“There are many qualities of
Calder’s work we relate to as creatives: purity of color and form;
a sense of whimsy; a very specific relationship between color and
material; and a beautiful and elevated aesthetic message that is
also easy to understand and relate to,” Mansur and Gavriel tell
artnet News. “We love his site-specific works, and are very
interested in the intentional presentation of a work within a
specific environment or context.”

With reference to select
artworks in the Calder archives, Mansur Gavriel will unveil a
quartet of limited-edition handbags starting on October 2. Four
classic Mansur Gavriel silhouettes serve as stylish canvases for
four Calder artworks: a colorful untitled mobile from 1972
contrasts with the the Mini Bucket Bag’s black leather composition;
an untitled gouache and ink on paper from 1974 adorns the Circle
Crossbody in tan; the Large Tote in tan features
Vertical Foliage
(1941), a sheet metal, black paint,
and wire mobile; and an untitled mobile from 1955 with black, red,
white, and yellow accents complements the tan Attaché. “We liked
the idea of combining [Calder’s] iconography in conjunction with
our classic silhouettes,” Mansur and Gavriel explain. “The
combination felt bold and energetic.” 

Calder bequeathed a monumental
legacy for his far-reaching practice. After studying painting and
drawing in New York City, Calder relocated to Paris in 1926 and
assimilated amongst Europe’s vanguard artists with ease. It was in
fact the French provocateur, Marcel Duchamp, who first referred to
Calder’s suspended masterpieces as “mobiles” in
1931. 

Indeed, Calder remains best
known for inventing the mobile, an unprecedented reimagination of
sculpture made from wire, sheet metal, and paint. Calder defied the
conventions of his craft by yielding three-dimensional artworks
free to balance and rotate in space; but he also painted, drew,
designed jewelry, and forged grounded sculptures, which stand in
museums, galleries, and public spaces across the world as mammoth
tributes to Calder’s genius.

The Mansur Gavriel x Calder
collection marks the brand’s second collaboration with an
artist—the first of which came by way of a partnership with the
legendary Marc Camille Chaimowicz in the spring of 2019. “Like
Calder, Marc is a very intentional and sensitive colorist,” Mansur
and Gavriel note. “His palettes are pastel, dreamy, soft, but also
bold. Marc [also] has a specific interest in pattern. We [too] are
very interested in pattern and were thrilled about the opportunity
to work with such beautiful surface designs from an incredible
artist.” 

As art lovers and collectors
with a shared affinity for the work of painter and sculptor Nicolas
Party, installation artist Darren Bader, painter Allison Katz and
photographer Roe Ethridge, amongst others, Mansur and Gavriel have
cultivated an art-conscious brand with an appreciation for how the
artist’s experimental nature can elevate fashion
philosophy.  

“Fine art represents purity of
expression—art should be unhindered by the necessity of function or
commerce,” Mansur and Gavriel explain. “Fashion is also expression,
but must fit within a commercial context. To us, the best fashion
emotes the nuances of both nature and art’s purity. We are
inherently inspired by art and driven by the abstract emotion of
more conceptual ideas such as color, line, form, texture. Ideally
our pieces present a harmony or beauty that is both uncomplicated
and inspiring.”

The Mansur Gavriel x Calder
capsule collection will become available on October 2, and will be
sold in Mansur Gavriel stores and on the brand’s website, as well
as through Matches Fashion, Mansur Gavriel’s exclusive partner for
this collaboration.

The post ‘We are inherently inspired by art’: Mansur Gavriel
Announces a Collaboration With the Alexander Calder Foundation and
Shares Art’s Continued Influence on Their Designs appeared
first on artnet News.