Salon/2 presents: Pauline van Dongen - Kinetic Landscapes S/S 2012 - Galerie Diana Stigter

"This collection tells about the forces of water and air and the abstraction I find in nature’s eroded appearance. I tried to capture the effect of wind and water on our surroundings. The visible result of wear, resulting in lines and undulations of the earth's surface. It is about the unremarkable changes in nature which only after decades becomes visible".

"I find it very interesting how our surroundings are changing shape under influence of processes like erosion. The extraordinary shapes that nature creates by itself: Desert winds sculpt smooth and gentle swirls out of rocks and sandstone hills. It’s Impressive what kind of patterns and protruding surfaces are created by the forces of nature. Undulations, holes, waves, curves..."

"The gesture of movement you find in rigid and massive rock formations is astonishing. For instance 'The Wave' in Arizona, a small ravine between eroded sandstone domes, is formed of amazingly beautiful rocks containing thin, swirling strata. I translated these wavy patterns into my designs. The orange copper-like glow of 'The Wave' can also be found in the color palette, along with a bright blue and stony shades of gray between the bright white and deep black.

The reflection and the flowing nature of water is represented in the use of a reflective fabric and supple leather that is stitched into a sculptural pleating. This collection comes from a play with fluid form language in combination with abstract constructed shapes, offering an aesthetic of graphic lines and undulations with striking materials around the body." - Pauline van Dongen, 2011

Shoe design: Anna Korshun for Pauline van Dongen

About Pauline van Dongen:

In 2008 Pauline graduated with a BA in Fashion Design from the renowned Artez, Academy of the Arts in Arnhem, the Netherlands. It was there that she first developed an interest in developing her designs by draping fabrics directly on a mannequin. This is how she could translate her conceptual approach into a visual aesthetic around the body.
During her Master Program at the Fashion Institute Arnhem she was offered a shoe design course. Here she discovered a love for product design and also further developed her personal signature that has been described as “organic science”. Working with unconventional or new materials triggers her to explore and research the processing and finishing in a garment and allows her to work like a researcher. 

Her fascination for the relation between human and their surroundings is something that keeps feeding her inspiration. By working with sculptural shapes, forms like capsules floating around the body, she examines the space between the garment and the body and tries to emphasize that void in her designs. This has not always been a point of focus within fashion. In that sense she wants to present a unique proposal, since her designs don't refer to the classic Western tradition, whereby clothing casts the body in a certain form. Pauline prefers the idea that the body is what gives the clothes a certain volume.

Pauline’s work focuses on the surface, she uses fabric as a starting point.Tactility, texture and no-frills modernity are the essence of her work. As she continues to explore the use of unconventional materials and new ways of construction she wants to create “a proposal for the future”.

www.paulinevandongen.com