Gunhild Kranz (b. 1973) graduated in March from the College of Media and
Design in Hannover, Germany. She spent the past year studying in the Department
of Textile and Fashion Design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki.
Kranz's diploma project became her first professional commission when
Marimekko hired her just days after she graduated. The company included
the design in its 50th anniversary exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design
in Helsinki this summer. Kranz is now working on a spring collection for
Marimekko that uses the same technology. In October she will begin a master's
program at the Royal College of Art in London.
The idea is so good that it seems familiar. Hasn't Issey Miyake already
made travel-friendly clothes with designer wrinkles? Although 28-year-old
Gunhild Kranz's new collection for Finnish company Marimekko also incorporates
folds as part of the design, she was most concerned that the garments be
interesting objects. Her Taitos (Finnish for "foldable") clothes
and bags are meant to look as good laid flat as they do on the body.
Because they can function as decorative elements in a room, they offer interesting
retail display possibilities. Marimekko (which has a patent pending on the
technology) introduced Taitos at the CDP Fashion Fair, in Düsseldorf,
in August.
I chose the Tasaraita stripes [a Marimekko design from 1968] because I really
wanted this idea identified with Marimekko--so that you immediately
recognize it as theirs. It is a very traditional pattern from a classic
collection; so I used the stripe to produce a new classic piece.
You might not have a dresser or time to unpack, and so you want to create
a familiar atmosphere very fast. You can just take your clothes out of the
suitcase and display them. It was interesting to do a new thing in clothing,
because we have new trends but not really big steps.
Many people have mentioned that it reminds them of Issey Miyake. The folds
are part of the design and the way you wear it. I wanted something that
is decorative when you wear it, folds and handles easily, and is also decorative
when you're not wearing it.
I chose the name Taitos because it's one of the very few Finnish words I
know. I really wanted to give it a Finnish name because everything started
in Finland--and my inspiration came from the fact that I'm living between
there and Germany.
I left Germany and have had to move a lot--10 or 15 times--in the last year.
I was fed up with moving everything, getting a new room, and being in a
place without personal stuff. I felt that I needed something simple to create
a personal atmosphere for myself. The only thing you really need when you
travel is clothing. And I figured that probably there are others who
have this kind of lifestyle for at least a few years.
I started by experimenting with the normal way of constructing clothing.
It wasn't enough just to do it on paper, so I combined fabric draping (on
a mannequin) with paper construction. I was also inspired by the folding
techniques of origami. When you use material like cotton, you have to use
very fine stitching at the fold to keep the form. If you were to use
polyester, you could just heat-press it to get a permanent pleat.
