Boris Bidjan Saberi Fall/Winter 2013Boris Bidjan Saberi is a man of principles. What started as a line of leather accessories has slowly developed into a serious exercise in experimentation - resulting in collections with titles such as 'Primitive Sculpture', 'Blood' or 'Mechanism'. A conversation about transparent leather, self-love and Joseph Beuys.
Spring/Summer 2012
What are you up to at the moment?
Try to do my best.
Would you agree on a subliminal ecology of 'refuse' in your work?
I do.
An anti-aesthetics?
No, a personalised aesthetics.
You don't see yourself merely as fashion designer; would the terms craftsman and artist be more suitable for you?
I know I am not easy and that’s why I can’t name myself how or what I am. I love what I do, I try to do my best until it hurts.
During a presentation in Paris, scrap wood sculptures were wearing your clothes. What is the story behind these 'structures'?
Creating an alternative body, an alternative model to show a garment or look.
Can you name an artist you admire?
Joseph Beuys.
Joseph Beuys Hase, 1978
An exhibition that moved you?
An exhibition from Javier Perez.
One thing I associate with you is transparent leather...
I started to develop my patent of transparent leather in 2009 and presented it for the first time in Paris during fashion week in 2010. I also presented versions in blood red and black in different types of leather.
People were shocked by its innovation value but also by its raw barbarian appearance. Do you like the element of shock?
If the shock has content behind it, I don’t mind. But I am more interested in the fact of innovation and that my version of transparent leather didn’t exist before.
Leather plays an important role in your oeuvre. Can you explain your attraction towards the material?
A material has to attract me. My brain has to start working like an engine when I touch, smell or feel a material.
The delicacy of the materials contrasts with the 'butch' men presenting your clothes. How do you approach the subject of vulnerability?
Feeling, imagination, a lot of experimentation, finally knowledge.
Are you vulnerable?
I think I am not. Though, I am very sensitive and this hurts sometimes.
Which 'values' would you attribute to your work and philosophy?
Handcrafting, innovation, realness.
Within your collection for Fall/Winter 2013 you introduced the white shirt as a new formal element to your aesthetic which felt like a departure. Are you exploring a more structured, corporate idea?
It was a very strict and classic detail to complement the story. Classic fiction.
You show twice a year in Paris but prefer to shy away from the spotlight. What do you like, what do you dislike about the realms of fashion?
I think the problem of my work is that you cannot really appreciate it on a traditional catwalk – because most of the work is in the garments, the investigation, fabrics, and patterns. My fabrics, jerseys and knits are done here in Spain from scratch. The hides and skins are sourced from local butchers and tanners, treated with very old tanning processes. The techniques I use to approach leather are totally extinct nowadays – which makes my leather products totally unique. The fit is very anatomical and my patternmaking very personal – I develop everything on my own body. The only way to understand and feel it, is to touch and try it on.
Fall/Winter 2010 & Spring/Summer 2011
Are you interested in other designers, or preferably wearing your own clothes?
I only wear my own clothes.
What do you wear while working on the pieces in your atelier?
I normally wear the same clothing so I don’t have to think. It’s my “Blaumann”.
What is your proposal for our 'future'?
Listen, feel, think, being coherent.
How would you describe 'the world'?
Big.
What do you wish for?
That I never get bored.
Your universe in one word?
Impossible.
Thank you, Boris.
/HORST
Read the full interview in I Love Fake Magazine
_first.JPG)
_first.JPG)
_first.JPG)
_first.jpg)
