While working on our recent Data Portrait projects, I was reminded of this fashion collaboration from 2004 between Japanese artist Aya Takano and fashion designer Issey Miyake. Takano is a Superflat artist, an art school founded by Takashi Murakami that combines elements of manga in their work. Issey Miyake is a designer famous for his clothes that have folds reminiscent of folded paper (origami), and technology-inspired work (he designed Steve Job’s signature black turtleneck!).
I love both of these artist’s work because they push the boundaries of the traditions they are working within. In particular, I’m drawn to Takano’s work because of her unique characters and blend of all types of artistic influence and styles, making each piece seem as if it is a part of her specific universe. Their collaboration inspired me as I worked on creating my own piece of clothing from my coded design because their collaboration used Takano’s compositional works as opposed to a strictly repeated pattern.
