Cover Architect Kengo Kuma’s design plates for FENDI (Photo: courtesy of FENDI)
Architect Kengo Kuma’s design plates for FENDI (Photo: courtesy of FENDI)
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Architect Kengo Kuma collaborates with Fendi for its spring/summer 2024 collection, and it’s worth all our attention
One thing about fashion and architecture? They both delve into the creative process of design. Although in different industries, both provide mediums for self-expression and reflect cultural, social, and historical contexts in the worlds they exist in.
This time, in a project by Italian fashion house Fendi, the two worlds coexist and contribute great innovativeness and—yes, you guessed it—design ideas to the other. With the brand’s inclination to fuse innovation and tradition paired with Kengo Kuma’s applications of his architectural principles with ancient Japanese craftsmanship, the accessories for the spring/summer 2024 collection proved to be a marvel in the design sphere. Few pieces show artistic dialogue between countries, particularly Italy and Japan, and these accessories are prime examples.
In case you missed it: Inside Kenzo Takada’s Japanese-style Parisian home, designed by Kengo Kuma
Above Japanese Architect Kengo Kuma
Japanese Architect Kengo Kuma
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Using traditional waranshi paper (a hybrid style of washi paper made from cotton and tree bark fibres and originally used for origami and lantern-making), woven bamboo, birch bark, and Tuscan olivewood, Kuma showcases a selection of culturally-inspired pieces worth having a look at.
Above The Fendi Peekaboo Bag
Above Kengo Kuma’s version of the Peekaboo bag
The Fendi Peekaboo Bag
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Designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, the original Peekaboo bag was first presented at Fendi’s Spring 2009 show. The purpose of the bag was to highlight simplicity. In an interview, she once shared that looking for a traditional yet modern contemporary shape that will satisfy even the most sophisticated woman is the piece’s inspiration.
Meanwhile, Kengo Kuma’s version of the bag resembles a fashionable toolbox with a basket-shaped design. It alludes to the earthly materials he often draws up from the chafed look of the handbag.
The architect’s version is more gender-fluid and sustainable.
Above Kuma’s designs for the Peekaboo bag
Above Materials used for the bags
Kuma’s designs for the Peekaboo bag
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But, these differences aside, the bag is for public viewing and is open to changes, as it promotes a surprise change in colour, leather, or texture during the seasons. Kuma’s reinvention of it is just another great addition to the list.
Above The Fendi Baguette Soft Trunk
Above Fendi Baguette Soft Trunk in Leather Red
The Fendi Baguette Soft Trunk
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On the other hand, the Fendi Baguette Soft Trunk is already a reinterpretation of the original baguette bag. It features a structured silhouette reminiscent of vintage travel trunks, designed to optimise functionality while maintaining a compact size.
Kuma’s take on it is giving the bag a makeover: giving it sharper edges, a lighter shade, and wood chips as a cherry on top. The beige-leaning colours of the bag will work with earthy tones and hues.
Above The Fendi Flow sneakers
Above Another version of the Fendi Flow
The Fendi Flow sneakers
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For Kuma’s reinvention of the Fendi Flow shoes, he treaded towards a more futuristic approach. Undulating lines and soft curves punctuate the sneakers in the collection, which have distinct 3D-printed threads around the sole of the shoes.
These threads with a recycled poly-cotton knit or waranshi upper were inspired by yatara ami weaving, an ‘irregular plaiting’ technique using fine bamboo strands to create a strong woven latticework.
Above The designs for the sneakers
The designs for the sneakers
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Incorporating traditional weaves into fashion is always a welcome surprise. Kuma didn’t only preserve and celebrated the cultural identity and craftsmanship of the Japanese through yatara ami, he also did it in a way that is aesthetically pleasing—adding a unique appeal and showcasing a high level of craftsmanship to the Italian-branded shoes.
Through these, he once again reminded everyone that fashion, like architecture, is a safe space for embracing diverse and rich artistic traditions and culture, offering consumers something unique and significant.
Above Kuma’s design plates
Kuma’s design plates
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Incorporating culture, and in a more umbrella term, nature, has always been Kuma’s vision when dealing with his work.
“I've always thought of Kengo Kuma as a master of naturalist architecture. He was one of the first to understand the importance of building nature into architecture both inside and out,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi. “I feel a sense of kinship with his Japanese approach to savoir-faire—I think it is a strong value shared between Japan and Italy.”
Kuma agrees, and further adds: “Nature and craft have always been at the centre of my work as an architect and a designer. When Fendi asked me to reflect on their bags and shoes, I thought of them like small architectural projects on a human scale.”
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Credits
Images: courtesy of FENDI
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is the assistant digital editor of Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
