nicolas andreas taralis

[tenorish]

NICOLAS ANDREAS TARALIS INTERVIEW BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE (Part I)

Apologies if this is posted before, or if this is the wrong place, but it makes for an interesting read.

NICOLAS ANDREAS TARALIS INTERVIEW BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE
via SOME/THINGS

WE’VE JUST BEEN TALKING WITH CARLO ZOLLO YESTERDAY (OF L’ECLAIREUR, PARIS) THAT THE WHOLE COMPLEX TRADITION OF TAILORING IS ALMOST DYING OUT AS PEOPLE OPT FOR EASIER & CHEAPER CHOICES. YET IN YOUR COLLECTIONS THERE IS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE TAILORING THAN IN MOST OF THE CONTEMPORARY (& ESPECIALLY YOUNG) DESIGNERS COLLECTIONS. WHY THIS CHOICE?

— Tailoring for me is really the ultimate indulgence. I love the structure and possibilities that it affords. Nowhere else in the entire spectrum of clothing design is there a parallel so near to architecture. In effect, tailoring is the perfect medium for exploring shape and structure, line and silhouette, volume and void. Whereas textiles are naturally quite limp and fluid, the canvas structure that tailored garments benefit from intrinsically alters the natural handle of fibres … and all this in such an invisible and symbiotic way! Much like steel frame construction in architecture, the canvas interlining allows us to imagine shapes that otherwise would not be possible. In it’s purest form though, it demands a total “maitrise” of technique, something that indeed is dying out. It’s a wonderful challenge though, and I feel very naturally comfortable in this medium. Sadly we are looking for easier and more disposable solutions to dress ourselves now. Tailoring is a complex technique. It demands attention, time and learning. We’re in a bit of deficit of all three at the moment though. But I love the fact that tailoring is still being learned in a very traditional way, with apprentices following master tailors – there’s no crash course to quality. With time though, and with our ever increasing need for efficiency and speed and the economic reality behind clothing manufacture and sale, there will be only very few companies still working on this type of ‘niche’ product. I’m speaking here of course of ‘pure’ tailoring, distinguished though the numerous hours of preparation, hand work and respect of tradition and not of the ‘industrialized’ variety... Real hand-tailored garments these days, for all intents and purposes, are practically extinct, and it’s kind of a fetish of mine to try to keep this just a little bit alive in my collections.


DO YOU FEEL THERE IS A STRONG PARALLEL BETWEEN YOUR WORK & ARCHITECTURE? WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU CONSIDER FIRST IN CONCEIVING THE FORM OF A GARMENT?

— I do approach clothing design, as I would any other applied art. The adage “form follows function” is particularly appealing to me. Working in fashion and its intrinsic ephemeral quality means though that it’s extremely difficult to fully follow such a point of view, but it’s a belief that is very firmly entrenched in my own system. Had I not gotten into fashion, the only other choice for me would have been architecture, and both are mediums that deal with solving questions of volume, light, space and emptiness… so yes I feel there is a very strong parallel between the two. This certainly in part explains my fascination in constructed and structured garments.


CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE WHOLE PROCESS FROM STARTING TO WORK ON A NEW COLLECTION (CONCEPT, ETC) & HOW IT PHYSICALLY EVOLVES INTO EACH SINGULAR PIECE?

— There’s no system really in the development of a particular collection (although maybe it may look this way sometimes). Aside the fact that each departure is a direct relation to the end preceding it, it’s all rather freestyle actually! I simply develop things in a very organic and intuitive way based more on emotional quality than on systematic analysis. What I can say though, is that there are images in my head and themes that interest me in a given period of time. The collection starts then with these certain impulses, and moves along organically from there until the end result. Usually also though, one end of a collection is the founding steps for the next, and so on and so on…


& ALSO THIS DESIRE TO WORK IN A WAY THAT SOMEHOW ‘DEFIES’ THE ‘ROMANTIC’ IDEA OF A DESIGNER WITH ALL THE SKETCHES, FITTINGS ETC IN THE ATELIER, AS IN YOURS ITS JUST FEW COMPUTERS, WHITE WALLS, PEOPLE YOU APPRECIATE & YOUR OWN IDEAS

— Not that I don’t love all that, I would much like the opportunity to enjoy this way of working! Indeed should I go deeper into the woman’s collection I need to, but for right now, the situation is such that I can still work in this way, and that suits me just fine. Computers become surrogate dress forms, and pins and staples will have to make do, as now I don’t even own a sewing machine. Sometimes, I do wish however that things would be simpler, or would go back to something more pure without so much dependence on technology. But the economic reality is such at the moment. And it’s not so only for me; you can look at any industry to realize this. Even the classical fine arts have come such a long way in rejecting painting and traditional mediums for more contemporary solutions, approaching industry and companies to create works. It’s no longer the idealistic and romantic reality of the lone artist in his atelier, painting from dawn to midnight. This idea is dead and why should fashion not also follow that contemporary reality? In my own way though - in this collection with such dominance of handwork and traditional craft – I try to keep a romantic spirit alive.


THE PROBLEM THAT I FEEL MOST YOUNG DESIGNERS HAVE IS THAT THEY TRY TO ADD UP TOO MANY THINGS, TO SUM UP ALL THEIR IDEAS INSTEAD OF CHOOSING WHAT IS MOST WORTH WORKING ON WHICH RESULTS IN THE COLLECTIONS HAVING THE FEEL OF AT THE SAME TIME BEING OVERDONE VISUALLY & NOT HAVING GONE DEEP ENOUGH CONTENT-WISE. YET WITH YOU ITS ALMOST THE VERY OPPOSITE, ITS LIKE IN YOUR HOME, WHERE YOU FIRST TRY TO THINK WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE WALLS TO STRIP THEM TO ALMOST NAKED BARENESS. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THE CLEANLINESS & ORDER IS NOT ONLY IN YOUR COLLECTIONS BUT ALSO DURING THE WHOLE CREATIVE PROCESS?

— I need emptiness in order to work and think. When there’s too much around me I get completely over-loaded with information. At that point nothing is possible any more; it freaks me out. So a big part of the process is just getting rid of things: ideas, sketches, and fabric. It’s a huge, systematic reduction process, and each collection seems to start with that. I don’t handle narrative well either, in that typical ‘fashion’ way, so there is very rarely an obvious thematic. To summon up, I’m just throwing things out of the collection most of the time, and not thinking of themes. The goal is always to go straighter to the point, to have a clearer vision and to underline only 1 idea. It’s a reduction process.


THE MATERIALS THAT FASCINATE YOU & THAT YOU USE MOST IN YOUR WORK OR THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE? HOW IMPORTANT TEXTURES ARE FOR YOU, IS IT A BASIS OF THE WORK OR SOMETHING THAT COMES AT THE FINAL STAGE?

— Form, colour and structure are the 3 principle components in any piece or collection. Not taking these 3 things into account is akin to you taking your photographs without regard to composition, exposure or focus. It’s absolutely unthinkable not to develop these three elements concurrently. In this moment, I explicitly limit the number of colours and therefore texture and weight take on an even more important role in the collection. It’s all about a very subtle and harmonious co-existence (or not) of these elements.


MOST OF YOUR WORK IS WHITE, BLACK OR IN THE SHADES OF GREY, DOES COLOR HAVE A BIG IMPORTANCE FOR YOU OR YOU PREFER …

— As I mentioned just previously, I limit myself on purpose to the numbers of colours I use. Again, it comes back to the same idea of removing everything down to the essential. I don’t want to clutter myself with too many shades, it would weigh me and the collection down. So I do just a few every season, and in one way or another, they all revolve very strongly around the basics that you noted. Even when I include or work with colour, I have the tendency to see everything in monochrome, or in shades of the same tone.


WHAT I HAVE LOVED MOST FROM THE LAST COLLECTION OF YOURS (FALL 2009) WAS THE SIMPLE YET EXQUISITE DETAILS - STITCHING ESPECIALLY, WHICH BY ITS EXECUTION & BEAUTY REMINDED ME OF SOME OF THE BUDDHIST MONKS’ GARMENTS IN JAPAN. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE HOW YOU WORK ON IT?

— That is a very beautiful comparison, thank you. I am completely fascinated with eastern aesthetics, particularly that of Japan which I find so utterly perfect and harmonious. Every shape is simply so well though through, so in perfect balance and symmetry with itself, even when not at all! Colours also are entirely different; just think of the shade of a Japanese pine tree, it’s completely diverse than the ones here in Europe! As to how the whole perverse fixation on details comes to be: I just like details, stitches and such. They are all part of a bigger puzzle and directly related to the garment’s final expression… and hence my own. Beauty is in the details, as they say.


DOES IT ALL COME NATURALLY OR DO YOU ALSO DO RESEARCH WORK?

— I’m a naturally curious person, so I look at everything, and I do this over and over again obsessively. I try to discover as much as possible whenever I can make the time. But that said, a lot of the collection is simply and very organically developed, based on what I feel moment to moment. However sometimes you see a small object, image or whatever, and this can be very inspiring. Usually it comes from quite old and ancient things, as I am most intrigued with handwork and artisan tradition. And these things do find a way to be filtered down into the collection, from time to time, in a delicate and unobtrusive way.

[tenorish]

NICOLAS ANDREAS TARALIS INTERVIEW BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE (Part II)

IN ALL THAT YOU DO THERE IS THIS ALMOST OBSESSION-LIKE DESIRE FOR IT TO BE IN-THE-MOMENT-OF-NOW, TO AVOID THE REFERENCES TO THE PAST & TO THE FUTURE. HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT?

— I am just tired with the constant cliche of ‘era’ revivals. I’m not very “a’l’aise” with such references. The 60s and 70s were an incredible moment for example, but I’d rather listen to old Pink Floyd or Iggy Pop, rather than an Iggy or Floyd inspired group today… In as much as everything is based on what precedes it, I don’t understand how people can simply be content to imitate a given thing, rather than to search out what is relevant to them now – this doesn’t exclude being inspired either, by the past. But I’d rather just react to my own time, right now, then reference constantly something else. That just wouldn’t seem right.

WHOM DO YOU HAVE IN MIND WHEN YOU START WORKING ON A NEW COLLECTION? YOURSELF, IMAGINARY IDEAL, MUSE OR A CUSTOMER?

— There’s an easy answer to this question, and it sounds cliche but it’s so true: I’m designing for myself or rather for an ideal me. I do try the men’s clothes all on myself, and would never do anything I wouldn’t wear. It only seems natural that if I wouldn’t like it, why should anyone else? When I design for women though, there is always someone inspirational close at hand and accompanying the way. This is so absolutely fundamental in the women’s collection, where I can’t personally try anything on myself. For either men or women though, I believe staunchly, that the collection needs to always remain “real”… In the end, we do hear a lot from people who buy the collection, so this is quite important too. After all, I am most happy to hear when someone who has absolutely no idea about us, falls in love with the pieces and keeps coming back.


DO YOU FEEL THERE IS AN ACTIVE EXCHANGE BETWEEN DESIGNERS ARTISTS ETC IN PARIS OR THERE IS RATHER A LACK OF IT?

— Fashion designers always want to mix in with other fields; it lends an air of credibility to fashion and in turn, somehow ‘glamorous’ fashion seems to be fascinating to artists… The reality though, is that Paris is not really a big centre for exchange in this way. When it does happen, it’s most often with cities like London, Berlin or New York who certainly are more dynamic in terms of contemporary art than Paris, which remains still a rather academic town.


IN YOUR EXPERIENCE IN FASHION IS THERE A LOT OF COLLABORATION OR IT’S MORE OF A SOLITARY EXISTENCE?

— There are moments when it can be very solitary yes, like for example at the end of every seasonal collection when you just feel so drained, but in general it’s an enormous team effort 24/7. It’s undeniable. Even though, as the public, we know of the ‘createur’, there is always an entire team of talented people et ‘petites mains’ who are contributing so much of their energy, time and dedication to make the collections happen. This is the case from every level, from the design studio, to the press and commercial teams to the very people sewing the final garments in the factory. In the end, all this passion comes through and is unmistakeable. It’s an enormous team effort - it has always been so, and shall always be so.


CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR TIME/EXPERIENCES/ENCOUNTERS IN VIENNA & IF/HOW IT HAS INFLUENCED YOUR WAY TO WORK?

— Vienna proved fundamental to me in the fact that it was where I finally discovered where my interests in design and culture stood. I was quite naive before my stay there (indeed I only arrived at 19 in the city) and so there was so much to discover. Being on the fringe of Europe, in the middle of a very introverted arts academy was a big awakening for me. I came to Vienna directly from Parsons School of Design in NY, which was a traditional, academic and rather uptight university. You can imagine then how surprised I was to go to the university the first day of school in Vienna and find students in the class sitting at their sewing machine and smoking cigarettes! It was so relaxed, free and bohemian – and perhaps even an almost anarchic attitude to education then. It was a wonderful time.


DO YOU FEEL IT IS POSSIBLE TO DEFINE YOUR STYLE? IS THE SEARCH OF YOUR OWN AESTHETICS INSTINCTIVE OR RATHER CONSCIOUS, ALMOST INTELLECTUAL, CHOICE?

— This is practically the worst question that anyone can ask: define my style! I prefer rather not to think about any ‘style’, or what I am doing in a premeditated way. Actually, there’s no master plan. I just do what I feel and the result is what it is. I really much prefer not to attach labels to my work. People should be free to interpret it in whatever way most suits them. That said, I do have very clear centres of interest, and this is completely unambiguous whatsoever. I know what I like, and I know what I still want to explore and do. It’s so clear, it’s not even a choice.


IS IT HARD TO KEEP YOUR PERSONAL SIGNATURE WHEN THERE IS A CONSTANT PRESSURE TO PRODUCE AT LEAST 2 COLLECTIONS PER YEAR? DO YOU FEEL THE CONSTRAINT OF IT OR IS IT SOMETHING POSITIVE?

— I don’t ever feel pressure to keep a ‘personal signature because regardless of whatever I do, it comes from me and therefore will only and ever be me. Somehow, and without any deliberation, this comes through. There is inherently a spiritual element, directly related to the way it’s fabricated, and the choices we took while designing and this speaks more than anything for my personal ‘voice’. All this really is independent of any fact of there being multiple collections (and there are 4 per year); it’s not relative to the quantity. It’s in the choice of all the elements, it’s elaboration from A to Z and I think in the end is just something that comes across.


HOW IMPORTANT FOR YOU IS TO PRESERVE CONTINUITY WHILE MOVING ON?

— Every departure is a start from where you stopped, and for me every start of a collection is somehow related to the one before. It’s a continual and gradual process, and each collection is in constant evolution. But I think that in whatever you do, when you are creative, you always have a desire and urge to move forward & to try something new and take that next risk. That’s just the way it goes I feel, for people involved in what we do. So indeed you constantly move forward, almost as if without thinking about it, but at the same time, it’s so fundamental to also be able to have a point of reference, that you can really identify with yourself. It’s a strange marriage.


IS INNOVATING AT ALL IMPORTANT FOR YOU OR IT DOESN’T REALLY MAKE MUCH SENSE?

— Like I mentioned, there is always a desire to do something new that one hasn’t tried before, I think that’s a natural human need. You always have the feeling that you can go one step further personally, so you do try as best you can but I don’t know if you could call this “innovation”. With what regards clothing design, we really are only working on aesthetic variations and it all remains (at the end of the day) rather superficial at this point. Real innovation now for me implies something much more fundamental and profound, like stem-cell research or etc., rather than simply developing the line or shoulder of a new jacket.


DO YOU FEEL THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING OR THERE IS TOO MUCH REPITITION ETC?

— Undoubtedly one sees a lot of repetition and certainly we wouldn’t be here now (both of us in our respective ways) if we didn’t believe that we couldn’t propose something more personal and unique. That is the crux of the matter, I think, when you create anything new. Inherently, you feel that something is missing, or that some story isn’t there yet that perhaps merits to be told. Without this conviction I am sure that a lot of young designers and brands wouldn’t be launched, especially not nowadays. Thankfully this is the case, as I personally find it so exciting to see that so many people are all dreaming in their own unique ways. This is ultimately so enriching for everyone, especially if the universes are so diverse, as right now.


IS RECOGNITION OF YOUR WORK A MEASURE OF SUCCESS FOR YOU AT ALL OR IS THE PROCESS OF DOING IT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT?

— The process is certainly an enriching part and, personally speaking, of high priority. But recognition is still fundamentally so important to concluding anything one does. There is absolutely nothing worse than indifference… In the end, why do we choose to do what we do, if no one sees it? We cut off an ear, don’t we ! But where would we get the strength to continue our projects, if in the end it’s not appreciated along the way? It’s not even here a question about financial success or being hype, but simply about having a sincere and positive response to one’s work. Hearing from clients that people appreciated the collection, that it sells out even before it arrives in the store, is immensely gratifying. It’s this very honest recognition that’s so important. I think that everyone who produces anything personal needs that type of satisfaction, in some way or other. So yes, it is certainly a measure of success.


WHAT SEEMS MOST IMPORTANT FOR YOU AS A PERSON IN THIS MOMENT IN TIME?

— Finding equilibrium.


WHAT ARE YOUR ASPIRATIONS NOW (COMPARED TO THE ONES IN THE PAST)?

— Finding equilibrium.

[tenorish]

NICOLAS ANDREAS TARALIS INTERVIEW BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE (Part III)

WHEN I THINK OF YOU SOME OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT COME IN MY MIND ARE THE GOLDEN BRACELET FROM YOUR BAPTISM INSCRIBED WITH GREEK LETTERS & NICOLAS ANDREAS TARALIS YOUR BRAND NAME, ALSO WRITTEN IN GREEK INSIDE THE GARMENTS YOU PRODUCE. HOW IMPORTANT IS GREECE (AND GREEK CULTURE) FOR YOU, GROWING UP CANADIAN & HAVING LIVED HERE IN PARIS FOR (MORE THAN?) HALF OF YOUR LIFE?

— Although I know only so very little about my Greek roots, I have a very strong connection (more and more so with age) to them. I have always thought of myself until only some few years ago, as entirely and absolutely German, indeed much of my work is directly related to that identification. But I am also one half Greek, and there is undeniably something very strong and exotic about this culture that’s seducing me as time goes on. This is the reason, that when I started my collection I decided to include the name in Greek script, as a recognition to this other unknown half in me. In a big way, I have the imagination that Greek culture is just as austere and modernist as the Bauhaus aesthetic that I have so been enamoured with for years. Perhaps I am purely imagining this as I have never lived there, but it just feels that way to me. Maybe this idea is even stronger because it lives only in my fictional mind. Now though, in many moments in the collection, I try to think of ways to combine these 2 very distinct cultures. I find this mix potentially fascinating.



ARE THERE ANY IMAGES OF GREECE THAT LIVE WITHIN YOU (DOESNT NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE A REAL IMAGE, CAN BE JUST SOMETHING INSIDE YOUR HEAD)

— Dusk, on a hilltop somewhere high and desolately remote, hands hesitantly brushing the dusty and arid ground, eyes fixated on the endless sea finally empty of the heat from a descending and burning red sun… That’s about as pure as it gets, in my fantasy

[Dreavan]

Very interesting! Thank you Tenorish.