SOLO FOCUS – GLOBAL VISION PIER 90 V O LTA 2019 NEW MARCH 6 – 10 office VOLTASHOW.COM #VOLTANEWYORK2019 YORK Gary Aspden Tauba Auerbach David Casavant Dan Colen BASEL’S ART FAIR FOR Karin Gustafsson NEW INTERNATIONAL POSITIONS ELSÄSSERSTR. 215 Shaniqwa Jarvis Jordan Kahn Eli Russell Linnetz Kubo Alexis Sablone Patricia Urquiola Christian Wassmann Toro y Moi Phillip Wong V O LTA Sara Ziff JUNE 10 – 15 2019 35 VOLTASHOW.COM BASEL #VOLTABASEL2019 OFFICE PEOPLE Gary Aspden Consultant at adidas Gary was raised on adidas, wearing the trainers as a kid and witnessing the label’s impact on the football and dance club cultures that dominated his home turf of Northern England. So it was a natural fit when he went to work for them in the ‘90s, first managing relationships with high-profile figures in entertainment, then shifting into collabs, experiences, and other campaigns. But when he established adidas Spezial in 2013, Aspden truly wrote himself into the company canon. The collection, a seasonal capsule based on styles from the adidas archives and Gary’s own extensive stockpile, quickly became a fan favorite, reliably dropping unique pieces that link the brand’s future with its storied past. What is your ideal office? Who is the person you’ve been proudest to see I spent nearly a year as a teenager in the dole office signing wear one of your designs? on, so anything beyond that is a bonus. Probably my son, but I am always proud and pleased when I see people that are into it and get what we are doing with What shoe best represents your youth, and why? Spezial. I went to see New Order in London last night and It would have to be an adidas trainer. I had quite a few pairs Bernard Sumner was on stage in the Wilsy SPZL from this as a youth so it’s tough to choose... Probably something season’s collection, which made me very happy as I am a fan from the first ZX running series. of their music. I also buzz when I see random people at the football or in the audience at a gig in it. I like the fact that What has been an unexpected source of inspiration people actually engage with the products and wear Spezial for you? out and about—unlike hype products, most buy to wear Germany. rather than to stare. Steve Jones often wears it, he is a Sex Pistol and a true When’s the last time you were truly afraid? punk rocker so it doesn’t get much better than that. No About four years ago, in the thick of my divorce after ten Sex Pistols, no Joy Division...no Joy Division, no Factory years of marriage. Wouldn’t fancy doing that again. Records...no Factory Records, no Hacienda, and without those things my life might have taken a different course. What is your most prized possession? Thanks Steve. As I get older it’s got to be my health. In my early twenties you could have probably thrown me head first down three What is your weapon of choice? flights of stairs after downing a bottle of vodka straight and Either the ‘block user’ option or a bat. I’d be up bright and breezy the next day. Nowadays it’s like if I stub my toe I need ten sessions of physiotherapy and What is a favorite fabric or material of yours at the trauma counseling. moment? Ventile is always good. Can you tell us about the last dream you had? It was a good one—I spent most of it laughing at a joke, Do you believe in ghosts? repeatedly. Wish I could remember what that joke was. Doesn’t everybody? Hair Tyler Johnston Hair Tyler What is your favorite building in London? What is the best advice you’ve ever received? Don’t have one, but the Natural History Museum is a You either trust it will be OK or you don’t, and if you don’t beauty and holds good memories for me. and start acting on that fear then your life will become more and more difficult to manage. The other good one What track would you ask to be played at your was that the fashion industry is 5% people with talent and funeral? 95% people that want to go to parties. Either “F.E.A.R.” by Ian Brown or “Lean On Me” by Bill Photography Lars Brønseth Withers. In fact, they could play both. It’s my funeral so I’ll Trefoil, or three stripes? have it how I like. Both...although if I had to choose one it would be the trefoil. Best brand mark ever for me. Where do you go to clear your head? Darwen Moors, Lancashire. 36 37 OFFICE PEOPLE Tauba Auerbach Artist Western society has long drawn a line between the fields of art and science, segregating the left- brained analysts from the impassioned creatives. Tauba dissolves that line, studying the technical and knowledge-based systems of art and embracing the expressive beauty of science, ultimately merging the two into a unified practice. The San Francisco-born artist’s work is graphically arresting, spans disciplines, and often spills beyond the gallery walls, as when she painted a fireboat in “dazzle camouflage,” or codesigned a pump action organ playable only by two people in tandem. Whatever the medium, Auerbach’s work never fails to embody her personal view on the purpose of artmaking—“to expand your mind, even in some tiny way.” What is your ideal office? I’ve been on a scooter a lot recently, so it’s not so surprising A boat on calm water. that it was the direct aftermath of a scooter accident—I was laying on the ground paralyzed trying to figure out What is the magic word? how to blink a code to communicate that I didn’t want my Again. body moved by people who were trying to help me. What is your spirit vegetable? What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? Seaweed. Where do I start? I have a few. R, Q, E, B, A are probably the top five. I dislike L, G and D very much. My favorites Who has been an unexpected source of inspiration can all get away with being very expressive and remain for you? recognizable. You can really distort an R or a Q and still Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau. This gentleman made a have it read as an R or a Q, but if you squish or pull a D it pivotal video of living tissue being manipulated during quickly isn’t a D. It is also one of the letters I think always surgeries. You can see the connective fibers and the gel-y looks ugly in my handwriting...the printing at least. An beads of liquid in between everything. uppercase cursive D can be nice... If your house were on fire, what one item would What is the most meaningful item in your you save? wardrobe? Definitely a giant folder of mail that I’ve saved over the years. Probably a very faded red jacket I have worn for years that has a few things made by friends pinned to it. What grosses you out?? Mold, infected sores, ASMR sounds that other people seem What is your favorite sound generated by the to really like. human body? The noise of a little air bubble being squeezed out from What technology excites you the most? underneath an eyelid. New scanning and imaging technologies, like fMRI. How might you like to be reincarnated? What is the last piece of music that affected you Definitely as something that can fly. Probably an insect. Photography Jesper D. Lund emotionally? I’d have interesting vision, and when you’re that small, It’s JUST happened to me listening to a song by Trio Da you’re very strong in comparison to your own weight and Kali and Kronos Quartet. that would be cool. You could jump really far, or possibly walk on water. I think flying around and then landing an a Can you describe the last dream you had? humungous leaf or flower sounds highly pleasurable. 38 39 OFFICE PEOPLE David Casavant Stylist and Archivist When celebrities and stylists want vintage Raf Simons, they don’t go to the designer—they ask David Casavant. The young New York-based stylist has already amassed one of the most extensive fashion archives in the industry, an assortment even Simons himself is jealous of. “Clothes can hold so many more memories and emotions than other things,” Casavant says. “You can’t walk around wearing a photo album.” But you can certainly walk around in memorable pieces from Raf, Helmut Lang, and the other vaunted labels that make up David’s collection, now memorialized in his first book, David Casavant Archive. Having lent his pieces to everyone from Pharrell to Paul McCartney, Casavant is more than just a stylist—he’s a fahsion historian, and gatekeeper to the one of the most precious vaults in the business. What is your ideal office? At home. The one I have now. What are you afraid of? What was the first significant piece of clothing Fear itself. you remember buying for yourself? Something Raf Simons I think. A sweatshirt. How do you heal a broken heart? Oprah SuperSoul Sunday. What is the last thing that made you cry? Planet Earth. Who have you been most proud to see wear a piece from your archive? What is your favorite part of the body? Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys in Craig Green and Raf.