Sandra‘s Closet

The Artycapucines Collection sees six leading contemporary artists bring their unique visions to Louis Vuitton’s timeless and feminine classic: the Capucines bag.

This fourth chapter of the collection is further proof of how the iconic bag can inspire unbridled creativity. Six international artists – Amélie Bertrand, Daniel Buren, Peter Marino, Park Seo-Bo, Ugo Rondinone, and Kennedy Yanko – have transformed the blank canvas of the bag named after Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, the Parisian street on which Louis Vuitton opened his first store in 1854.

Each bag in the 2022 Artycapucines Collection will be released in a limited edition of 200 and available in Louis Vuitton stores worldwide.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
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On November 9 and 10, 2022 Prada will present the eighth iteration of Prada Mode in Dubai featuring an installation by artist Damien Hirst. A traveling social club with a focus on contemporary culture, Prada Mode provides members with a unique art experience along with music, dining, and conversations.

In Dubai, Prada Mode will feature a new edition of Pharmacy by Damien Hirst, following the iteration presented at Prada Mode Moscow in 2021. Hirst created the Pharmacy restaurant in Notting Hill, London in 1998, six years after the inaugural installation of the same name at the Cohen Gallery New York. Pharmacy was conceived as a fully functioning restaurant and bar in an installation of Hirst’s floor- to-ceiling medicine cabinets, and specially made butterfly paintings. Hirst designed furniture, architectural details such as a huge molecular model in its window, light boxes, and a wallpaper design taken from a catalogue of prescription medicine. It is fitting for this to be made especially for Prada Mode: the artist’s long-time friend Miuccia Prada designed the staff uniforms for the original restaurant.

«I’m thrilled and honoured to be invited by Miuccia Prada to recreate Pharmacy for Prada Mode in Dubai after our successful collaboration in Moscow,» said the Damien Hirst. «I’m working really hard with a complicated but beautiful space, ICD Brookfield Place, to create harmony between the inside and outside of the new building. Once again, Prada have found a space that will provide the perfect place for it.
I’m so excited to be doing this! I’ve always thought great restaurants can be seen as art, and art without the evidence as we always remember great meals on great evenings with great people in great places and in this way Pharmacy is definitely a kinetic artwork, that works best filled with people and art existing and living and breathing and eating and drinking and enjoying themselves as one.»

For Prada Mode Dubai, Damien Hirst will transform a dedicated space at the landmark ICD Brookfield Place, the newest landmark building in Dubai designed by Foster + Partners. The building has become a lifestyle and business destination and home to some of the world’s leading corporations and an array of high-end restaurants and bars, representing the development of a cultural epicentre in the heart of Dubai International Financial Centre district (DIFC).
On November 9 and 10, early access to the club will be available for members to participate in morning and afternoon panels and discussions as well as nightly events, sampling specialty cocktails and dining throughout.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: ©Prada
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dubai and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Abu Dhabi, are inspiring greatness at its best by collaborating with the Dubai-based world-renowned contemporary British artist Sacha Jafri for the inception of ‘The Six Elements’ Phantom.

Jafri is known for creating the world’s largest painting on canvas, Journey of Humanity (see above) over seven months during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dubai. With his work having been shown in the most prominent Art Institutions across the globe. The Dubai-based artist is described as ‘The Pioneer of Magical Realism’ and this century’s true zeitgeist, bringing painting with raw emotion back to the forefront of the art world. Sacha’s work acts as an electric shock to the senses, reminding us of the magic in the mundane and awakening the child within us all. His recent paintings celebrate the life’s achievements of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, President Barack Obama, HE Nelson Mandela, David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson. Sacha Jafri is widely regarded as one of the world’s most celebrated living artists and has raised more than $140 million for charities across the world from the sale of his art.

Coming back to this beautiful collaboration. These six one-of-one Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II motor cars will each feature a unique, painted Sacha Jafri Gallery, inspired by the one of the five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Air, with Humanity as the ‘sixth element’. The project has the expressed aim of raising $1 million for charity, with associations to be announced later this year. The chosen beneficiaries will be Humanity-centric, spanning three sectors: Education, Health, and Sustainability.

Selected for his inimitable vision, style and use of colours, Jafri is crafting a unique Gallery for each Phantom Series II, themed around the Six Elements. The principle of adding Humanity as an element builds on the ethos of the British artist’s works around the five traditional elements. The underlying message is the need to reintroduce a sense of humanity to the world and to find balance within ourselves.

For Sacha Jafri, each of the elements evokes different emotions, spirit, energy and purpose. Fire represents passion and belief. Fire is balanced by earth, which represents grounding and roots. Air is the essence of life, enabling us to breathe. Wind enhances our feelings of freedom, whilst Water, supports our lyricism and fluidity. Humanity brings love, embrace, and the linking of souls.

«The six Rolls-Royce Phantoms will embody the emotion of each elemental force. The artistic journey begins and ends with emotion and intention, fuelling my inspiration to create the colour palette of the ‘Six Elements’. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Air are enhanced by the addition of a ‘new element’, Humanity – the very essence of life itself.
Rolls-Royce is a brand of intention, excellence, power, detail and passion – a brand that has been on a similar journey to my own. It has set new levels of achievement, with pioneering accolades yet to be surpassed. By embracing empathy, we are able to reconnect the spirit of our world, in connection with our Elements and the souls of not only the individual, but of the very idea of universal consciousness.
We are embarking on a journey that aims to continuously fulfil those values, keeping our intentions pure and driven, eternally. This commission is indicative of these principles, not only incorporating art for the sake of aesthetic inspiration, but also a nurturing of the soul, an uplifting of the spirit, and the embodiment of a true charitable cause.»
Sacha Jafri, Artist

The Rolls-Royce Phantom ‘The Six Elements’ motor cars will also feature a unique digital element. The marque is simultaneously launching «The Rolls-Royce That Keeps on Giving» NFT initiative, which includes six individual flythrough animations.

Each time any of the six NFTs are traded, a royalty of 20% will be donated to the chosen charity. The six distinct one-off NFTs are linked to each of the six Phantoms, however, owners can sell their NFT separately if they choose to do so. These NFTs will be uniquely embedded within the glove compartment of each Phantom Series II, enabling each of the six owners to view their NFT experience whilst sat within their car.

The eighth generation of Phantom was unveiled in 2017. When creating this new expression, Phantom Series II, Rolls-Royce designers and engineers were guided by the requests of clients, who implored Rolls-Royce not to make any major changes to an already iconic motor car. In answer to these client demands, only the lightest of design touches, embellishments, and adaptations have been incorporated. Indeed, Phantom Series II is not about what should be changed, but in fact, what should be preserved and protected.

Utterly unique to Phantom, the marque offers an extraordinary art-within-art canvas: The Gallery. Running the entire length of the fascia and conceptualised to house Bespoke creations with an uninterrupted glass enclosure. In this instance, these ‘Six Elements’ Phantom Series II motor cars were designed at the Home of Rolls-Royce around Jafri’s hand-painted galleries.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Rolls-Royce, © Sacha Jafri and via Humanity Inspired
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French fashion house BALMAIN has partnered with digital artist JEFF COLE to create THREE EXCLUSIVE NFTs inspired by the Balmain Unicorn sneakers.

Balmain S/S 2022

Only on MINTNFT can you make bids of these exclusive NFTs that include both physical and digital utility:

– One pair of Balmain Unicorn sneakers, signed by Creative Director Olivier Rousteing
– One original sketch of the Balmain Unicorn sneaker, signed by Balmain’s Head of Sneaker Design, Safa Sahin
– Two VIP access passes to the Balmain Festival V03 during Paris Fashion Week 2022, in September
– Balmain’s own NFT, the «Non-Fungible Thread», which creates additional utility (drops later during 2022)

Make your bids. Get your Unicorn.
Auction closing: Friday, June 24, 2022, at 12PM EST

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © MINTNFT
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Last week, while visiting the Salone di Mobile in Milan as guest of Louis Vuitton, I also took the opportunity to explore the newly opened MARNI flagship store at Via Montenapoleone 26. The new boutique, coinceived as multi-disciplinary creative hub, presents an unprecedented design concept, allowing for an immersive brand experience across three levels. To mark its opening, a site-specific installation by one of Iceland’s leading contemporary artist Shoplifter was presented and clients had the chance to delve into Marni’s imaginative world through ART JAM, a series of workshops and customizations courtesy of artists Shoplifter and The Aluminum Group.

I have been a huge fan of the work of Shoplifter / Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, who is living between New York and Reykjavik, and I was looking forward to meeting her in person. Working with both synthetic and natural hair, her sculptures, wall murals and site-specific installations explore themes of vanity, self-image, fashion, beauty and popular myth. For Shoplifter hair is the ultimate thread that grows from our body. Hair is an original, creative fiber, a way for people to distinguish themselves as individuals, and often an art form. Humor plays a large role in her life and work, sometimes subtly, but at other times taking over.

Shoplifter represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale in 2019 and her installation Chromo Sapiens opened at the Icelandic Pavilion in May 2019 in Venice, Italy. The installation later traveled to Iceland opening at the Reykjavik Art Museum in January 2020.

It was a true pleasure getting to know her during the art session at the MARNI boutique where she created a beautiful charm for me as a gift.

Below you can find many more photos of the really cool new flagship.

Phone: +39 02 76317327

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise. 

This year, for the 20th anniversary of Art in the Park at the Baur au Lac in Zurich, Hauser & Wirth presents five bronze sculptures by celebrated artist Camille Henrot, one of the most influential voices in contemporary art today. The outdoor installation of major bronze works is organized in partnership with the Baur au Lac and Gigi Kracht, curator, collector, writer and founder of the Art in the Park.

With Gigi Kracht 

Born in 1978 in Paris, France, Camille Henrot lives and works between Berlin and New York City. She is married and has two little sons that are 4 and 1 year old. The practice of the French artist moves seamlessly between film, painting, drawing, bronze, sculpture, and installation. Henrot draws upon references from literature, psychoanalysis, social media, cultural anthropology, self-help, and the banality of everyday life in order to question what it means to be both a private individual and a global subject.

With Camille Henrot during the lunch.

A 2013 fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute resulted in her film «Grosse Fatigue,» for which she was awarded the Silver Lion at the 55th Venice Biennale and that was also on show at the Gucci Museo in Florence in 2014. She elaborated ideas from «Grosse Fatigue» to conceive her acclaimed 2014 installation »The Pale Fox» at Chisenhale Gallery in London. The exhibit, which displayed the breadth of her diverse output, went on to travel to institutions including Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Copenhagen; Bétonsalon – Centre for art and research, Paris; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany; and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan. In 2017, Henrot was given carte blanche at Palais de Tokyo in Paris – a beloved location for fashion shoes – , where she presented the major exhibition »Days Are Dogs,» She is the recipient of the 2014 Nam June Paik Award and the 2015 Edvard Munch Award, and has participated in the Lyon, Berlin, Sydney and Liverpool Biennials, among others.

Next to «Mon Corps de Femme» (2019) displayed in the Baur au Lac gardens

Henrot has had numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including the New Museum, New York; Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin; New Orleans Museum of Art; Fondazione Memmo, Rome; Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan, among others.

«Undelivered Message» (2016)

In the Baur au Lac gardens, three sculptures from Henry’s Monday series (2016-2017) are on display, as well as the impressive «Mon Corps de Femme» sculpture (2019) from the Attachment series (2018-2022) that is a resembling a body caught between two opposite forces; the rising flames reminiscent of Flamboyant Gothic architecture and the meting, heaviness of a sagging belly.

«Retreat From Investment» (2025)

As every year, Gigi Kracht invited us to her wonderful Art in the Park luncheon in the two Michelin star Pavillon restaurant during which we could talk to the artist. Before the lunch, we had the chance to stroll through the wonderful gardens and preview the pieces beforehand.

With Kenny Schachter, artist, critic and curator based in New York City, at lunch.

The show can be enjoyed at the Baur au Lac garden until July 17, 2022.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Ten years after its global collaboration, Louis Vuitton launches chapter two of its partnership with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, hitting stores worldwide in January 2023.

Since the creation of Louis Vuitton in 1854, the Maison has nurtured strong ties with the art world, collaborating with a series of artists who have brought their unique vision to Louis Vuitton. These close relationships have produced often radical reworkings of the Maison’s most iconic creations, in the process rewriting the rules of creative collaborations between luxury brands and artists. Yayoi Kusama’s collaboration in 2012 (Part one in July 2012 –  Part two in October 2012) flourished through various universes of the Maison, from exhibitions, products and a series of unique window installations, which included a startingly life-like mannequin modelled after the artist herself.

Finale at the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023 show in San Diego and some detail shots:

Yayoi Kusama, born in March 1929, is an avant-garde artist whose perspective is expressed through myriad techniques from sculpture, painting, installation, filmmaking, photography, and happening, to writing in a variety of styles. She is regarded as a precursor to Pop and Minimal art, yet her diverse art practices resist any singular classification. Yayoi Kusama’s artworks originated from hallucinations such as where the red flower patterns on a dining table’s tablecloth started to spread across the walls, floor, and even across herself…She has been battling her inner fears and obsessions and pursuing the mysteries of life by depicting the hallucinations she has experienced since her childhood. Please click here for a post about her retrospective in Berlin last year.

Look 51 Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023

As a celebration of the Maison’s relationship with the artist and to mark the 10-year anniversary of the first collaboration, a handful of leather goods were premiered during Artistic Director of Women’s Collections Nicolas Ghesquière’s Cruise 2023 fashion show at the Salk Institute in San Diego. These exclusive bags feature a reinterpretation of the artist’s obsessive dots across Louis Vuitton signature shapes as well as on new models. A true first taste of a transversal collaboration that, come January 2023, will radiate through all Maison categories.

More information will be disclosed at a later date.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

A fresh talent reflecting new horizons and showcasing different perspectives. Prada collaborates with the artist Cassius Hirst – known as Cass – to imagine the Prada America’s Cup sneaker anew, through a customised capsule collection of four styles, in 22 variables.

«I was painting shoes, taking photos, and turning those photos into complex vinyl stencils that became abstract designs. I would mask off part of the body of the shoe, and then wrap the whole shoe in the stencil. It looked crazy. I sent a photo to my dad [Damien Hirst], and then he sent a photo of that to Miuccia [Prada]. And she said, «This looks amazing, let’s do something» The best part about this project – this collaboration – was how willing Prada are to invest their time, to be open to ideas, to challenges. And to really commit to something new.» said Cassius Hirst.

Cassius Hirst painted his first pair of sneakers when he was 14 – a gift for his father, the artist Damien Hirst. Growing up in a household where exposure to art was inevitable, sneakers became his canvas: sculptural objects whose topographies were reworked through hand spray-painting, no two pairs exactly alike. His work has garnered a cult following, purchased by the likes of A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Offset, Rihanna, AJ Tracey and the late Virgil Abloh.

«The Cass x Prada collection finds parallels between the bold work of this fresh talent and the heritage of Prada – the sense of the hand, an excellence in manufacture, a constant search for innovation, a restless urge to re-examine and reinvent our history. Here, the iconic silhouette of the Prada America’s Cup sneaker becomes a canvas for creation, offered in a special capsule. Something unique, something new.» said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Marketing Director and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility.

In a unique project with Prada Linea Rossa, Cassius collaborates to reinvent the America’s Cup sneaker across a full range of special pieces, reconfiguring its distinct surfaces to rework a 20th century design classic for a 21st century generation. The capsule is showcased in a still and motion- image campaign by Axel Morin – a surreal performance invading a pristine space, showcasing the Cass x Prada sneaker styles and custom-made, one-of-a-kind masks – each character simultaneously anonymous, yet unique. The soundtrack to the campaign film features music specially created by Cass.

The four Cass x Prada sneaker styles draw their names from the world of music, reflective of the interests of Cassius and the passions of his fans. ATT4CK, D3CAY, SUST4IN, REL3ASE are all named after the ‘envelope‘ or life of a sound, the stages of its evolution, reflecting this new evolution of the America’s Cup sneaker. The title of each style suggests their look and feel: the hard-edged, molded spikes of ATT4CK, sprayed with neon; the distressed leather of D3CAY, stripped and intentionally faded; the solid brights of SUST4IN, with overpainted white relief details; and the neon- spray finish of REL3ASE.

All styles are hand-worked in Italy by Prada in a meshing of traditional craft and cutting-edge imagination – wholly unique, no two pairs exactly alike, with signature labels each with a distinct CASS signature. Each pair is sold in a co-branded Prada box, featuring the logo of Cassius Hirst – a scan of his brain.

«The brain scan represents hope and knowledge in a world of shadows and uncertainty. The brain is where the thoughts happen – for me it all became about creativity and the creative process. I’ve learned that sometimes we have to look inside ourselves to see what’s really going on. We shouldn’t be afraid of that.» declared Cassius Hirst.

At the core of each of the Cass x Prada styles is the iconic America’s Cup sneaker: invented in the late ’90s for the sailing crew of the Luna Rossa, in all-leather, or leather with distinctive cross-hatched breathable bike fabric inserts. Ergonomic, technically innovative, the silhouette is immediately recognizable – the perfect canvas for seemingly endless reinvention.

The Cass x Prada collection is an edition limited to 3,000 pairs globally, sold through a selection of Prada boutiques and via prada.com.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Prada
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PRADA THE SYMBOLE

Subjectivity, interpretation, perspectives. For the campaign celebrating the Prada Symbole handbag, three artists approached the same subject matters – the Symbole, and the actor Hunter Schafer – in a series of divergent and distinct portraits. Three artists, three sides of Prada, three points of view.
A triptych in its conception, the campaign is created by three of art’s modern masters: Catherine Opie, Thomas Ruff and Carrie Mae Weems, symbolic and powerful names, whose work has rarely, if ever, been printed in the form of a fashion campaign. While respecting the processes and meanings inherent to both art and fashion, each questions and challenges the other, to create works that explores the blurred boundaries between these disciplines through mutual exchange.

Catherine Opie

Each artist regards the same figure, and the same object, but their practices, methodology and results are wildly individual. Like the Symbole itself, different sides – different facets – are discovered. Each series of images connects to a cannon of artistic expression: Opie’s work revolves around the body and identity, new codes of beauty – her images seem to sculpt Schafer into a series of triangles, fusing woman and object, Ruff’s reinterprets ready-made images, distorting and manipulating reality – the objective value of a photograph, it questions our ideas of image. Weems connects her imagery to concepts of identity, representation, projection – notions of transformation and courage.

Thomas Ruff

Before each of their lenses, Schafer transforms – an act that, through the art of its creators, reflects her own craft as an actor. The campaign images become character studies – of Hunter Schafer, and the Symbole – composed of triangles, a graphic representation of the codes of Prada.

Carrie Mae Weems

THE PRADA SYMBOLE HANDBAG

A new type of logo, a new concept of an emblem – the Prada Symbole handbag is inspired by Prada’s iconic Triangle. Precise, direct, meaningful, it is a shape that resonates without words. Drawn from Prada’s heritage, it is reinvented for today – where the Triangle, alone, says Prada.
The Triangle was first used by Mario Prada – founder of the brand – in 1913, as a mark of quality and craft, a symbol of luxury. Today, it has become a shape immediately associated with Prada – echoing the shape of the ‘A’ of the brand’s name, a distinct and unique marker intrinsically tied to the history and identity of Prada.

In the Symbole, the Triangle becomes a luxurious jacquard – woven into the very fabric of the handbag. Geometric, modern, multi-faceted, it is a wordless assertion of Prada’s unmistakable persona. The Symbole couples this to a versatile tote, trimmed in Saffiano leather and proposed in a variety of sizes – a style as multi-faceted as its surface. Here, the Triangle retains its century- old role as a stamp of approval, expressing the highest level of craftsmanship synonymous with Prada.
The Symbole – like the Triangle itself – is a symbol of the ethos of Prada. Past, present, future.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Prada – Talent: Hunter Schafer
Artists: Catherine Opie, Thomas Ruff, Carrie Mae Weems Creative Director: Ferdinando Verderi

This year, Jani Leinonen, a world-renowned artist, is responsible for the impressive floral Easter egg in the Steinhalle of the Dolder Grand. The installation «Seed in Their Pocket» can be enjoyed alongside it, whereby Leinonen implemented themes of current social issues for both the installation and the Easter egg design. The Finn has a long-standing relationship with the traditional Zurich hotel, which made this art coup possible.

Jani and the finished floral egg installation.

He is one of the most sought-after artists in the world and his works always captures the pulse of the times. The Finnish artist has recently completed a particularly special project for the Dolder Grand – he created the design for the annual 2.5-meter-high Easter egg, which can be enjoyed at the main entrance.

Decorated with over 12,000 carnations by the in-house florist team of four ladies over several days of craftsmanship, it bears the incomparable signature of the artist.

«When the Dolder Grand approached me with this Easter project, I was amazed by the fact that it was made of real flowers. These colourful and beautiful organisms are of great cultural importance,» says Leinonen.

Inside the Dolder Grand on display: «Chapel of Remorse» by Jani Leinonen.

120 famous works of art, including Dalí, Murakami and Tinguely, enhance the ambiance of the Dolder Grand. The Finnish artist’s works have been exhibited at the hotel since 2009, and there are currently six pieces on display. Getting the 44-year-old artist to design the Easter egg this year was a major coup, not least because Jani’s unmistakable style and his unique ability to create pieces that reflect societal issues in a provocative way have made him famous across the globe.

«I’m not particularly religious, but I live in a Christian culture and grew up with stories from the Bible,» says Leinonen.

For him, the story of Easter is one of the most fascinating. For Jani, Jesus’ last words on the cross are the most important aspect: Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

«These words are as relevant today as they ever were, as he says these words to the soldiers who are blindly following orders from their superiors.»

He therefore decided to bring across this message on the Easter egg with just a single word: FORGIVE.

The «Seeds in Their Pockets» installation is also on display alongside the egg. It comprises dried flowers the artist collected in war zones, each with a tag bearing the name of the country in which Leinonen found it. On the day Russia invaded the Ukraine, the Finn read a newspaper article and wrote a poem. It is the story of a Ukrainian woman who meets a Russian soldier and tells him to put sunflower seeds in his pocket so that flowers grow at the place where he dies. «For me, this is a really strong image of war. I discovered that flowers grow on many of the battlefields in these war-torn countries, and it’s mostly the national flowers of the countries.»

With lovely Christina (NewInZurich) and Laura (PR/TICULAR) at the lunch.

I had the pleasure to explore Jani’s works and the making of the installation life at the Dolder Grand this week, followed by a lovely luncheon on the terrace in the presence of the artist.

The egg installation will be on display until Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Dolder Grand and © Sandra Bauknecht
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