Amy: When did you and Aaron Curry first collaborate?
Laurence: I had the chance to meet Aaron Curry at his epic take over of Lincoln Center for his Melt to Earth show. We shared many similar points of inspiration, from skateboarding, punk, the cosmos, and beyond. It started a dialogue that would ultimately lead to a formal collaboration that debut for our Spring/Summer 2019.
Having been a long term fan of Aaron’s artwork it was an absolute dream come true. He spent weeks in New York City in our studio deconstructing works that lead to our most successful collection to date.
Amy: Setting the scene for our audience - when did you first start to connect with Avery Dennison?
Laurence: Our conversation with Avery Dennison began over the creation of the Bright Bmbr. Often larger brands will reach out to us looking for concepts or ideas and it takes a while to come to fruition.
With Avery Dennison it was different. At the first meeting we developed a strategy for the creation of a bomber jacket that would give you access to a major city, essentially curating an experience - seats at a coveted restaurant, access to a gallery, or even a nightclub.
To our amazement with in a matter of weeks Avery Dennison had completed development of our concept and the jacket became a real thing. The experience of working together was such a pleasure - collaborating to ensure that we achieved a balance between pushing creative boundaries for the Rochambeau brand and in representing and enabling the Avery Dennison vision felt perfect.
It then continued after we became the winners of the prestigious Woolmark Award. Avery Dennison partnered with us to develop custom branding, appliqués and hangtags that made our collection stand out in front of an international panel of some of the most regarded people in the fashion industry.
And now connecting together at the New Museum with Avery Dennison’s Vela™ technology is another adventure again.
Amy: What was your vision behind the event at the New Museum?
Laurence: When the New Museum approached us to create a concept for a pop up shop for our Aaron Curry collaboration, it was the perfect opportunity to use a legendary cultural institution as a platform to highlight all of the most exciting elements that went into the collection.
In the development process for the collection we referenced specific works from Aaron Curry’s Two Sheets Thick Show, and worked with Aaron in the studio to cut up the collage elements to create the clothing, which was an incredible experience. We were able to bring his collage elements to life by translating them into appliqués/embellishments with Avery Dennison.
For the New Museum, the concept was to bring that experience to life. Our guests would be able to customize limited edition pieces that were created exclusively for the launch event, in the same way that we did in the studio for the creation of our collection.
The next goal was to transform the New Museum with a fully immersive visual experience- we turned to Avery Dennison to not only vinyl wrap the entire ground floor of the museum with hand drawn shapes from Aaron, but also to create a physical installation in the front window, incorporating Avery Dennison’s Vela™ technology.
This created a fully immersive experience, culminating with a performance by the band ARSUN- and made for a really incredible night.
Amy: Did you see any of the application of the vinyl graphics? If yes what was your impression of the application itself (or the applicators)?
Laurence: The experience of overtaking the New Museum with a entire vinyl wrap was incredible. At first when concepting at such a grand scale there was skepticism that it would be able to get it done.
We spent weeks developing the creative with Aaron and when it was time to hand it off Avery Dennison had 48 hours to print, produce, and install - the most tremendous undertaking. In fact the install itself was in 90 minutes!
People attended the event that had been at the museum earlier that day and their minds were blown!
It is a testament to thinking big and having the partners that can make it happen.
Amy: What was your impression of the final vinyl graphic installation?
Laurence: The final installation was truly inspiring because it started as such a cool concept and then because of Aaron’s schedule much of the creative had to happen with Aaron in LA and us in NYC. We were literally building visuals off of our iPhones and so to see it translate in such a monumentous scale was wild.
Amy: You first saw Vela™ Technology in New York in May. What do you see as the potential for the technology?
Laurence: From a brand perspective the potential of Vela ™ technology is endless. When I first saw it being demonstrated I was blown away by its ability to operate transparently when needed, revealing whatever object or item was behind it, and then through just walking past or engaging it could become a fully immersive experience.
We are constantly developing content, with our shows, the back of house and creative process- one of the challenges can be finding vehicles to tell our brand story and highlight this content.
