laowai magazine shanghai july 2012 - art section by maurice amadeus latzke

7/30/2019 Laowai Magazine Shanghai July 2012 - Art Section by Maurice Amadeus Latzke

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J U L Y

2 0 1 2

C h i n e s e M e

d i c i n e - T h

e J i n g ’A n S

c u l p t u r e P a

r k

1 5 t h S h a n g

h a i I n t e r n a

t i o n a l F i l m

f e s t i v a l - N

u o M i F a s h i o n

B o u n d a r i e s ;

W h a t a r e

t h e y & w h y

d o w e n e e

d t h e m ?



Interview by Natali Deftereos

RMB 399 - Scarf, RMB 3999 - Waistcoat RMB 1625 - Top, RMB 1625 - Pants, RMB 799 - Scarf

Anjara Garcia is a Spanish fashion designer who launched her rst

collecon in 2002. Born in Seville, she studied Fashion at the Llotja

School of Art and Design and her career has since been lled with

numerous achievements, including the opening of a new show-

room on Shanghai’s fashionable 800 Changde Road in the JingAn

district. The philosophy behind her collecons is evolved from a

Mediterranean concept of femininity based on comfort, style, and

subtle sensuality. Anjara shares with us her journey to China, in-

spiraons, and key pieces from her SS12 collecon.

阿佳拉•加西亚是一位西班牙时装设计师，她在2002年首次发布

了自己的作品展。出生于塞维利亚，在Llotja School学习时装设

计，从那时起她获得了诸多成就，包括在上海静安区常德路800

秀的陈列室。作品背后的哲学是基于地中海女性对于舒适，时

尚，精致和性感理念的演变和发展。阿佳拉和我们分享的不仅

是她的创作灵感，还有从她的SS12收藏的代表作品。



Tell me a lile bit about your background and

what drew you to the realm of fashion.

A: As a self-taught designer my passion for design cameat a very early stage of my life. I guess seeing my grand-

ma knit and sew at home inspired me to design my own

clothes from when I was very young. Later on, I decided

to connue with my passion by moving over to what is

considered the city of fashion in Spain: Barcelona. It was

there where I had acquired my professional and aca-

demic experience in one of the best Fashion Schools of

the country (Llotja). In the year 2003, I opened a fash-

ion agency and a showroom in my hometown Seville.

However, 2006 was the decisive year since it is when I

opened my rst bouque in the very centre of Madrid.

The next big move was China in 2008, where the brand

has been growing ever since.

RMB: 3499 - Dress

What brought you to Shanghai? What do you

nd dierent about the fashion culture here?

A: I arrived to China in 2008. At that me I was struggling

to nd the quality I wanted for my clothes at a compe-

ve price in Europe, my producon was not massive at

all so I decided to try to nd suppliers here in China.

My English was limited and as you can imagine I didn’t

speak a word in Chinese so it was very challenging, I

used to travel North and South on my own to nd the

suppliers that would t my requirements and I did!

The Chinese denitely have a dierent sense of style,

but I believe they are embracing our Western styles

more and more. A good example of this is the good re-

cepon that Anjara Garcia has had from the very begin-

ning.

From where do you nd inspiraon for your de-

signs? What is your creave process?

A: I nd my inspiraon in my travels and vintage mar-

kets. Any me I go to New York vintage markets are a

necessary must on my checklist. It is from there and na-

ture where my imaginaon ies and I am able to let my

mind get ideas for the forthcoming collecon.

Which era has inuenced you most in terms of

your work as a designer?

A: I have always been fascinated by CHANEL and therevoluon it caused both in the Fashion industry and

socially.

Your collecons are directed towards women

who live life to the fullest and do not wish to

compromise comfort for the sake of style. What

piece from your SS12 collecon should every

woman have in her wardrobe?

A: I love basic tops and dresses which can be nice com-

plemented with waistcoats like the handmade beaded

one in my SS2012 Collecon. Both the laer and thebasic line of this collecon have been an uer success

this season.

Do you have a signature piece of your own?

A: The handmade beaded waistcoat

Which cies most interest you in terms of fash-

ion? Where to next?

A: New York, London, Shanghai. Next stop: South Amer-



RMB 2919RMB - Shoes

“是什么吸引你来到上海？你在这里所感受到的时尚文

化有何不同？”

我在2008年来到上海。那时的我努力寻找在相对比欧洲

的价格更具有竞争力的价位的同时并具备我所认同的衣

服质量。由于我们的生产不属于大规模生产，所以我决

定在中国找供应商。

我的英文交流存在一定的局限性，而且那时的我不会说

一句中文，你可以想象那是对我的多大挑战，我时常一

个人在中国走南闯北寻找合适的供应商，然而我却做到

了！

中国的时尚文化确有不同，但我认为中国在不断包容和

尝试西方的时尚理念，加西亚从一开始就被接受就是个

很好的例子。

“你的设计灵感来源于什么？你的创作过程是怎样

的？”

我的灵感来源于旅行和逛旧货市场，每次到纽约我都会

将旧货市场安排在必去的行程中。从那里还有和自然中

我会感受到思潮飞涌，并能够以此为即将到来的系列设

计获取新的创意。

“哪个时代对于你作为一个设计师的影响最大？”

香奈儿不仅在时尚界还有在生活中所引领的变革一直以

来深深地影响着我。

“你设计的理念在于倡导女性充分体会生活最大程度的

精彩，而不只是趋于对舒适风格的妥协。 SS12中的哪一

款你认为每位女性都应该收藏在她的衣橱中？”

我很喜欢基础的上衣和裙子，它们可以任意搭配背心

穿，就像我在SS2012系列中的手工制作的并以串珠装饰

的背心。后来的或者是基本的设计方案都收获了本季的

成功。

“你是否有一个自己签名设计的作品？”

手工制作的串珠背心。

“让你最感兴趣的时尚都市有哪些？下一站在哪里？”

纽约，伦敦和上海。下一站：南非。

“请告诉我们您的成长背景，是什么将你带入时尚界

的？”

作为一个自学成才的设计师，我对时尚设计的热爱从

孩童时期就开始了，我想是看到祖母缝纫，启发了我

设计自己的衣服的想法。后来决定去西班牙时尚之

都巴塞罗那继续我的梦想，于是我在西班牙最好的时

装学院Llotja同时收获到职业和学术经验的积累，在

2003年回老家塞维利亚开设了一个时装工作室和作品

陈列室。然而，2006年是在我事业上具有决定性的一

年，因为那一年我在马德里开设了自己的第一家精品

店。之后的一个大的转变是2008年来到中国，品牌的

成长从而得到了进一步的巩固和认可。



Morning routinestereotypes thatare true;

T h e f r e n c h b r e a k f a s t ;

c o f f e e a n d c i g a r e t t e s

jogging in a

ridiculous outft

B r e a k a s t c o n s i s t i n g o o o d t h a t s h o u l d d e f n i t e l y b e d i n n e r

P l a y i n g g a m e s

v s . r e a d i n g

T h i s i s a c t u a l l y a p r e t t y c o o l t h i n g

t o d o w h e n y o u w a k e u p . O r M a y b e j u s t a l i t t l e b i t o v e r t h e t o p ?



ARTDESIGN&TEA

MiC The Reading Chair

Tim Franco’s ChongqingTea Art of Chinese Tea Pouring



CMade In China

project

I M

Image by G&J Visuals

& Maurice Latzke

For this month’s MiC project I decided to build a chair. I’ve been thinking about if for a while, and since I

now live in China it seemed like an obvious thing to do. The manufacturing side of things involved a lot of

talking which I ancipated, but all in all it went quite well. The design side, well, there are some structural

issues which need sorng.



THE PROTOTYPE

I once heard that building a chair is one of the

most dicult design processes to go through.I can see why; most designs have already been

done and others are far too complex to even

dream about building without the proper ma-

chines or budget.

I therefore tried to come up with the simplest

possible design I could. Of course I also wanted

to do something new, and my passion for maga-

zine design led me to build a chair with a maga-

zine compartment in the seat.

Aer sketching designs on paper and later creat-ing a 3D rendering, I went to JiuXing, the largest

wholesale market in the Shanghai region, to nd

a manufacturer.

I was turned away at every stall, but eventually

found a jobless carpenter who, aer hours upon

hours of talking, hesitaon and what I assume

were very dodgy translaons, agreed to build it.

Once I had the upper body of the chair made,

I set out to nd a factory to get the legs built. I

wanted a stainless steel look, and aer vising

several markets without success, I found some-

one’s friend’s friend’s uncle who had a factory.

It took 3 aempts for him to get the angle of

the leg right, but in the end I nally had a chair

which I could more or less sit on!

The (Pleighwood) (←should this be “plywood”?

lowercase) I chose cost about 150 RMB and the

carpenter charged another 350 RMB. The legswere free as I promised to order 50 sets of legs,

which I will do once I straighten out the kinks of

the prototype.

PROJECT 3

The Reading Chair #1



I S E A

N D S H I N

E

P h o t o g

r a p

h

y b y T I M

F R A N

C O

w r i t i n g

b y M a u r i c e L a

t z k e



It is therefore no wonder that Urban Landscape photog-

rapher Tim Franco has developed a special interest in this

rising city.The renegade photographer came to China in 2005 and

has witnessed the many changes that China has gone

through in the last decade and captured these on his Rol-

leiex. His work is published throughout the world in in-

ternaonal magazines such as Le Monde, the New York

Times, the Internaonal Herald Tribune, CNN online, and

Time Out magazine.

In 2009 he travelled throughout China to shoot the ur-

ban landscape of secondary cies. Soon aer Chongqing

experienced a reform, the streets were cleared of crime.

Since the beginning of the Three Gorges Dam project, the

city has seen one of the fastest urbanizaons in China

with the arrival of many people coming from the drowned

cies. To accomodate the newcomers, the city has grown

vercally on the steep sides of the river.

RISE & SHINE CHONGQING

Chongqing is one of the most notable cies for history

and culture in China. It is also one of China’s biggest cieswith close to 29 million inhabitants. Today it is the major

manufacturing centre and transportaon hub for south-

west China.



“By shooting its impersonal and violent urban growth together with the portraits of its inhabitants, I hope to give anhonest portrait of a city that fascinates me both with its looks and its stories..”



T

E A

H

O U

S E

Last month I featured theJing’An Sculpture park andhad the chance to drinktea with its curators Peterand Julia in the park’s pri-vate teahouse. Since myyear and a half in China,it was the rst me I re-ally understood the loveand passion the Chinese

have for tea. I’m not a fanof the lukewarm tea that isserved with dinners, but toexperience the enre cer-emony: drinking iced tea toneutralize the tongue andthen small cups of dier-ent teas made the wholeprocess such an enjoyableone. I am very much look-ing forward to my next teame, and unl then thesephotos will remind me of the wonderful experience.



禅



1.Tea lady begins the ceremony by preparing the cups & water,meanwhile you are served iced tea to clear your palette.

2.Warm the cups and teapot with hot water. This is veryimportant for reasons I cannot explain.

THE ART OFCHINESE TEA POURING

3.Wash the tea leaves by letting them sit in hot water for aminute, then pour the water away.

4.Add fresh hot water. Drink delicious tea out of tiny littlecups for a few hours.

laowai magazine shanghai july 2012 - art section by maurice amadeus latzke

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