Exhibitions
Mako Artigas, the Japanese style that dressed European haute couture
The textile designer is exhibiting a selection of her work in room 4 (Cotxeres) of Palau Robert until June 7.
“I dedicate all my time to making designs”, says Mako Artigas. She did not hide her emotion. The day before she had celebrated her birthday (89 years old) and today, March 13, she inaugurated the tribute exhibition surrounded by family and friends, who filled the Cotxeres of the Palau Robert in Barcelona. The exhibition offers a broad look at the career of one of the most unique creators of international textile design, a work that for six decades has connected Japanese tradition with European artistic modernity.
Born in Tokyo in 1937 and trained at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Mako Artigas arrived in Barcelona in 1960 and came into contact with the Massana School, with the desire to dedicate herself to textile print design and integrate into European artistic circles.
Belonging to the same generation as Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono and Shigeko Kubota, she soon moved through the avant-garde environments of Barcelona and later Paris, where she developed a good part of her career as a textile designer, creating hundreds of drawings for the fashion industry, many of them inspired by plant and natural elements.
His compositions, characterized by a free and imaginative stroke, were acquired by major haute couture and prêt-à-porter firms such as Christian Dior, Paco Rabanne, Nina Ricci, Courrèges and Kenzo, as well as by prestigious European and Japanese textile industries. “Sometimes I would go to El Corte Inglés and find my prints,” says the artist. His “invisible stroke” soon appeared in fashion magazines, shop windows and catwalks around the world.
At the same time, Mako Artigas maintained a close relationship with the artistic world of his time and met figures such as Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Eduardo Chillida, Georges Braque and Alberto Giacometti.
Married to the sculptor and ceramist Joan Gardy Artigas, son of the famous ceramist Josep Llorens Artigas, the designer has lived in Gallifa since 1989, where they both work in the workshops linked to the Llorens Artigas Foundation. In this environment, Mako has expanded her practice towards ceramics and porcelain, without ever ceasing to draw. The creative continuity of the family is also reflected in her son Isao. “I create two designs a day,” says Mako with a smile, the protagonist of a documentary that recreates her creative processes.
The retrospective coincides with the closing of the Catalonia-Japan Year. The curatorship is in charge of Ricard Bru, while Menene Gras Balaguer directs the project. The exhibition can be visited until June 7th.
