coming soon…
Artist Statement: “The series reflects on the subject of brand association, challenging the deep-seated emotional response that is triggered with brand costumers. Luxury markets build on a personal relationship between the customer and the brand, where the value is determined by a sense of familiarity and belonging, rather than the function of the product. The brand object in this photography series is stripped of most of its visual features, retaining only its sculptural form. It remains however instantly (to the point of instinctively) identifiable for brand costumers sustaining a sense of simplicity and luxury, despite the varying manifestations and materials used.
Initially inspired by the view from Coco Chanel’s hotel window over Place Vendôme, the No. 5 perfume bottle presented with its simple diamond cut design an antidote to the overelaborate crystal fragrance bottles dominating the preceding decennia. At the launch in 1921, the design spoke to the liberated and simplistic expression of the time while its fragrance introduced a complex layering of notes that also was new to the customer.
Creating the Brand Matters series was a real trial and error process where all measurements of the mold had to be carefully calculated and measured to create an exact but over-dimensioned reproduction of the bottle. The sculptures measure 50 cm in height and 9 liters in volume. I went through eight different approaches and materials just to settling on one that I could build the original sculpture from in order to create a mold that would sustain all future sculptures. I then could use this creation to build the mold that had to be constructed in two parts with an open back formation to allow for the tapered shape of the bottleneck. Then came the introduction of new materials to use in the mold, for each sculpture building up a structure that would present the icon with new expressions and associations. I imagined the experimenting to be very much like the perfumers’ careful layering of top, base and heart notes. It was an intriguing process applying materials that either harmonize with and support the sense of the original object (like the sculptures made out of frozen flowers) or that contradict or even work against it (like the sculpture made out of concrete or sand).”
