ffiXXed is a collaborative art and design project initiated by Australian artist/designers Kain Picken and Fiona Lau in Berlin, February 2008. Beside making fashion collection, Fiona and Kain are very active in art exhibition world-wide. Today, we are glad to invite this sweet couple to share the experience with us :)
Where did the name ffiXXed come from?
We didn’t really think about it that much to be honest. Someone mentioned to us that it was related to the idea of not having a ‘fixed’ location for our project, which we like. There is also with the shift in the spelling a kind of reference to ideas or meaning not being so fixed.
ffiXXed was founded in Berlin 2008, what made you start doing your own brand?
We wanted to make our collaboration a more intergraded part of our life, and to be able to make a living from doing what we wanted to do. Making a brand is one way to try and do this. We were already making some collaborative pieces and giving it a name really helped to solidify the project. And this was our first step to making a brand.
Can you share the process of making a collection with us?
It’s kind of quite fragmented, we always work on a lot of different things at once and they all inform one another in various ways. It’s not until there’s the reality of a deadline that we begin to pull it together as a collection. The ideas usually emerge from our day –to-day lives. Often ideas from other projects form the basis of the collection, and equally often they just come from nowhere Butin terms of designing actual clothing we usually go back an forth with ideas,reworking each others input and samples. At least this is when the process is at it’s most coherent!
What is the most enjoyable moments of designing the collections?
The energy and momentum that builds right before we have to finish sampling.There’s a lot of pressure and everything’s happening at full speed. This is when we really start developing new idea’s and reworking everything last minute.
And the most difficult?
This is also the most difficult time, for everyone!
What do you want people to feel when they are wearing ffiXXed?
Comfortable in whatever they’re doing.
Where is your inspiration or research come from?
We just follow our interests in certain things and this flows on through what we do. A lot of the time people, ideas, objects, or situations come along totally unexpected and change everything we’re thinking.
What will you do when you are running out of ideas?
Cooking.
Will you use computer in your creative process? Or you love to keep things in paper?
We use a combination of both. We often make collages on the computer but use paper for quick drawings and notes. We always make these random lists and have pages and pages of notes floating around the studio.
We know that you have Fashionary, which part of it do you love the most?
The size charts for different countries, and the body templates. Neither of us are any good at fashion illustration, so it definitely helps us to quickly draw up some sketches.
What sketching tools you like to use when you sketch your outfits?
We just use whatever is immediately available to us.
Do you think Shenzhen/China is a good place for fashion business? Any advantages?
There are unique and exciting possibilities for new spaces and ideas in China right now, and for sure the access to industry is an advantage especially for fashion.
Any advice for the people who are working like you?
Don’t listen too much to other peoples advice.
