While haute couture has, in recent years, moved toward displaying the textural qualities of embellishment through abstraction, Maison des Perles brooches, pins and necklaces are largely representational. Founding artist Môko Kobayashi uses classical haute couture embroidery techniques to create playful accessories that shimmer and enchant. Kobayashi approaches her subjects with a penetrating attention to detail. Each bead is reminiscent of a pixel; every one critical …
Farmers till the fields in Ethiopia, harvesting artillery shells and re-purposing the casings left from the African nation’s civil war. Such is the inspiration for Entoto Beth Artisans, a fair-trade business helping transform destruction into beauty. Named for the Entoto Mountains set in central Ethiopia, a holy site that has attracted a community of HIV positive individuals in search of healing, Entoto Beth Artisans aims …
Whether performing at the annual invocation of Edward Gorey on Halloween, creating a ’60s spy film (complete with a femme fatale) or working with the Japan Society to evoke the otherworldly quality of primal futurism by light sculptor Mariko Mori, NYC collective Dances of Vice boldly conjures new dimensions for social occasions. The interpretive group has garnered widespread respect for bringing New York’s nightlife entertainment …
