EJ by Eva Vermeulen and Judith Jans

Eva Vermeulen and Judith Jans together form EJ. They met during their studies at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, and since then, have decided to collaborate. For the exhibition, they worked on the marks of the aging body and turned them into fashion accessories.

Previous work by Judith Jans

Hello Judith and Eva! Please introduce yourself. Who are you? Where do you come from? What is your field of specialization? 
We are Eva Vermeulen and Judith Jans and together we are EJ. During our time at the Design Academy Eindhoven we started collaborating and combining our various capabilities. In EJ we unite our visions in fashion, art and film.

Where are you based? 
At the moment Eva is based in Amsterdam and Judith is based in Venlo.

What inspires you in general? 
During our time at the Design Academy Eindhoven we learned to get inspired by a lot of different aspects of our daily life, from social aspects, to nature, to a certain material and so on. But what inspire us most are fashion, music and film. Performances in these worlds, whether it’s a costume, a landscape build out of props or a beautiful myth, trigger us to come up with a thousand of ideas.

Judith Jans piece at last year's FASHIONCLASH Festival exhibition 

What place or city do you find inspiring? 
Eva: I find the forest to be the place I get most inspired by. When you are able to surrender to nature, calmness will overflow you and will create a space for the creative mind.
Judith: I get inspired by places that are able to overwhelm me that much that I can’t think for a second or two.

What is it like to be a young artist in your city/country? 
It is a difficult time for young artists but there’s no use in sitting at home and sobbing about how difficult life is. It is all in your own hands and if you put your energy into art it will always give you something back in one way or another.

Previous work by Eva Vermeulen

What attracts you about the FASHIONCLASH platform? 
In our eyes FASHIONCLASH is young, open and dynamic. FC makes it possible for all kinds of designers to give their work a platform and to build up their network. The actual event is thereby also an inspiration for everyone joining it.

The FASHIONCLASH Exhibition is curated under the theme of ‘Age’. How does your creation relate to this year’s theme? 
Getting older your physical appearance changes, the hair on your body might become grey and eventually white, cataract can occur in the eyes and pigment spots may become a part of your skin. We took the marks of the aging body as an inspiration and transformed this into fashion accessories.

How and why did you become an artist? 
Eva: When I was very young playing for me meant working with wood, sewing, drawing and building huts outside. I already knew I wanted to become an artist. During high school I continued working on my portfolio to get into the Design Academy in Eindhoven. At the academy I learned how to work with different materials, how to use colour and how to create shapes. I will always take with me the knowledge I gained at the academy, no matter what the direction I’ll take. After the academy I worked on several projects in the theatre, performance and music industry to figure out which career step to take next. I wanted to become an artist because art is my passion and it’s my talent and I think it would be amazing to be able to your passion your job.
Judith: Playing with dolls was never really my thing when I was young. Designing and making dresses for my dolls, however, were. Whenever I wanted to make something the materials were there: our house was one big atelier. After high school I went to the Design Academy in Eindhoven where I developed myself to become the designer I am today.

Do you have a muse? If yes, who is it and why? 
No. We are, sadly enough, a bit muse-less.

Sample of what the girls will be using in their work for the exhibition

What kind of feeling do you want to transfer with your creation? 
When we started to create our concept, we did a lot of research about age and elderly people. We realized how the elderly are actually forgotten in our society. We wanted to create fashion products with the aging of the human body as an inspiration together with a message about not forgetting and cherishing your elders.

What is on your playlist when you are working? 
Eva: I love to listen to sixties and seventies music or musicals so I can sing a long while I’m working.
Judith: I have working-music-phases. At times, it changes from old skool hip hop, to techno to indie, to classic, to italo disco and so on. I love a lot of different genres. Since a week or two I am back in a techno mood.

What book shaped you? 
Eva: There is no book that shaped me, but I do have a favourite book: The World According to Garp by John Irving.
Judith: I learned a lot from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, but i can’t say it shaped me.

Who is your favourite artist/designer? 
Eva: Dick Smith, the godfather of make up.
Judith: Eiko Ishioka, the godmother of costume.

What is the latest thing you bought for yourself? 
Eva: A silicone iPhone case in the shape of the batman logo.
Judith: Tights, can’t wear them without destroying them.

What is your favourite fairy tale and why? 
Eva: There are too many nice fairy tales to pick out my favourite, but if I have to pick one I would go for the Six Swans by the Grimm Brothers, because that is one of the stories I remember perfectly well.
Judith: My favourite fairy tale is a movie called: The Fall. The beautiful story combined with the amazing art direction is just perfect.

Eva Vermeulen's personal website: www.evavermeulen.com
Judith Jans's website: www.judithjans.nl