Aitor Throup Joins G-Star Raw as Creative Consultant

[SuE]

BoF Exclusive | Aitor Throup Joins G-Star Raw as Creative Consultant

By Robin Mellery-Pratt 30 April, 2014

Today, BoF can exclusively reveal that artist and designer Aitor Throup has joined Dutch denim label G-Star Raw as a creative consultant focused on product design, store design, and marketing and communications...

“We have long admired Throup’s work as a designer. The collaboration between G-Star and Aitor Throup is a natural fit as we share a design ethos that is rooted in innovation and identified by 3D construction. Many of his object creations hit a chord with G-Star’s DNA, roots and design philosophy,” said Thecla Schaeffer, chief marketing officer of G-Star Raw, which specialises in unwashed and untreated denim.

“G-Star [first] approached me about three years ago. They presented their history and a lot of things that I was unaware of, which took me by surprise. I started seeing all of these examples of really beautiful product design; distilled yet modernised versions of Jean Prouvé furniture, Canondale bikes, a Land Rover Defender, a Leica camera. G-Star have this approach that is so consistent and so product focused,” said Throup...

[550BC]

Just wanted to share this, this is bad in my opinion.... the wrong people wear G-Star because G-Star is a wrong label, I dislike it for years.

But I remember seeing them construct and design a 3D/DNA pants that will synchronize on your anatomy about +/- 5 years ago..

I still see this is bad news.

[SuE]

Aitor's done mass-market before (e.g. the Umbro collaboration) so this isn't something new per se.

[bryantyj]

I dont think its such a bad thing. It would be selfish to think so. As a designer, why would you turn down an opportunity like that. It could be the wrong brand but which mass market brand is the right brand??

[Faust]

All Saints.

On a serious note Aitor has told me that he would be very interested in tackling a mass market project to make his ideas accessible. The whole point being that it is possible to do good design on mass scale.

I am very interested in the idea that mass product having shit design is an artificial construct. I mean, Apple proved that in personal tech. Why not in other areas? I've always wondered why cheap cars look shitty. The only explanation was that since car companies have become vertical conglomerates offering cars at all levels, they do it on purpose. And now Kia is changing that, I think. If you slapped a BMW badge on the Optima, I doubt many people would cringe.

[bukka]

If you slapped a BMW badge on the Optima, I doubt many people would cringe.

No way. German cars > all.

[Null12]

While I do understand this may rustle some jimmies, there could be "worse" people Aitor could be working with... (I use "worse" loosely here)

The brand/co. is kind of (almost) irrelevant when you have someone like Aitor not just do one thing, but "product design, store design, and marketing and communications." I think it's a good opportunity for him personally and for us to actually see more of his work. Aitor is one of those mfers that I feel I want to see more of...

In Aitor we trust~

[Dorje]

I tend to give things the benefit of the doubt so we will see... hopefully it will turn out great.

Of course this doesn't always work out, I thought it was possible that WMDs would be found in Iraq too...

[550BC]

Aitor's done mass-market before (e.g. the Umbro collaboration) so this isn't something new per se.

I know about his past though, but I find the difference between Umbro and G-Star huge also on mass media/crowd aspects.

Time will tell what this collab will bring

[Resonkuken]

Why, out of so many people/brands/designers that would probably love to work with him, would he end up choosing G Star Raw??

Let`s hope for the best, only time will tell.

[eleves]

Like a lot of people who posted, I've grown to dislike G-Star. Sometimes you wonder how brands get so popular but Aitor is one of my favorites right now. It really does suck that his prices are just astronomical all the while he does produce some of the most unbelievable garments that I've seen in a long time.

[fncyths]

Even though I don't wear g-star anymore I still think they make great jeans. the quality of the denim is solid and yes the 3d / dna concept is pretty badass.

I respect the vision of their global director shubhankar ray and had the chance to work with him and vitra during the rollout of their collaboration for the Prouve Raw campaign a few years back. They did a great job reinterpreting some of Prouvé's most iconic pieces and maintained a sort of raw and brutalist integrity while sourcing the material. I was thoroughly impressed with the outcome:



Their redesign of the Leica D lux 6 was beautiful as well:


They also outfitted Massive Attack on their last world tour:





Aitor Throup joining forces with them is fucking on point. So everyone quit crying and pay attention. This will be awesome

[unwashed]

Agreed with the above. When I read it, for me it made sense. Besides the people who wear g-star, they'd had in the past made some pretty nice stuff (don't know what they make nowadays). I still have an old jacket which I still love (almost no logo's, and the logo visible I've removed :p). He also did a collab with stone island, and I dislike that brand more for the people who wear it.

I think we could expect some pretty nice stuff for reasonably prices (if it isn't anything like the stone island collab which was a fail).

[550BC]

Agreed with the above. When I read it, for me it made sense. Besides the people who wear g-star, they'd had in the past made some pretty nice stuff (don't know what they make nowadays). I still have an old jacket which I still love (almost no logo's, and the logo visible I've removed :p). He also did a collab with stone island, and I dislike that brand more for the people who wear it.

I think we could expect some pretty nice stuff for reasonably prices (if it isn't anything like the stone island collab which was a fail).

Life in The Netherlands




I liked the sketches from the Stone Island collab, but I like all of his sketches.

[ProfMonnitoff]

Stone Island makes some very good stuff. Who cares who wears it?

I have no idea how the G-Star thing will work out, but Aitor doesn't seem like the type to take on a project that he doesn't believe in. Who knows what their arrangement is...