Iris van Herpen on Visualizing the Invisible Through Haute Couture

Well, for those listening or watching who aren't familiar with your work, I think it's important to state that you're as much an artist and fashion designer, I would say, as you are, at least through your collaborations, a technologist.

Your work is very innovative in that sense.

And you're constantly pushing these boundaries of what we think fashion should or could be.

You called a concept, I guess, of your practice or a main sort of conceit of your practice craft illusion, which is this idea of like an across time long arc view that like what you're doing now is intimately connected to the invention of the sewing needle 60,000 or so years ago.

Yeah.

Could you just describe this a little bit more? Do you see the many tools you're using now as sort of modern-day versions of that sewing needle?

Yeah, I see it as a natural evolution of craftsmanship to use the tools that are available today and to create hybrids with the existing tools from the past.

And it's interesting that when we think about craftsmanship today, about it as something that was frozen in time in the past like a certain technique and we just continue doing that same technique but we don't add new techniques to it which I find strange because indeed when you look back to the history of craftsmanship it has always been in an evolution and There has been so many innovations within craftsmanship and we shouldn't stand still within time I think and to me the most interesting techniques start to happen when this modern day knowledge is combined with knowledge from the past.

And it's really about keeping the knowledge of the past alive as well, because it's as valuable as the modern day knowledge.

But it's about creating these new hybrids.

And that's how I refer to craftolution.

It's really the evolution of craftsmanship.

Well, it almost feels to the way you're describing it, that it's like a feedback loop, like one begets the other, right? And so

the modern

technology might reshape how we think about a traditional craft and vice versa.

And vice versa, absolutely.

I really feel that I'm able to transcend the contemporary techniques with the knowledge from the earlier techniques.

They really enhance each other.

This might sound random, but I wanted to bring up your kimono collection here.

You have these 20 or so Japanese kimonos, one of which at least dates back to the 1800s.

Could you just share a little bit about this collection and how you view it in the context of craft dilution?

Well the craftsmanship is extraordinary in these pieces and that's why I think I also fall in love with them each time.

It's the embroidery techniques, the three-dimensional embroidery techniques.

Some techniques that are in the kimonos are just not used anymore and also the way the silks have been woven.

and the silver threads within them.