Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sruli Recht





























SRULI RECHT is an Israeli born Australian citizen currently based in Reykjavik.  He studied Fashion Design at RMIT University in Melbourne (the very same course I'll be doing next year) and his work is difficult to define in the sense that it spans Fashion design, custom-tailoring, Illustration and Industrial Design.  Recht began commercial production of his work as early as 1998, working primarily in Fashion in his studio in Collingwood in Melbourne. His work was mainly centred around custom made-to-measure pieces; however, during this period he began to span out into industrial design also, including his controversial "Umbuster" - an umbrella that also doubled as a knuckle duster. At the end of 2001 Sruli Recht formed ST Collaborate - a custom tailored futurist clothing label, with Timothy Trop - which, over a period of 3 years showed small collections and highly experimental show pieces including a sheepskin coat that fastened together with combination locks, shirts with magnetic buttons and a leather corrective neck-brace with automotive hydraulic piston.
In 2005 Recht left Australia to London England where he worked over 3 seasons with Alexander McQueen in his Amwell St studios, cutting patterns and constructing catwalk showpieces. Following this period Sruli Recht relocated to Reykjavik Iceland.
Now based in Reykjavik his work continues along lines of blurred relationships between various schools of Design - fashion/industrial etc. and whose byproducts have a darker ironic and aggressive subtext relating to social dis/function and sustainability. Examples of this include the production of a full-sized Polar Bear skin fashioned out of 15 Icelandic sheepskins, a buckle-less belt eliminating the need to remove it at airport security or a limited-edition run of bulletproof Handkerchiefs made of Kevlar—all thinly veiled social commentaries and primarily focused on design and concept rather than mass production and broad commercial appeal.

(And yes, I also dislike the neon gloves, but whatever).

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