Viena Honkala

What happens when colour takes place as the first and defining design decision? Viena Honkala’s Club Chromophile is an exercise in unlearning chromophobia: a term coined by David Batchelor to describe the deep-rooted aversion to colour in European art. The BA Thesis collection’s catalyst is Honkala’s own experience of “catching chromophobia” after starting formal fashion education and wanting to consciously return to embracing colour: chromophilia. What follows is an ensemble of garments whose form has been dictated by colour: hand-knitting colour first without patterns, painting and taping paper and sculpting what comes to mind or hand-dyeing and printing silks aimlessly. “My most important keywords right now are play and swag” The project explores the relationship between fashion design and visual arts. Honkala’s expression in fashion design is inseparably influenced by their background in visual arts. The techniques used, such as hand-embroidery, mending and dyeing, are as labour-intensive as they are personalised: the artist is present in each thread sewn and each line painted. With references to Honkala’s own inspirations Jean-Michel Basquiat, Stiv Bators and the film Trainspotting, the multi-media collection’s world is born, and it consists of four looks worth of garments, a video piece, paintings and objects. Club Chromophile – Colour first, think later