ISSI, a new art-eco-fashion brand, is producing its launch collection in partnership with Elvis & Kresse; handbags and accessories made with award-winning artists who have accepted the challenge to create beauty from waste. ISSI, who will be producing ongoing environmental collections with artists and designers, approached Elvis & Kresse to partner on their first collection because of their pioneering work with reclaimed fire-hose. The collection is available online at www.issiworld.com (coming soon), www.elvisandkresse.com/Shops/Buy_Arts.html and will be launched at Selfridges, London in May.

The two retail stories of the past decade have been the rise of luxury and the importance of provenance. The big question now surrounds a product’s origin, from tuna to handbags. The new ISSI accessories combine no compromise on quality while being a sound product. We have collaborated with an international group of outstanding artists - Lothar Götz, Olivier Millagou, Paul Morrison and Simon Periton, and are continuing a tradition of artists working with product, but with a twist. The collaboration explores the possibilities of new materials, innovating in both design and manufacturing, to create gorgeous bags and accessories.

Paul Morrison’s stunning images of volcanoes erupt across the reclaimed gold parachute interiors of rich, red fire-hose Overnight and Messenger bags, while Olivier Millagou’s yellow fire-hose ‘Lee’ and red fire-hose ‘Nancy’ wallets, are branded with spider webs and text, lined with green and bright orange parachute silk. Simon Periton’s ‘Beelzebag’ has a sumptuous reclaimed brown bridle leather body and an ornate, yellow fire-hose wing, while Lothar Götz’s bold use of colour and shapes transforms his ‘Ludwig’ bowling bag and ‘Sissi’ clutch bag.

Art has the power to shape an understanding of our natural environment. Artists are able to explore, question, challenge and create debate. ISSI’s new line with Elvis & Kresse combines incredible raw materials and quality craftsmanship with artistic integrity, and will continue to evolve as new artists are introduced. ISSI has created exhibitions around the new line at the V&A Museum and Sotheby’s.

The collection uses materials that were previously destined for landfill with a focus on decommissioned British fire-hose, but also includes reclaimed leather, reclaimed event material, decommissioned parachute silk and tea sack. Fifty percent of profits will be donated to charities associated with the waste. In the case of the fire-hose line, the donation will be made to the Fire Fighters’ Charity.

Contact: Isabella Macpherson – isabella@issiworld.com / www.issiworld.com

ISSI IN COLLABORATION WITH ELVIS & KRESSE
ISSI is the newly launched art-eco-fashion brand of arts consultants Isabella Macpherson and Sigrid Wilkinson. “Building on our experience of producing exhibitions and projects with artists and designers around environmental themes at our company Arts Co, ISSI is the natural progression - environmental accessories made with these artists for the wider market.” Isabella and Sigrid have curated exhibitions around the new line at the V&A Museum, Sotheby’s and London Fashion Week, and launch in Selfridges in May 2010.

ISSI will create art-eco products in collaboration with artists and designers on an ongoing basis.

See www.issiworld.com

Elvis & Kresse was founded in 2007 by James Henrit and Kresse Wesling, experts in the reclamation and re-engineering of waste.

See also www.elvisandkresse.com

ISSI collaborated with street artists at the Evil Xmas Fayre.

This contemporary take on a traditional European Christmas fair took place on the
5th & 6th December 2009, at The East Room & Sosho, 2 Tabernacle Street,
EC2A 4LU.

For more details please contact sigrid@arts-co.com

We previewed the ISSI Launch Collection in collaboration with Elvis & Kresse at an exhibition curated by Janice Blackburn, ‘Old Friends New Directions’ which took place at Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA. The exhibition was open to the public.

Following the Sotheby's Preview the collection was presented at estethica London Fashion Week in February.

For more details please contact isabella@arts-co.com

www.issiworld.com

'Ludwig' Bowling Bag, Lothar Götz
Made from reclaimed yellow, blue and red fire-hose, with reclaimed blue and yellow fabric lining.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com
 
'Sissi' Clutch Bag, Lothar Götz
Made from reclaimed yellow fire-hose, reclaimed leather off-cuts and reclaimed blue fabric lining.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com

About Lothar Götz
Lothar Götz uses colour to define the architectural qualities and the spirit of a space. He is interested in the way aspects of decoration and colour can have an impact upon us. His drawings form part of an ongoing series exploring spatial ideas for domestic spaces: apartments, houses, bungalows and villas.
 
Lothar was born in Germany and studied in Aachen, Wuppertal and Düsseldorf before completing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. He has exhibited internationally and has had solo shows in London at The Economist, Chisenhale Gallery and Gasworks. Most recent projects include exhibitions at the Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Landesgalerie Hannover, SMART, Amsterdam and National Gallery Prague. Recent commissioned works on site include commissions for the Ministry of Justice, London the National Arts Council Offices, London and London Underground. Lothar lives and works in London, England.

Click here for a Q&A with Lothar Gotz.

'Nancy' Wallet, Olivier Millagou
Made from reclaimed red fire-hose, with ‘GIRL ON FIRE’ across the front. Lined with decommissioned orange parachute silk.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com

'Lee' Wallet, Olivier Millagou
Made from reclaimed yellow fire-hose, with a spider web and Olivier’s signature across the front. Lined with decommissioned
Nato Green parachute silk.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com

About Olivier Millagou
Right from the beginning Olivier Millagou’s work has set out to be a vast enterprise in re-reading reality and falsifying the codes and images we associate with it. Using series of motifs drawn from the commonest level of popular culture (cartoon strip and film characters, images linked to surfers or to rock music, picture postcards, etc.) Olivier takes legendary figures of this culture and their memories and turns them, in various forms (drawings, postcards, “drawing pin pictures” etc.) into new images, raising the question of memory and its future.
 
Olivier studied at the Ecole Superieur des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and spent a year at the Acadamia of Rotterdam. He has exhibited internationally including Palais de Tokyo – Paris, Musée de Moderne Art – St Etienne, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. In 2009 he has projects at The Irish Museum of Contemporary Art - Dublin, Le Parvis Centre d’Art Contemporain – Ibos, Santa Monica, Nice, Ottowa and Luxembourg. Olivier Lives and works in Marseilles, France.

Click here for a Q&A with Oliver Millagou.

 

Volcano Overnight Bag, Paul Morrison
Made from reclaimed red fire-hose, with Paul’s image of a volcano erupting across the interior lining of decommissioned gold
parachute silk.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com
 
Volcano Messenger Bag, Paul Morrison
Made from reclaimed red fire-hose, with Paul’s image of a volcano erupting across the interior lining of decommissioned gold
parachute silk.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com

About Paul Morrison
Paul Morrison is best known for his black and white images that are composed collage-style as a pastiche of discrete, highly stylized representational forms. Drawing inspiration from sources that range from popular cartoons to botanical drawings and Renaissance woodcuts, Paul Morrison creates his assemblages by manipulating these found images. The artist’s hybrid compositions afford the viewer the opportunity to consider the intrinsic cognitive properties of each of the various styles and the ways in which pictorial space is created through juxtaposition.
 
Paul Morrison was born in Liverpool and attended Goldsmiths College of Art, London. His work is in various public collections including the British Council Collection, Fogg Art Museum - Harvard University, The Museum of Modern Art – New York, Museum of Contemporary Art – Denver and The Victoria & Albert Museum. Paul has exhibited at Las Vegas Art Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Museum of Art - Rhode Island School of Design, Bloomberg Space - London, PS – Amsterdam, The Contemporary Museum – Honolulu, Artspace – Auckland, Harvard University, The Bluecoat – Liverpool, The Museum of Modern Art – New York, ICA – London, and Whitechapel Gallery – London. Paul lives and works in Sunderland, England.

Click here for a Q&A with Paul Morrison.

Beelzebag, Simon Periton
Made with reclaimed equestrian leather, reclaimed yellow fire-hose and reclaimed yellow fabric lining.
To buy this item go to www.issiworld.com

About Simon Periton
Simon Periton studied at Central St Martin’s School of Art, London and has exhibited widely in Britain and internationally. Solo shows include Mint Poisoner, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 2003. Periton’s work has been included in prominent group shows including Wunschwelten, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany, 2007, and the 2007 and 2004 Summer Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London.  Commissions include public sculpture projects for firstsite, Colchester, Essex, Channel Four, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Simon has collaborated with Giles Deacon for Another Magazine, Comme des Garcons, Raf Simons, Isabella Blow, Phillip Treacy and Pulp for their ‘Greatest Hits’ album cover.  A monograph of his work was published in 2008 by Koenig Books Ltd and Sadie Coles HQ. Simon’s work is in various public collections including the Arts Council, British Council, Channel 4, Unilever, Victoria & Albert Museum and Deutsche Bank. Simon lives and works in London, England.

ISSI and Elvis & Kresse’s project to announce their joint venture was an installation called ‘Wasted’ at The V&A Museum, one of the lead projects of the 2009 London Design Festival.

ARTS CO curated the tunnel connecting the V&A to London Underground; a vast, immersive and jewel-like installation was created by architect Ian Douglas-Jones and designer Ben Rousseau with materials reclaimed by Elvis and Kresse.

The Arts Co curated installation for the London Design Festival 2010 will be unveiled in May 2010.

www.issiworld.com