Jo Cope is a
conceptual fashion designer based in Leicester, United Kingdom. She graduated
in 2017 from a Master’s in Fashion Artefacts at The London College of Fashion.
She is a founding member of DAP, a London-based design and performance lab. She
has been commissioned to design an Aerodynamic Dress for the British Grand Prix
by Silverstone Race track and has been funded by the Arts Council to create a
solo installation for the Leicester Museum. She exhibits in the National Centre
for Crafts, creating concept shoes for the Shoe Museum’s permanent collection.
She is currently working with curator Liza Snook
from the Virtual Shoe Museum NL and is about to embark on a collaboration which
will culminate in a fashion performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre London in
November 2017.
Jo Cope's work can be seen at FASHIONCLASH Festival during the Fashion Makes Sense LAB on June 30 - July 2 at SAMdecorfabriek.
How
would you define fashion?
In literal terms: clothing is a social conditioning
and a superficial body covering that allows us to play with our identity. For
me it is a wonderful canvas, a projector of the inner self, an evolving
interpreter of the world, the outer human layer.
What
fascinates/inspires you and why?
Human beings, the cycle of life, repetitive shared
behaviors, love, relationships, everything we experience whilst on the earth,
abstraction of the literal, symbolic interpretation, conceptual art.
Because art is a great means of expressing, learning
and communicating ideas that are the closest to me. I am fascinated by taking
something known such as a shoe and leading it into new version of itself by
analyzing the deeper aspect of what it really is through its conceptualization.
Abstracting, conceptualizing and creating metaphors is
what interests me.
Finding
your own distinctive voice can be difficult, where and how do you find your
personal creativity (before you start designing/during the design process)?
I am driven by strong convictions about materializing
visions that manifest in my mind’s eye. The craft methodology and material
evolution is something I have continued to evolve in response to the forms that
I wish to create.
What
challenges did you face during the design process?
The making is the most challenging, when I start with
a mental image it is rarely going to be straight forward in the making process,
however this is the part I find interesting, continually experimenting with
different making methods and materials to get closer and closer to realizing my
dream in 3D. A most recent example was pushing to the limits a traditional shoe
making craft process; hand stretching a meter long shoe over hand sculpted
wooden forms. It took 2 people to last and many months of prototyping to figure
out a way of making the shoes completely hollow yet fully stable in form.
What do
you want to communicate with your work in general?
I want to use a known object of fashion that we have a
physical connection with to express deeper emotional life experiences. I also
want to challenge our visual preconceptions of fashion asking questions like
‘What is a bag?’ and readdressing how they could be reconstructed from a
conceptual perspective.
Can you
tell us something about the project you will present at the FASHIONCLASH Festival?
The project is called The Language of Feet in the Walk
of Life. The
inspiration is life, things personally experienced or observed; the
relationship with the self, relationships with others, concepts which include: self-loss,
self-abandonment, co-dependency, self-discovery, experiences with the internal
self through imagination.
The research included the act of
walking, and how we can become our own action and body language where I focused
on reading the feet in social situations. The feet are an interesting part of
the body because we are often very unaware of their subtle but powerful
projection. In the situation of desire the feet point directly towards the
object of interest, in the opposite situation the body may continue to point
politely forwards but at least one of the feet will be pointing towards the
exit. I am materialising the negative or unseen spaces in situations that
relate to human cognition, foot and shoe.
What do
you try to communicate with your project?
The idea is that shoes can be deep autonomous
objects that can visually communicate something other than the literal function
or aesthetics. Each conceptual shoe represents and
projects experiences that relate to the concept of ‘Self’. The relationship we
have throughout life with our internal and external being and how relationships
with others can impact, collide and overlap with our own state of being.
Why have
you decided to participate at FASHIONCLASH Festival?
Because Fashionclash is
representing the boundaries being pushed in the progression of fashion as
intelligent art object, it gives the opportunity and freedom to create an
installation based presentation which is in line with the gallery environment
which is where my work is created for.
FASHIONCLASH
is already working on future themes. What are the topics you find interesting?
Things relating to human experience or something very
abstract and open.
What are
your thoughts regarding ‘religion and fashion’?
I have created work that relates to religion in my own
work previously in a more conceptually abstract sense, religion is a part of
society and in that sense it creates an interesting dialog that can be explored
through clothing.
Does fashion make sense to you?
Fashion in the context of art makes sense
as an evolving form which offers ongoing exploration in understanding the self
and in helping me to create connections with others through shared experience.
What are your thoughts on making ‘fashion’ more
environmentally-friendly?
Environmental conscience is obviously important in
every aspect of life and fashion is part of this. For myself working with
alternative fashion materials such as wood, I have to consider materials use in
general and the impact I have. From cars to clothing more must be done to lower
the impact on the environment, working on one off bespoke fashion art pieces I
can often pick up discarded materials and recycle, I’ve been really impressed
with the change in attitude in the common household where people have come back
to the mentality of leaving things out in the street for others to re-use.
What are your thoughts on the senses in relation to the human body?
The senses are one of the things that make us more
sensitive as human beings, connecting us to experiences in an intimate way. The
sense of the self and the relationship and development of the inner being and
how that might be projected outwardly is explored in some of my work.
Do you think that fashion can contribute to a better world / better
well-being, and what do you do to make a difference?
Fashion is a universal object that we can all relate
to and in that it can be used as a social, political and personal commentary
and voice. When working as a lecturer and workshop leader I use fashion to
build confidence in others and help them to understand that we can rid
ourselves of preconceptions and operate in a way that is free and truthful to
our own ways of seeing.
What senses are engaged in your creation process?
Touch primarily, in the sculpting phase I am using
feel to sense the flow and contours of the object and also physical contact too
see how the body connects and becomes one with the object. The senses help to
create a mind and body connection which becomes the more spiritual experience
of art. I am engaged with the mental instinct and the development of mental
creativity through the development of the imagination. I am also engaged with
the inner self and use the subconscious to process the internal being into metaphorical
external objects that have their own humanistic character.
How does technology change your creation process?
Technology has acted as a tool to capture very hand
created forms when prototyping and transport them into alternative materials
without losing the artist hand, lasers scanners allowed me the freedom to
change materials from less stable prototyping ones to more solid milled CNC or
3D printed.
Fun Facts
What’s a
standard day for you?
Somewhere between the studio using my hands,
prototyping, making, answering emails, and when lecturing in fashion energizing
approx 60 students to create and think.
Vegan,
vegetarian, healthy diet or any food will do?
Pescatarian and generally healthy.
What’s
your favourite song at the moment?
So much music, too little time. Listening to music
mainly on vinyl of all description, original 90’s rave is good to work to.
Best
Tv-show/movie at the moment?
I’m interested in observing people in relation to love
and relationships so things relating to ‘dating’. I watched an episode of
Catfish today, tragic and sad in one sense and bizarre and funny in others, but
essentially very real life and a product of our time. I have to contrast any
trash with something artistic in film or documentary based.
Are you
a people's person or a loner?
Goes with the territory, I love being on my own and
having all of my head space in working and creating, but when I’m with people I
like to have fun and I can be a bit of a joker.
Do you
have a pet?
I looked into it until I read the words ‘as much
responsibility as a child’.
Your
favorite quote?
'An
intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in
a simple way.' Charles Bukowski
What’s
your favorite city?
I lost my heart in LA when I was 16 and I’ve been
meaning to go back and claim it back ever since.
What do you enjoy the most in life?
Love and Art.
Instagram
account you think deserves more attention?
In a social media rebellion I resisted having an instagram
account for a long time. But now I have I am enjoying connecting with
interesting people, so to help me catch up I would have to say
@jocopeconceptualfashion. Also a great paper engineer I came across is
@horstkiechle, he’s a supporter of my work and I would like to give him some
love back.
