If anything is better than something beautiful made from one artist’s work, it’s something created from two artists working together. For the most part, my scarves are pretty strong on color, but as spring approached, I started thinking about the pastels of magnolia trees, hyacinths and easter decorations.
I collaborated with artist Maggie Meiners, taking five of the pastel images from her Silhouettes Series, arranging them into a fun geometric pattern and adding both my signature border in her shades with double strands of beads like those in her images. We played with titles and ultimately named it Sugar-Coated. It’s great with any of its individual colors and really pops against white!
Spring wouldn’t be spring without violets and lilacs, so I decided to create a spring version of my One Way Olive scarf, calling it One Way Violet. It’s made from one of the few images I have made in Chicago – a torn advertising poster off Lawrence Avenue a couple of years ago. I increased the photo’s grain and turned it a lovely lilac-violet, bisected and surrounded by a cobalt border, naming it for the One Way street sign that shows up in the reflection.
The pale, pristine quality of my friend Robin Malpass’s painting Mauve Over inspired me to add macro photographs of wonderfully textured white crepe paper roses that I photographed in my Chicago studio to the ends. I named this delicate, pale scarf Floréal. It’s so neutral that depending on what you wear it with, it can be either minimal, refined, or striking.
And last, but certainly not least, are the pink scarves – those that benefit the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation. The first is a collaboration with artist Caren Helene Rudman. Caren’s layered paintings on acetate can be moved around, one on top of the other, to create a final single image. I played with these transparent layers in her studio until I was satisfied and with the addition of my signature border in matching hues, we created the final scarf that we named Hope.
I also created another pink scarf to benefit the Lynn Sage Foundation and called it Lynn’s Rose. I photographed roses for almost a year until I found the most perfect one to design the scarf around. The final rose was captured in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and was just the right rose for the scarf. A three-row signature border surrounds the rose floating in the center. Upon the sale of either of these two scarves LensFlair Editions donates 20% of the proceeds to the Foundation.
The pleasure of designing is that I’m constantly inspired by things I see, and that includes the work of other artists. My photographs form the basis for the scarves, and when I collaborate with an artist, their painting or photograph is layered or arranged in tandem with mine. I cannot imagine a more perfect union than two artists working together to create something enchanting to wear – it’s almost like magic, and when it works well, voila! a fabulous new scarf emerges like a butterfly from a chrysalis!
Have a lovely month and stay tuned for my May column on elegance!