Floored by Fabric
I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with a barrage of images in this post because the subject in question has yet to complete his website and I can find scant information. Do you mind if I bombarde your eyes with these beautifully shot images of stupendously spectacular fabric sculpture pieces by Rowan Mersh? Do you mind terribly? I can't quite call this Royal College of Art grad a jeweller as his work is more sculptural/art orientated (he was the first to win the Mercury Art Prize and his work has alreacy been acquired by the V&A as part of their permanent collection). It just so happens that he works with fabric in such a way that I can hardly NOT post about it.
Mersh has however transplanted his larger scale sculptural pieces to a wearable level of jewellery and his latest collection of jewellery concentrates on using stretch jersey. Victorian detailing is reinterpretated in black and cream highly fussy neck pieces and brooches. It's as if he took jersey strands and knitted them in a manic obsessive fashion. His current collection is available at b Store.
Although his jewellery is wonderful, once you have seen the larger scale images (which I dug out from his incomplete site...), I can't help but be floored by them. It's the process that I imagine Mersh goes through to get these results that blows my mind. The accuracy achieved with these structures and on this sort of full-body scale, I can only think a lot of pain-staking work went into it. I admire them from a static art point of view but I can also well picture them with a few minor adjustments worn as garments in their own right. From Mersh's jewellery line, I see the pieces (and his name fame) growing in the future to cross over into full-on fashion if he so chooses.
From his Bodyworks collection
From his Fabric Sculpture 1 collection
From his Fabric Sculpture 2 collection
wow. those are truly jaw droppingly crazy creations. the craftsmenship is insane! i love all the pictures but i think my favortie is the second image in the first bodyworks set you put up. everything is so gorgeous to look at though. i'm floored.
Posted by: eliza | 04 January 2008 at 17:02
I would kill for one of those neckpieces!!!
Posted by: DJM | 04 January 2008 at 17:05
Those are intense!
Posted by: Lyndsay | 04 January 2008 at 17:25
aaaahh be still my beating heart.
these are gorgeous.
how could you not feel gorgeous in a ruff like that?
Posted by: lady coveted | 04 January 2008 at 18:10
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, THANK YOU!
Posted by: virginia | 04 January 2008 at 19:13
I haven't come across him before, so thank you for the heads up! Wonderful! LLG xx
Posted by: lLibertygirl | 04 January 2008 at 19:30
Amazing work. And I'm feeling very fringe-y today!
Posted by: WendyB | 04 January 2008 at 19:39
Amazing find, as usual - his pieces immediatley reminded me of a larger-scale Naik Fur design. I just ordered a layered ruff/collar/necklace from her, and her prices - an pieces - might fit into every day life more easily. http://naik-fur.blogspot.com/ or at SmashingDarling.com. Wonderful aesthtic sense!
Posted by: GlamaRuth | 04 January 2008 at 20:37
i gasped. i'm kind of lame like that. killer post.
Posted by: kim | 04 January 2008 at 20:50
also, glamaruth, yes they are in a similar genre as some of naik fur's items. planning on visiting her shop in sac soon. good stuff.
Posted by: kim | 04 January 2008 at 20:52
invigorating! and what wonderful composition.
Posted by: danielle | 04 January 2008 at 21:10
They remind me of deep sea creatures, alien life forms and Chihuly glass--all in the best possible way. I am in awe.
Posted by: The Clothes Horse | 04 January 2008 at 21:14
wow AMAZING. I want one, please...
Posted by: f&art | 04 January 2008 at 21:35
the last few images really remind me of issey miyake
they are all really amazing to look at
Posted by: coco | 04 January 2008 at 21:48
They are so beautiful, incredible!
Posted by: Miss White | 04 January 2008 at 22:25
www.imelda.com.au
let me just pick up my jaw!!!
Posted by: Imelda | 04 January 2008 at 22:50
Absolutely Stunning collection! Very imaginative!
Posted by: designers depot | 05 January 2008 at 08:13
They remind me of coral
Posted by: molly | 05 January 2008 at 12:06
Thanks a lot for this post Susie, it's one of (among many other) reasons I love your blog ... I guess you're already tired of these kind of comments, but as I usually observe without commenting - I felt I had to come out. Thanks for your great great blog!!!
Posted by: pelirred | 05 January 2008 at 15:29
Just astounding.
DCB.
Posted by: Dustcakeboy | 05 January 2008 at 16:51
Wow, I love ornate things to wrap around my neck. People usually for get about that area. it needs just as much attention
-marjory aka afib
recording artist/designer
Posted by: marjory | 05 January 2008 at 22:58
He studied at Loughborough University doing Multi-Media textiles (the course I'm currently in my second year), and he's a bit of an idol in our studio. Our tutors taught him, and he has name checked them in an interview he did with Craft magazine a couple of years ago. Apparently his Bodyworks collection was pleated jersey fabric. This kind of spectacular textiles work is the kind of things we do in Multi-media textiles. Here's the website of the work of the graduates from last year http://seamless07.co.uk and you can see the kind of mental stuff we do with textiles :)
Posted by: Suzi | 06 January 2008 at 11:22
yes, yes! i love his stuff too. i especially love the fringed collar which i saw on fashion156. my first thought when i saw this was the abominable snowman yet strangely i am so drawn to it that i've saved the image as my desktop wallpaper!
Posted by: evie | 06 January 2008 at 11:32
His work is exquisite, and already acquired by the V&A!!??
Posted by: riz | 07 January 2008 at 04:06
ack. that pink skirt. I WANT THAT.
pair of riding boots, a thom browne cardigan, little james perse tee, i'm good to go to the office.
Posted by: thetwodogblog.blogspot.com | 07 January 2008 at 10:57
they are amazing designs
Posted by: Jeff | 08 January 2008 at 09:39
thank you for the introduction...he's a genius!
Posted by: the ugly earring | 08 January 2008 at 17:45