Interview

What is specific in your work?
A.T.: I use a very old machine which was used for heavy fabrics. It’s inusual. I’m proud of the very specific way I reinvented it. The way it works is that there is no more seam. It’s just the most pure way of construct a thing. I got rid of seams, it’s minimal. If you want to create shapes, you need differents patterns coming together. You can’t get rid of them. But you don’t need seam alone, so i can get rid of that. To do a button hole you don’t need a button hole machine.. It is what i called in the Manifesto « Branding Through Construction ».

Tell us about the construction of your garments?
A.T.:When you look at my garment, you can see how it is contructed on the shoulders. The shoulders are constructed with a new line. If I use a traditionnal setting or a raglan, I’m borrowing someone else design. It is not mine. I invented a process called « Tailoring Concept: Negative Space Anatomy ». Negative Space means in your garment there is an empty space. I designed the empty volume of the garments by sculpting the human body miniature. I designed a sculpture of human body then i gave the sculpture a skin with fabrics. So I allowed the formal re-sculpture to be plain and then I take the sculpture off and it becomes a tridimensional vision of the sculpture skin. The result is very organic. I’m not designing the result, i’m only designing the process. To do this new way of constructing the tri-dimensionnal



Why shoulders are so important for you?
A.T.:Anatomically speaking, the shoulder is the most important part of the body. Traditionally, in the clothing design, the shoulder is over looked. In the traditionnal construction, there is the body, and the sleeves, and the shoulders are just meant to join the body and the arms all together. To me, the all construction starts with the shoulders. The body is composed with the back and the shoulder in one piece and then the arms come.

What about the trousers ?
A.T.:The paints are contructed in a similar way. The seams start from the front.

Tell me about your bag ?
A.T.:The concept of the bag is called « When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods ». It is a story about the transition from a negative experience into a positive experience, the redemption. It is about the processus of transformation. The collection showcases the character’s individual attempts at not only converting to Hinduism but of becoming Hindu gods. I’ve got in design because of football, football inspires me. Now, i was inspirated by Hindu Gods. Each one of this object is based on a dynamic military garment, originally garments are made by putting differnts military accessories together basically, like Frankenstein or this kind of thing.

Interview conducted by Florence Julienne

Discover Aitor Throup universe : http://www.aitorthroup.com

Images: New Object Research, presentation London Men FW june 2012.