FENDI – Featuring Sarah Coleman
FENDI has commissioned the New York based artist Sarah Coleman to reinterpret the Miami Design District FENDI Boutique and create a series of one of a kind design pieces.
For almost a century FENDI has been committed to redefining luxury through the development of new materials and techniques. From its foundation, and through Silvia Venturini Fendi’s vision today, the Roman Luxury House has been pushing traditional methodologies and handcraft in new directions. Inspired by FENDI’s tradition of breaking down barriers of exclusivity and luxury, the artist felt empowered to invent and reimagine. The result feels retro and classic but also entirely new, inspired by the spirit of the 1970s.
The concept created for Design Miami/ is centered around Coleman’s design ethos of repurposing and FENDI’s DNA. The theme takes a literal approach at times, leveraging fabrics from FENDI’s handbags to reupholster furniture in bold mixed logo prints, or printing FENDI archival imagery onto vintage magazine paper to collage a chair. The repurposing often applies in ways that are less physical and more metaphorical. FENDI’s iconic prints are warped and manipulated in FaceTune, an app usually used for Instagram editing, but instead used to create art. FENDI’s iconic FF and Pequin logos are reinterpreted by Sarah with a vertigo effect. This printed design will appear on the façade of the FENDI Miami Boutique, as well as on a series of limited-edition Peekaboo handbags.
In collaboration with the artist, a special limited edition of 3 styles of FENDI’s iconic Peekaboo ISeeU bags designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi will launch exclusively at the FENDI Miami Design District Boutique in late November 2020. The limited edition FENDI Artist Peekaboo will be available in an iconic FENDI yellow with FF embossed design, a white nappa leather with phosphorescent FF beads and embroidery for a glow in the dark effect, and in a canvas body with multicolor FF thread embroidery.
In addition, Sarah has reinterpreted a one of a kind piece of the Designer’s Peekaboo bag in white canvas, transforming it into a multicolored style in plaster and acrylic paint, with FFs cut from suede, glazed with resin. The bold colors of the piece are inspired by the vibrant arts scene in Miami, as well as whimsical toys from the artist’s childhood.
Following tradition and celebrating FENDI’s longstanding relationship with Design Miami/, the boutique will be dressed up for the occasion with a special façade in a concept created by the artist, with the vertigo Pequin FENDI logo in the iconic Maison’s yellow colour.
In addition to the iconic handbags, the artist has created a series of design pieces to be displayed in the Miami boutique during Design Miami/. Reupholstery using vintage designer bags is one of the artist’s main mediums, which inspired a cushion reupholstered using coated canvas from 1980s FENDI beach bag.
Additional pieces include a vintage rattan peacock chair, refinished in yellow acrylic paint and plaster by the artist, and an acrylic zigzag chair, covered in collage of vintage books and magazines, printed with FENDI archival images, and mixed with warped prints designed by the artist. This piece features layers of repurposing, from the vintage paper materials used, images drawn from the brand’s archive, and the distortion of iconic FENDI prints.
Inspired by visions of a distant future in which the value of objects can be judged only by their objective appearance, Coleman has created a series of mixed media artwork, made from layers of draped fabric, found objects, and deconstructed vintage FENDI bags. The collection celebrates an unexpectedness in vision and use of materials, a fitting expression of the creativity and innovation of FENDI.
