Kartchev x Colombe D'Humières PFW A/W 23 SHOWROOM

06.03.23 to 08.03.23

Stefan Kartchev is launching a new capsule collection. Immerging sportwear into a fictional nature, Kartchev's work thinks of the pieces as surfaces for prints to enhance their immersive quality. The new collection is a collaboration with Paris based jewelry designer Colombe D’Humières and will be presented in an independently initiated showroom, with a set design by architect Alessandro Cugola.

This event was made possible with the support of The Flemish government - Department of youth, culture and media.

Kartchev Studio operates as a playground of experimentation and research. In parallel with fashion oriented work, Kartchev investigates alternative ways of perception, digestion and conception through dialogues with craftsmen on preserving and modernising endangered techniques, co-creation with artists and creatives, and academic partnerships with a scientific approach. All these are defining an ecosystem of constant exchange, where his engagement is shifting between creator, collaborator and mediator. Kartchev is currently part of the incubator residency program of MAD Brussels.

Past experience includes work for brands such as Walter Van Beirendonck, Y-Project, Mutani, ROMBAUT, Prada, Bioracer and collaborative exchanges with artists and collectives such as Gaëtan Rusquet, Sam Rolfes, Michele Rizzo and Every Island.

Kartchev's involvement in artistic projects has been noticed at places such as La Quadriennale di Roma (IT), Design Museum Den Bosch (NL), Dutch Design Week (NL), Bozar (BE) and MUDAM (LU).

Colombe D'Humières Stuido is an eponymous jewelry brand founded in September 2020, based in Paris. They specialize in metal work and are dedicated to bringing up to date artisanal techniques of jewelry making, metalsmithing, and sculptures.

Her studio offers two distinct lines of jewelry: the first consists of unique pieces that evoke the world of couture, while the second line features classic designs made in limited quantities. Both collections are crafted from metals like bronze, silver, and aluminium, with select pieces adorned with melted glass and laboratory stones to infuse bright metal with a candy-like palette of colors.

Colombe d’Humieres Studio has collaborated with brands and designers through projects such belt buckle-making for Chopowa Lowena, a full jewellery collection for last Yeezy Season 8 show in Paris, and Etudes studio SS21's accessories and jewellery, as well as artists, performers and musicians like Arca.

Alessandro Cugola is an Italian architect. He studied between Milan, Berlin and Brussels, where he is currently based. He works in the field of scenography and installation art, both autonomously and through the multidisciplinary collective Every Island, which he co-founded in 2021. The collective design research focuses on perfomative spaces: taking the shape of installations, scenographies or perfomances, these are both initiated by the collective, through self-initiated and curated projects, or via the collaboration with cultural institutions, such as Kunstencentrum Viernulvier (Gent), Santarcangelo dei Teatri (Santarcangelo di Romagna), MUDAM (Luxemburg), among others.

In parallel, he collaborates since 2019 with urban transformation office 51N4E, where he contributes to publications and curatorial projects, such as 2021 Brussels Architecture Week, by him co-curated, as well as in spatial design projects,on the scale of exhibitions and interiors.