nd on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to A rest on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:4 This catalogue is published in conjunction with kaddem, Tusho Barseghyan, Damian Hovhan- the exhibition ‘‘Offsprings of Noah’’, on view at nisyan, Vahan Stepanyan, Laurent Lavergne, the Aram Khachatryan house-museum, Yerevan, Gagik Petrosyan, Arnos Martirosyan, Karen June 1-4, 2018 organized by the Fashion & De- Petrosyan, Andre Wolff, Adam Katz Sinding, sign Chamber in the framework of Fashion Fo- Gioconda & August, Dima Honcharov. rum Yerevan 2018. Pages 8, 9 photos by Lusine Ayanian Page 10 photo by Anna Mkrtchyan The exhibition was made possible by the “Sup- Page 11 photos by Anna Mkrtchyan port to SME development in Armenia” (EU-SME- Cover art: Detail from a jeweled, enameled, and DA) under EU4Business initiative of the Euro- gilt-silver repoussé cover for a gospel produced pean Union. in the late seventeenth-century silversmith workshop of Kayseri by Astuatsatur Shahamir. ©Met Museum Inner cover: “Descent of Noah from Ararat” 1889 - Ivan Ayvazovski. ©National Gallery of Armenia Design: Ani Manukyan Catalogue photography by Armen Aghayan. Index texts: Victoria Pisarenko Other photographers: Maxim Getman, Gagik Printed by Harutyunyan, Lusine Griogoryan, Tarek Mou- offsprings of noah FROM OUR PARTNER “Support to SME Development in Armenia (EU-SMEDA)’’ project is co-funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and imple- mented by German Development Cooperation GIZ through the Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme. SMEDA is part of the EU4Business and EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the FDC and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. 5 VAHAN KHACHATRYAN President of Fashion & Design Chamber Armenians always look for the “yan/ian” ending in lastnames, be it in movie titles, books or maga- zines to discover fellow Armenians they can be proud of. It must be a characteristic of a small nation spread around the world, trying to keep its identity and not to blend-in and disappear. There are many talented Armenians working in the fashion world, with or without the “yan/ian” ending in their names, that have contributed to the fashion culture with their brilliant careers, like Patricia Field (designer and stylist of the popular TV series “Sex and the City”, “Ugly Betty”, the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”, etc.), Véronique Nichanian (art director at Hermès Men since 1988), Francis Kurkdjian (perfumer, creator of such bestsellers as Jean-Paul Gaultier “Le Mâle”, Narziso Rodrigues “For Him” and “For Her”, Guerlain “Bois d’Armenie”, Christian Dior “Eau Noire”, etc.), Yousuf Karsh (photog- rapher, author of portraits of Marylin Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and many others), to name a few. And yet, you will hardy hear of Armenia as a fashion destination itself. It is far from the fashion capitals of the world, has had a hard time after the collapse of the Soviet Union going though wars, poverty, corruption, blockades, revolutions and finally has been reborn only recently as a truly democratic country with a bright new generation taking over the wheel. If someone told me two years ago that there is going to be an exhibition dedicated to Armenian fash- ion designers at that time I would probably think it was something impossible. The fashion scene was almost invisible with only a few individual designers under the spotlight. After long months of preparatory work of a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers, people who believed in the project and supported it, today we have an exhibition that unites more than 50 designers, all of Armenian decent based in different parts of the world, just like the children of Noah that spread around the world after the arc landed on Mount Ararat. This is where the name for the exhibition comes from - “Offsprings of Noah”. This is the first attempt to showcase the creations of so many talented people under one roof, who represent the fashion creativity of Armenia. There are internationally renowned names like Krikor Jabotian, Alexander Arutyunov and Vahan Khachatryan as well as many locally successful design- ers. And of course we couldn’t forget about the emerging talents, that is why we have included the works of TUMO Studios students and other university graduates in the exhibition. Hosted in the beautiful spaces of the Aram Khachaturian house-museum In Yerevan, the exhibition has a logical line starting with the traditional costume (Taraz) inspired clothing looking into our past followed by more avant-garde and innovative pieces further followed by dresses inspired by differ- ent cultures from around the world. The culmination of the exhibition is the hall of white evening gowns symbolizing the dove of peace, purity and a bright future for Armenian fashion. offsprings of noah Lucine Ayanian Curator and stylist That was an amazing experience to collect and showcase the best fashion pieces by Armenian designers worldwide. For the first time, emerging designers as well as well-known brands were presented to Yerevan audience in a very curated exhibition at a beautiful venue hall of “House-Mu- seum of Aram Khachaturian”. I’m extremely happy to know that this event caused a big interest, and many designers sent their portfolios and works to be featured in the showcase. From the very beginning, we set a high standard level, and picked those pieces where the quality and design met our requirements. I’m sure this will motivate others to put all their effort to work on quality and design, rather on a quantity. I’m thankful to our team of true professionals, who’s been passionate and devoted to bring Arme- nian fashion to the high level. Elen Manukyan Co-founder of Fashion and Design Chamber The first fashion exhibition of emerging and well-known Armenian designers was presented at the House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian in the center of Yerevan. It featured over 90 pieces, exclu- sively crafted by contemporary designers. It was a fantastic opportunity to discover the atmosphere of the Armenian fashion scene. With the distinctive mission of presenting each designer’s signa- ture, the exhibition gave its exclusive vision of the Armenian fashion creativity. During the whole organizational process our team believed, that dedication and passion would lead to success. I am very happy to be a part of this great initiative and hope that this is just the beginning of the journey towards global recognition. Let’s help boost Armenian fashion together! 7 Fashion and Design Chamber Non-governmental organization The Fashion and Design Chamber is a non-profit making association founded in 2017 (Armenia, Yerevan) by a group of Armenian designers with the main goal to contribute to the development of the fashion and design sectors in Armenia. It’s a coordinator between Armenian designers, fashion companies, foreign buyers, international markets and platforms for designers. The missions of the chamber are: To provide the members with a range of services that relate to legal, social, economic, technological, marketing and communication issues which are more generally relevant to the entire spectrum of business functions as a whole. To accompany the development of emerging brands by granting them financial and organizational support as well as overall expertise they need to structure and ease their development and expo- sure. To train in traditional and new skills in the fields of creation, management and know-how aiming to maintain, share, enhance their skills and knowledge. To promote Armenian fashion culture by combining traditional know how and contemporary tech- nology. To build a bridge between designers, artists, photographers, fashion and art experts, journalists, fashion and art personalities from around the world. To organize fashion events, exhibitions, fairs, pop-up stores, showrooms, presentations, etc. The chamber serves as a perfect root for designers to collaborate on different projects, provides an excellent opportunity to exhibit designers, their interpretation of Armenian culture and creativity, and to network with the wider creative community and beyond. We see this platform exposure as a great first step to not only create strong networks but also to encourage the formation of a strong cluster of Armenian creative sector that carries their work internationally. With a selection of highly dedicated and inspiring founders’ team the chamber shares a glimpse at the creative potential of Armenia and looks forward into a bright and colourful creative future. From January 2018 Fashion and Design Chamber NGO and Business Club for Impact NGO have started the “Business Club for Fashion and Design” project implemented in the framework of EU- 4Business “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project and co-funded by the Euro- pean Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) by GIZ’s Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme. The main objective of the project is to create a joint platform for creative industry, specifically fashion and design cluster in order to contribute to the development and enhance competitiveness of the sector. offsprings of noah H.E. Mr. Piotr Antoni switalski Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Armenia The Fashion & Design Chamber of Armenia (FDC) was founded in February 2018 with initial sup- port from SMEDA - a project co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development - on strengthening small and medium sized enterpris- es in Armenia. And FDC truly left its mark, becoming one of SMEDA’s most dynamic, most inspir- ing and most dedicated partners in the realm of the Cultural & Creative Industries (CCI) in Armenia.