生活的質感由無數的物品所組成，穿戴的、吃喝的、使用的，都盛載著生活的重量。法國藝術家 Noémie Chaillet-Piquand自小便活在奢侈的時裝圈裡，母親是HERMÈS資深的裁縫，她畢業後也順其自然地在HERMÈS工作，後來轉投L’Oréal和Dior等歷史悠久的法國品牌，培養出她對時尚的熱愛。雖然看盡時裝界的奢侈生活，卻沒有忘記生活的本質。在她眼裡的尋常物品，都是獨一無二的存在。她把多年來珍藏及朋友送贈的名牌絲帶，把隨手拈來的日常物品如禮物般包裝起來，它可以是一美元、一部殘舊的電話、一支牙刷或手扣，有時候強烈的反差會讓人會心微笑，同時也讓人摸不著頭腦。「我去了紐約工幹了五次，有一次我回到酒店，看著錢包內的美元，便心血來潮地拿起絲帶把它包裹起來。」Noémie以新的名字NOCHAPIQ來持續她的創作，探索時尚的可能性，並重新塑造日常用品，引起無限的想像。
綴上銀線的粉紅色CHANEL絲帶、啡色馬車圖案的HERMÈS絲帶，以及紅綠條子的GUCCI絲帶，這些復古Bolduc絲帶包裹出物件的輪廓，把物件原有的功能消失了。讓人聯想到時裝是一種華麗的包裝，把日常物品以珍貴的方式包裝起來，就如以全新的目光看待生活。Noémie：「我想藉著使用奢侈品牌的物料，來探索它們在另一世界的意義。對我來說，生活裡的一切都得來不易，我會懷著感恩的心去看待微小的事情，簡單如桌子上的食物、代步的車子都是生活裡的奢侈品。我把兩種世界裡的奢侈品結合在一起，以物件去詢問生活中的奢侈是什麼？我只是提出問題，每個人也有自己的答案。」有時候會被她作品的外表吸引著，想像它的內容，Noémie說：「我更想人們能直視物品中的靈魂，以及它象徵的意義。它們有一部分是關於時裝，但又不限於時裝。」Noémie為舊物賦予象徵意義，有時候更藏著社會和文化的符號。「我在製作耶穌受難像時，用絲帶包裹微小而彎曲的位置上充滿挑戰，可是當時內心感到一股謙卑的愉悅、敬愛之情和內心深處的平靜。耶穌象徵了信念，每個人都應有自己相信的事情，每一個微小的信念都十分重要。」
「很多時候，在一家時裝公司工作，自然地視其他的品牌為競爭對手，但我在HERMÈS工作的同時，也很喜歡其他的時裝品牌呢。」Noémie說，她最喜歡的品牌是HERMÈS和CHANEL，也喜歡把它們連結在一起。「它們就像是來自一個大家族，所以我在自己的Kelly bag上包裹上CHANEL的絲帶，看上去有錯覺的幽默感。這樣的話，我便不用選擇了，它們都在同一張桌子上。」Noémie的作品不只是作品而已，它們還是家族的故事。「媽媽在六十年代為HERMÈS設計了Constance bag，而我則設計了一款使用環保物料製作、彩色條子皮革的Vibrato HERMÈS。」她續說，「我把我從前工作的工具，如用在皮革上的鎚子也用絲帶包裹起來，每一件物品都有它的故事。」包裹的過程像一種感謝的儀式，是感謝物品曾付出過的努力以及陪伴。若把生活包裝起來，會不會活得不平凡一點？
早前在香港的JOYCE Boutique首次展出，更多的作品將會在移師到巴黎的JOYCE GALLERY，於巴黎時裝展期間展出。
Lifestyles are constantly constructed by countless elements like what you wear, what you eat, and what you use. With years of living a life intertwined with the world of haute-couture ever since she was a child, the French artist Noémie Chaillet-Piquand grew up among the fashionable people. Being the daughter of a senior tailor of HERMÈS, it came to no one’s surprise for her to join the HERMÈS team upon graduation. Later on, she also worked with other classical French brands like L’Oréal and Dior. On one hand, Chaillet-Piquand is dearly familiar with the extravagance of the fashion industry, on the other hand, she continues to take the essence of life seriously. She’s able to see the unique existence of every object she owns. As an unplanned result, she found her collection of bolduc ribbons produced by fashion brands began to pile up. She then started to randomly use these ribbons to wrap everyday objects as if they were gifts. She would wrap up a one-dollar note, an old phone, a toothbrush, or a pair of handcuffs. The mismatch sometimes creates a hilarious result that everyone finds clueless. “I have traveled back and forth to New York five times for work. One time when I got back to my hotel room and saw this one dollar note in my wallet, this idea just came to me and I wrapped the note up with a bolduc. Afterward, Chaillet-Piquand started this project under the name NOCHAPIQ to explore the possibilities of fashion. She tries to recreate everyday items to spark infinite creativity.
The CHANEL pink bolduc with a silver lining, the brown HERMÈS bolduc with patterns of a chariot, the red and green striped GUCCI bolduc, all these antique Bolduc ribbons have given the utility items a completely new face and transformed them into deluxe objects. “I try to explore the positioning of material produced by luxurious brands in an alternative world. To me, nothing comes for granted. I am grateful to everything I’ve got, even the tiniest things. Food on the table, the transportation I take, they are all luxuries. I am combining the luxurious goods of the two worlds and try to question what luxury means through the representation of these objects. All I am doing is to bring out the question and leave the answer open for everyone’s interpretation.” Her work is intriguing and stimulates imagination. Chaillet-Piquand continues saying, “I would love to have people seeing the true essence of these objects and the meanings they symbolize. Part of them is about fashion, but my work is not limited to fashion.” Her representation of used items sometimes consists of social and cultural symbols, “When making the figure for the Passion of Jesus, it was very challenging to wrap the small and bent part with a ribbon. At that moment, I felt a sense of humble satisfaction, I gained tranquility from my respectful mind. Jesus is a symbol of faith. Everyone should have their own faith as all kinds of faith are essential.
“It is rather natural to see other brands as competitors when you’re working for one brand. However, when I was at HERMÈS, I didn’t stop liking the designs of other brands,” Chaillet-Piquand says her favorite brands are HERMÈS and CHANEL, so she tends to link them together, “They seem to be from the same family, so I wrapped my Kelly bag with a CHANEL bolduc. This is a humorous mismatch. By doing this, I no longer have to choose as they are together now on my desk.” Her work is also a family story, “My mum designed the Constance bag for HERMÈS back in the 60s, and I designed a series of Vibrato HERMÈS, made of recycled colorful leather straps. I wrapped the tools I used for work with bolduc, such as the hammer I used when making leather goods. Every object has its own story.” The process of wrapping is almost a ritual of saying thank you for the help she received from these objects. Can our life be less common if we try to wrap them up in some ways?
After the debut Hong Kong exhibition in JOYCE Boutique, the rerun of the exhibition in the JOYCE GALLERY in Paris will showcase even more works during the Paris Fashion Week.
