The Orchard’s Vitrification

In Japanese photographer Kenro Izu’s publication Seduction (2018), he stages and photographs found garden objects in a collection titled The Orchard.  Included in this, he sights various fruits, wood textures, plants/wildlife, and found aged porcelain masks. The photographs in The Orchard encapsulate the raw, delicate nature of his subjects, in a manner that occasionally projects an unsettling nature.  Izu masterfully creates a marriage between the familiar comfort of the objects, and the tension formed by the execution of the photographs.

Expanding from Izu’s collection, an inspiration theme arose and was explored.  Drawing context from aging of material objects (such as porcelain, wood, fabrics, etc.), juxtaposing delicate and raw notions, orchards with their associated properties, and the photography approach of Izu, the collection The Orchard’s Vitrification was designed.

Vitrification is part of the firing process used in pottery to cohere media such as porcelain.  The title of the collection builds on this word, intertwining the rugged firing process and its result, with the delicate subtleties of nature.  Many of the textiles, silhouettes, and stylings used in the collection are referencial to this notion.  Starched corsets throughout the collection offer references to aged porcelain, while long, draped silhouettes create contrast with their organically flowing nature.  Low rise skirts are also added to create tension among the more formal, traditional elements within the collection, further conveying the approach of Izu in the designs. The final look of the collection wholly captures the intent of the inspiration theme.  Accompanied by an understated black wool jacket, a drastically low rise, floor length lace skirt has the surface treatment of being dragged through dirt.  Traditionally a graceful, lively fabric, the lace being dragged in dirt accompanied by this low rise silhouette is intended to represent a withered state of its existence.  As if the wearer had allowed the skirt to fall down their waist and drag itself through dirt, a marriage between the familiar comfort of elegance with the tension formed by the garment’s presentation transpires.