Talent Talks: Ju Bao
What happens when human civilization becomes entangled with nature on a molecular level? Fusing knitwear and denim, IFM graduate Ju Bao brings to life one-of-a-kind fashion hybrids.
Ju Bao - Annihilation
Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Ju, I come from Yanbian, China. My heart is filled with the natural scenery of Northeast China, mountain springs, pine trees, alpine gardens and beautiful lava. I love nature very much, it is my most important source of inspiration. I like to study the relationship between the environment and human beings, and I like to image and explore the appearance of human civilization under the dominance of the environment.
Having graduated recently, how do you look back on your studies?
I have benefited a lot from the study in IFM's knitting program. We have systematically learned a lot of knowledge that knitwear designers need in this industry.
Could you please tell us something about your graduation collection/project?
My collection Annihilation is inspired by the book by Jeff VanderMeer and the eponymous movie. It imagines what happens when human civilization becomes entangled with nature on a molecular level. Organisms are mimicked and transformed creating strange and disturbing chimeras. I explore this phenomenon through denim which I replicate and mutate in knitting to create hybrid garments that are not what they appear to be.
Ju Bao - Annihilation
Which materials, techniques, programmes and/or applications are you mostly interested in?
As a fashion designer, there are many materials or techniques that I am very interested in. My favorite materials stem from streetwear of the moment, such as jersey, knit, denim and leather. I have always believed that we need to create meaningful designs based on contemporary fashion. Fashion means nothing if it's not wearable or doesn't come from life. So I prefer to observe people's clothing, extract a material, deconstruct it, and finally complete the creation.
The exhibition you are a part of looks into the meaning of regeneration. What does regeneration mean to you and your work?
Regeneration to me is a celebration of life force. I believe that when things are destroyed and exhausted, the vitality that bursts out of them is infinite.
I have always been obsessed with the washed and destroyed effects of denim. The longer the wearing time, the richer the texture will be. This is a link between human body movement and the external environment, and it is also a slow, visual destruction. I feel energy from it, and I believe that's why denim has always been loved by the market.
I use knitting to celebrate denim, by creating an illusion, I regenerate the various washing and destroying effects of denim on the knitting, directly skipping the artificial washing and destroying steps in the denim factory, making this ruined romance more sustainable.
At the same time, my denim also retains the characteristics of knitwear. This is the mirage of denim and knitting. Just like my theme Annihilation, I deconstructed and reorganised the two different textiles on a molecular level to recreate a new fusion.
Ju Bao - Annihilation
How do you perceive the meaning and importance of community within the fashion field?
For me, community is the soil. As a designer, all of our works originate from ourselves. If a designer is a plant, then the inspiration is the flower, and the work is the fruit. Different environments create different plants, and the people that designers face and get along with are the necessary community relationships for this plant.
I think that everything around us is a projection of the mind. If the designer's works can come from the heart, then everything he feels will affect the design results all the time, including the people he gets along with, the living environment, the scenery he sees every day, and the story happenings between people. Because fashion is ultimately a product of the society in which people live. I don't think people who are excluded from the community can care about fashion anymore.
NOoF: How do you view the future of fashion? And your own role therein?
The near future that I can predict is still a fashion based on people. People's expression of personality will gradually settle from the outside to the inside, and people will be more inclined to explore nature; the external silhouette will gradually weaken, and continue to reproduce the liberation of the body during the Renaissance. Fashion designers need to further promote comfortable and detail-oriented design, so material design will become more important.
As a fashion designer who focuses on materials, my duty is to continue to observe, extract, reorganize and create.
Ju Bao - Annihilation