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Viviers Studio takes local collaborations to Milan Fashion Week

by | Apr 3, 2023

South Africa is known for its vast natural landscapes: Lush forests and arid deserts, rocky mountain summits, and engulfing oceans. VIVIERS Studio’s FW23/24 collection, Karroo-land of Thirsts, presented at Milan Fashion Week last month, affirmed that these landscapes provide a source of visual inspiration, but also a diverse abundance of natural resources for local designers. Lezanne Viviers, founder and creative director of VIVIERS Studio says, “For ‘Karroo, Land of Thirst’ we wanted to show the world the diversity and quality of raw materials from our homeland, and therefore manifest a strong South African luxury textile and garment industry.”

The collection focusses specifically on the desert lands of the Karoo both visually and practically. Developed in collaboration with Cape Wools SA and Mohair SA, the collection incorporates materials found in the barren Karoo – mohair, wool, ostrich feathers, and leather.

Aside from highlighting the diversity and quality of sustainable and natural fibres from South Africa, the collection represents the collaborative efforts of a group of artisans. “VIVIERS was created with the intention of collaboration with incredible artisans, as we love innovative textile development with the inclusion of sustainable South African textiles,” says Lezanne.

The collection includes collaborations with makers and artisans from Pretoria Weavers Guild, Feathered Fabrics by Pascale Theron Studio, artisanal knitwear by Hannelie Bekker from WRAPT, felted fabrics made by Stephanie Bentum, experimental Suminigashi fabrics by The SA Marbling Company, Jewellery by Kirsten Goss, and bags by Cape Cobra Leathercraft.

We asked the artisans to explain the collaborative process of the pieces showcased at Milan Fashion Week:

The SA Marbling Company

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

The SA Marbling company created several designs and hand prints for the collection. Half of them focused on contemporary Suminagashi – the ancient art of Japanese marbling – hand-printed in bold floating designs. These designs were transferred onto synthetic coloured stockings, which were worn on models’ arms and legs at the showcase in Milan.

“The floating design was to achieve a cracked and agate look, reminiscent of the macro landscapes of the Karoo,” says Larissa Don, surface designer and founder of The SA Marbling Company.

The other half of the print collection focused on Suminagashi with plant and ochre pigments created bespoke for Lezanne. Larissa and her daughter Stella harvested plant matter and presented Lezanne with a palette of natural pigments.

“Lezanne dreamt of using only plant and ochre pigments instead of modern-day acrylic. She requested bold designs echoing the landscapes of the Karoo, which I feel we achieved,” says Larissa. Her selection of hemp, walnut, cochineal and ochre soil pigments were harvested and transformed into paints appropriate for the Suminagashi technique. This once-off floating design was then captured onto silk crepe to achieve a moss and lichen-like result.

Learn more about the SA Marbling Company here

WRAPT Knitwear

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

“This opportunity to work on pieces for VIVIERS Studio was particularly exciting because it involved exploring two of my favourite natural fibres, mohair and merino wool,” says Hannelie Bekker of WRAPT Knitwear.

All of the pieces were knitted on vintage domestic knitting machines. Some will remember those from the late seventies and early eighties: they are faster than hand knitting, and yet completely manual. There is nothing industrial about the production process. Pieces are produced one by one, mostly finished by hand, and can be as simple or intricate as the knitter would like (or can manage).

“We started with textural references from Lezanne. The next step was to explore and experiment by knitting multiple swatches: small squares in which techniques, colour or yarn combinations, stitch sizes and more are tested. Promising swatches got developed further and one by one the actual items for the collection crystallised,” says Hannelie.

All of the swatching and final knitting was done with a combination of mohair and merino yarns from Samil Natural Fibres and dead stock viscose and lurex yarns. Some of the yarns were also eco-printed by Hannelie’s sister, Ira Bekker, founder of Botanical Nomad.

“The wonderful thing about knitting is its ability to create the actual fabric at the same time as the garment. Lezanne and I share an inexhaustible fascination with the possibilities that emerge from combining fibres and yarns in different ways,” says Hannelie.

Learn more about WRAPT Knitwear here

Pascale Theron Studio

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

Pascale Theron created all of the ostrich feather works for the collection. These pieces were a continuation of Pascale’s Feathered Fabrics work and of developing handwoven textiles created using ostrich feathers as thread.

Locally produced ostrich feather was a high-value export commodity. Feathered Fabrics aims to enhance the value of this product which has a long history in South Africa.

“It was important for me that the work all goes back to where the feathers and the story originates. What was special about the work we did for this collection was the combination of mohair and ostrich feathers, both high-quality and very luxurious South African materials. We wanted to celebrate them in the best way possible,” says Pascale.

Pascale is based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, now. But she has partnered with weaving studio, Sett & Beat, to have her pieces produced on a much larger scale in Cape Town.

Learn more about Pascale Theron Studio here

Stephanie Bentum

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

Stephanie Bentum is a textile maker whose natural fibre of choice is wool, sourced locally from farmers with ethical and sustainable practices. She explores felting and wool’s endless possibilities, creatively manipulating this versatile fibre into fabric.

Stephanie has been experimenting with adding different fibres to wool – sometimes called Nuno Felting. For this collection, Lezanne approached Stephanie to find ways of re-using lace fabrics she had in her studio.

“The Floret Fabric was the most challenging and demanding piece to make. We decided to make the textile beautiful on both sides,” says Stephanie.

She worked on a table painted in a 10 cm x 10 cm square grid pattern. Keeping shrinkage in mind, large squares were marked out in a black and white check pattern, layered first, in a thin natural and black kid mohair and two more layers of merino wool were added on top. It became a chess game of moving around the table hopping from square to square. Then another three layers of mohair and merino were added before adding the lace.

“Describing the process is like trying to put words to the choreography of 20 hours to make one meter of fabric. It is a theatrical piece of extraordinary textures,” she says.

Learn more about Stephanie Bentum here

Kirsten Goss

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

VIVIERS Studio's ‘Karroo-land of Thirsts’ FW23/24 Collection

In preparation for this collection, Lezanne collected various skulls, teeth, and skeletal remains that speak to the barrenness of the Karoo. “She asked us to incorporate these into the metalwork of the jewellery so that we could create something that resonated with the starkness and harshness of the Karoo landscape yet still brimming with luxury and aesthetic appeal,” says Kirsten Goss. “It felt as though this ‘Karroo, Land of Thirst’ collection was going to be the perfect culmination of living and dead. Of dark and light. Of abhorrent and intoxicating.”

With this in mind, the Kirsten Goss team showed Lezanne their soon-to-be-launched OH JEZEBAL! collection which is an ode to a collection they did 10 years ago – called Tough Luxe – that had a punk-esque feel. Then they showed Lezanne their more recent BANG BANG collection which echoes natural forms. It was the culmination of these collections that formed the foundations of the jewellery pieces in the Milan showcase.

The Kirsten Goss team created neckpieces, a handpiece, and many mismatched earring pairs which reflected all these elements perfectly. “It was a celebration of the unexpected and we were thrilled with the outcome. No detail was spared,” says Kirsten.

Learn more about Kirsten Goss here

  • Images: Feature and in-copy images by Eva Losada. Closing image by Tsele Nthana. Photographed at Milan Fashion Week 2023.
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