Using paper as their main material, worked on Lanvin design Alber Elbaz’s birthday celebration set up and collaborated with Opening Ceremony, Converse, Urban Outfitters, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House as well as American Ballet Theatre –- New York base design duo Confetti System (Nicholas Anderson and Julie Ho) is recently invited by Hong Kong high-end specialty store Lane Crawford to create its autumn/ winter window display.
How did Confetti System come about?
We met through friends and found out we share a lot of inspiration – things and design that are overlooked. When we walk into a shop, we’d be drawn by a dusty paper bag, rather than something that’s consciously ‘designed’. When we first got together, we’d just make things that we like. After a while we started designing party props for friends, some clients got in touch and then we founded Confetti System.
Please could you tell us about the window display for Lane Crawford this time?
We visited Hong Kong for two days in July, met with Lane Crawford’s creative team and went to all the stores. We love the atmosphere and it makes us want to shop! As it’s for winter season, we want it to look festive and Christmas-like – but not the usual way. We want to keep it fresh. We made a bare Christmas tree for the entrance, a very subtle version; paired with metallic paper and small accessories on the mannequins. A decoration piece is hung on the ceiling, with movement created by air-conditioning system. The main installation is placed at the entrance, womenswear and menswear departments respectively.
How do you differentiate menswear and womenswear departments?
Our design seems to be more feminine, therefore the palette is the key. The display has to compliment the clothing on the shop floor. For menswear department, we use blue and green as the main shades.
Please tell us about the process.
As we’re based abroad, our main task is the pre-production design. Lane Crawford team handled the rest, and then we came to Hong Kong to install. As the team requires full set of information for the production, we had to submit detail information such as budget and sizing. If we were to handle the whole process, we could jump straight to production after sketching. This is without a doubt a great training for us. We created some new shades for this project, which is a new thing for us also.
Why did you choose paper as the main material? How do you control the quality?
It seems so simple and common, but it is actually rather tricky material. This is exactly this reason that draws us to paper. The nature of paper is flexible – it could be as soft or hard as you’d like it to be, there are so many possibilities. We also like its temporary nature, how it’d discolour and evolve overtime. The piece we hang in our studio has gone through the transformation and it looks fantastic. We like the vulnerability. How do you keep it for longer? Keep out of water, of course.
How long does it take to complete a project? What kind of paper do you use most?
We can finish a twenty inches piece in half a day. We handle the whole production, as well as support structure, paper and cardboard pieces as well as strings. We often use cotton paper – it’s soft, thin, lightweight, a similar texture to fabric. We love the way it sways when blown by wind.
Text: iemi | Translation: dilettante
Photo: Fung Kwok Fai
