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Art Scene
The Art Of Fashion And
Humanity
Man Chien
, creator of wearable art, talks to
Hannef Esquander
about the important
elements of her artworks and her passion for contributing to humanity.
F
ashion
and art are two elements that gel
perfectly together, often intertwining to create
something beautiful and thought provoking. Local
designer/artist Man Chien hasmade a career out of
her ability to seamlessly weave together her passion
and creativity in both art and design.
Storytelling
“I ama fashion designer. I make paintings. I came froman
Industrial Design background and used towork in thewayfinding
strategy field but now I runmy own design label,ManChien,”
explainsMan Chien.
Being referred to as awearable art-maker,Man Chien is driven
by two important elements - the human touch and sending a
message. She believes inmaking clothing that reminds people of
the personal effort that has gone into thework, which translates
into awell-thought design that take cares of comfort and provides
practical function as well, with the occasional artisanal approach
in themaking process. As the garmentmaker, shemakes it a point
that each piece designed allows thewearer to feel that her needs
are beingwell taken care of.
Storytelling is an important part inMan Chien’s work.
“Fashion is something that ismeant to be shown, and
meant to be seen. I do like the idea of deliveringmy
thoughts through fashion collections.”
PositiveGrowth
For the young designer, fashion is a subjectmatter that
stays close to her. She always pays attention towhat she
wears as she feels that it speaks volumes about who
she is. The samementality applies when shemakes art.
Expressing her emotions is very important to her and
she paints as away to document these feelings. “Both
fashion and art allows explorations. It feels natural to
me towork these two together at the same time,” say
Man Chien.
Man Chien definitely stands out fromthe crop of
young local Malaysian designers that are out there at
themoment and realises that she is just one of the lucky
fewwho are able to pursuewhat they love and run it as
business.
She admits that she is greatly influenced by Chinese
contemporary artist and activist AiWeiwei, andNew
York-based Yugoslav performance artist Marina
Abramovic.Works of both artists relate to humanity
which is very vital forMan Chien.
Expressing her emotions is
very important toMan Chien
Thewearable art-maker.