They say creativity thrives within constraints. This was certainly true for us at Folk this season when it came to thinking about our Autumn/Winter pieces. We called on American artist, Frank Stella’s work to inspire the collection. A leading figure in the minimalist art movement, Stella is primarily focused on the pure, bare necessities of painting: line, shape, colour, materials, and composition. He embraces the flat, physical presence of the canvas wanting viewers to “See the whole idea without any confusion. What you see is what you see”. A master of simple, honest, playful design, he is a man after our own heart.
A painstaking amount of love, thought and energy has gone into developing new prints and a graphic story this season, taking reference from Stella’s artworks. We’ve created a series of exclusive, original designs with interlocking, graphic shapes hand-painted in a loose, textural style. Scaling these up, we printed the artworks so that they fully cover the garments in a swathe of curved shapes and relief areas - giving the effect of being covered in a painting. Our popular dot print has been redeveloped for winter in a linear, hand-drawn micro stripe design taking reference from the simplicity of Stella’s ‘Black Series’.
His inspiration doesn’t stop at patterns but has also bled into our colour palette which includes lots of rich jewel-like tones, creating a distinctly vivid, warm range. You’ll find these new seasonal colours in some of our most popular winter checked fabrics (the heavily brushed ‘Blanket Check’ is in the Assembly Jacket in a new Alpine Green).
As the days get shorter and brisker this season, we’re introducing useful layering pieces like the ‘Waffle cardigan’. Having worked closely with our mills, we have chosen a selection of interesting brushed and textured checks as well as developing our widest range of fleece fabrications to date to offer innovative and stylish textures to wrap up warm in. Our new ‘Indigo Texture’ is a Japanese fabric in a rich blue tone that has an almost bubbled surface. Made from organic cotton and hemp, it has been given a rinse wash for a more lived-in look. This brings out the natural texture of the fabric so it can be worn at its most sturdy and stylish. It’s these quiet but powerful details that we take such joy in.
We hope you find this collection speaks to the no fuss no muss of Stella’s words. Zooming out, to “See the whole idea without any confusion”, we wanted to make a line that fits with our ethos of comfort over complexity for a modern life lived well. Adapting old styles and creating entirely new ones, throughout the collection remains a continuity of modern, versatile shapes so you can start the colder months with a clear head and a killer wardrobe.
Enjoy.
Check the new collection here