Kenzo Takada Unveils Lifestyle Brand - Yahoo Lifestyle

Kenzo Takada Unveils Lifestyle Brand - Yahoo Lifestyle

Kenzo Takada Unveils Lifestyle Brand - Yahoo Lifestyle

Posted: 10 Jan 2020 08:16 AM PST

View photos

PARIS — France is being hit by massive transportation strikes to protest the government's planned pension reforms, but Kenzo Takada shows no sign of retiring.

"I'm nearly 81 years old and I'm still working," laughed the designer, speaking from his headquarters on the Parisian Left Bank. "I'm surprising myself."

More from WWD

Takada is launching K3, a luxury homeware and lifestyle brand that will debut on Jan. 17 both at a new K3 showroom located on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and at Parisian design trade show Maison et Objet. The K3 collections will drop yearly and be distributed worldwide.

The designer, who left his namesake fashion brand in 1999, already had a number of lifestyle collaborations under his belt, but this is the first time he is launching a dedicated company — nearly 50 years after founding fashion brand Jungle Jap, which later became known as Kenzo.

"I stopped working too early: I left Kenzo at 60," Takada said. "I then realized I missed working, so I'm getting back into it."

Takada has always been known for his interior design skills. His former Parisian home mimicked a Japanese traditional house, complete with a Japanese garden and an indoor pool, tucked away in the Bastille area. His current headquarters are filled with artworks, fish tanks, red lacquer coffee tables and ceramic vases; his new lodgings, located two floors above his office, have a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower.

The designer's new project has more than 300 references: K3 features furniture (including three beds), ceramics, rugs, objects, linen and textiles, and was created with a number of different manufacturing partners located in Italy, France and the U.S., including Italian textile company Sferra for bed linen. Overall, 250 different people helped bring K3 to life.

While its name references the three main collaborators behind the project — Takada teamed with Jonathan Bouchet Manheim as managing partner and Engelbert Honorat as creative assistant — the K3 logo is an illustration of the project's cross-cultural ambition, bringing together Japanese and Western influences: the "3" in the name is written in Japanese kanji.

Nods to Takada's Japanese heritage are dotted throughout the collection. The designer imagined three partition screens decorated with printed kimonos in the three themes of the K3 line: Sakura, inspired by nature with intricate floral prints; Maiko, which is bolder and references the red-and-white makeup worn by geishas, and Shogun, a graphic black-and-ivory theme.

Ceramics play on the technique of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer filling in the cracks. "I already knew the technique, but I had only seen it in old palaces in Japan," said Takada, who, despite his many friends taking up ceramics, has only tried his hand at the pottery wheel once. "Working with Engelbert, I realized that it was really interesting graphically speaking."

The textiles of the collection are particularly lovely: printed sheets feature either a loud magenta flower pattern or a subtle white jacquard tone-on-tone motif, while furnishing fabrics are decorated with edgy black-and-silver ikat prints.

The trio is working on the opening of a showroom in Milan during the Salone del Mobile, which could be followed by presentations in New York, London and Asia.

While the designer might add homeware to his range of products, he has no plans to go back to ready-to-wear. "I like how much more free you are when designing lifestyle, not like ready-to-wear where everything is seasonal," he said.

Best of WWD

Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

View photos

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:00 AM PDT With exacting precision, the surgeon inserted the scalpel above the eyeball and cut out a snotty deposit of fatty tissue. The routine eye-lift was nearly complete when suddenly the patient awoke, suffocating, and began to flop about on the table. The audience gasped. Knowing time was of the essence, the surgeon scooped up the patient in his arms, raced across the stage, and dropped her into a tank of water. She revived. Because she was a fish. Yes, fish eye-lifts exist. As do fin jobs and tail tucks. The operating theater was a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, where a pet expo was under way. As for the patient, she survived, her formerly droopy eyes now bright and perky. A good thing, too, as this was no ordinary goldfish but rather an Asian arowana, the world's most expensive aquarium denizen, rumored to sell for as mu
Read more

NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire

Image
NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire Posted: 11 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PST ALBANY, Ore. , March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NilocG launches a new website for planted tank enthusiasts to gather and make THRIVE, a plant fertilizer that assures planted tank aquascapes flourish while eliminating the need for multiple products more readily available online. The company also takes it a step further in the industry, making its flagship product easy to dose, super-concentrated, and an all-in-one solution based on an effective EL dosing method with all essential micro and macronutrients. Continue Reading Thrive fertilizer: North America's most trusted aquarium plant fertilizer Colin Grice , CEO, a self-described planted tank lover, re
Read more

Catching Dory: selling aquarium fish supports coastal livelihoods in Indonesia | npj Ocean Sustainability - Nature.com

Image
Abstract The global marine aquarium trade has created new local markets across the planet, including in Indonesia, now the second-largest exporting country of marine aquarium fish in the world. Participating in the global aquarium trade has been touted as a potentially sustainable addition to fisher livelihoods, but scant data exist showing the numbers of fish coming off the reef and how those fish contribute to income. To determine how participants in the trade incorporate aquarium species in their livelihoods, we examine source-level aquarium fish collecting and trading data in the Banggai Archipelago, a region in Central Sulawesi that has become a significant source for popular aquarium, also known as ornamental, fish species. Using a sustainable livelihoods lens, we examine this data to understand how participants in the aquarium trade both contribute to as well as benefit from the trade and consider how their participation relates to emerging Blue Justice principles. From one year
Read more