introduction
introduction
All references overboard
Pieter van Bogaert first met Christophe Coppens in Brussels in 2001, where he worked as a critic and curator. Since that first meeting, they regularly ran in to each other.
For the book No Reference, which was published at the end of the working process, Van Bogaert wrote the introduction. In the form of a letter to Coppens, he recalls Coppens earlier work and questions how he can shake off all these references:
“You throw everything overboard – all references within your own work, all references to books and artists, all references within fashion, to material and its connotations, to techniques, to form. You aim to take a new look at the accessory’s raison d’être, its purpose. You want to use this opportunity to go back to the essence of the design, to think and to explore. It’s not about ‘What can I do differently, better, more beautifully, more extravagantly? Or ‘What can I add or take away?’ It’s about ‘What is a colour? What is a shape? What is an accessory? What is a fashion? What is a body? * You throw all your references overboard and then see what happens. Allow the things to live. Let your clients finish the work. Everyone, producer and user, is equal. The imagination rules.”
