A poetic installation will take place in an ancient historical factory that remains intact, filled with patina and traces of time. This unique combination is an ode to the past, enhanced with a touch of modernity. All pieces will be for sale. A nod to portuguese traditions will be highlighted with clothing, furniture, and objects, showcasing Portugal's heritage and cultural richness.
Jimmy Beyens is an ensemble maker: he collects furniture and art objects, then stages them using natural lighting. He creates his own cohesions, compiling everyday works from sourced pieces—mainly from Sweden and Denmark. He shares with fashion designer eva velazquez a passion for the old. Her talent lies in identifying, cleaning, and restoring historical clothing from the peasant and working class, which she reinterprets for contemporary use. Eva velazquez stands out from the classic fashion landscape with an interest in the "practical and sustainable" clothing traditions of all of Europe. She also creates a contemporary collection entirely handmade in Belgium. Jimmy, on the other hand, gathers, harmonizes, and restores precious objects, rare furniture, and patinated pieces that tell a story and convey an essence. As an aesthetic collector, his job as an "interior scenographer" is performed behind the scenes.
Both of them cultivate a unique sensitivity for inhabited elements. With their collaboration "commoner folk craft," they present their harmonized collections, clothing staged with furniture and decorative elements. Their worlds are complementary.
The pieces are valued for their function, minimal, practical, transferable. Eva has always translated a similar intention in her installations, where she invites both accessories and tools, technical and sometimes unusual objects that harmonize with ancient garments. With Jimmy, they galvanize the energies of their particular aesthetics, to dress life.
Their common project celebrates popular art. "We conceived this initiative as a roving event, a sort of avant-garde historical pop-up, which develops our own themes into original cohesion."
They continue by vocation to honor the know-how, arranging pieces (not quite) forgotten. "We want to honor the simplest essentials of life, present them as works of art to convey the message of the value of these spotted, repaired, transmitted, enriched, and transgenerational furniture and clothing." Each decides the story they will tell, it is a counter-marketing approach, a durability. Anti-consumption is also investing in the loved.
Images courtesy of Eva Velazquez and Jimmy Beyens