Brick Lane, Sunday 17 June

Hsu Chiui – Naif

What do Paris and Taiwan have in common? Refinement. The finest European fashion and the care of the oldest Oriental tradition.

Hsu Chiui was educated at the ENSAD in Paris, after a degree in Fine Arts in her native country. Her art is a melange of these two experiences.

She doesn’t waste material. She uses small pieces techniques on big pieces of cloth and she adapts the cutting to the matter. As a result her line is cutting edge but also backed up by history.

The technique is the traditional indigo dyeing, developing a peculiar shade of blue. The design are the mountains in central Taiwan. Hsu Chiui uses this skill in her garments and in the huge waves designs.

Indigo was once really precious because the blue colour was otherwise difficult to reproduce. Today it can be synthetic, but Hsu Chiui uses only natural indigo that comes from plants grown in certain farms in Taiwan.

What do Paris and Taiwan have in common? Feeling. The romantic allure of Paris in the rain and the Oriental thought that starts from the heart. How do you feel? Hsu Chiui starts her inventive process from an emotion, she explores it and then synthetize it into her art. Because her creations are a melange of Paris and Taiwan, but also of fashion and art.

Hsu Chiui is a designer for her brand Naif and also a painter.

Hsu Chiui with Jerry Yen (CampoBag)

Hsu Chiui and the other Taiwanese artists will showcase the product of their London creative experience in a pop up catwalk on Sunday 24 June in Brixton.

Irma Pellegrini

“I was in Brixton park, thinking ‘How am I gonna pay my rent?’ when I saw the leaves falling down from the trees and the people holding their umbrellas.”

Recycled materials and natural colours in a design that is always different. The eternal renewal of seasons and the feeling of  being just like a leaf in the wind. People caught in their daily London life, who through the magic of art are unified with pieces of nature found elsewhere.

“This comes from Spain.

This comes from Vienna.

This falls down only at the beginning of autumn.

This is very special. It comes from a fig tree I used to play with when I was a child. My family had to sell the house and the new owners wanted to cut the tree and I kept a piece.”

This is Irma Pellegrini. Memories of her native Argentine infuse intensity into her work. The warm colours of autumn and of South American sunsets, the pathos of leaving your land and the strength of floating in the English rain.

“In London if you have an idea you can do it.”

Irma Pellegrini at Sunday UpMarket, Brick Lane

More wood carvings at the Sunday UpMarket in Brick Lane and irmapellegrini.com