ThreeAsFour

From ThreeAsFour Lookbook: Human Plant
[images from ThreeAsFour]

ThreeAsFour is the international design collective previously causing a stir as AsFour. The original quartet consisted of Gabi, originally from Lebanon; the Adi, from Israel; Ange, from Tajikistan and their German colleague Kai.



From ThreeAsFour Lookbook: Kindergardens and Inferno
[images from ThreeAsFour]

Their fashion extravaganzas are often described as elegant, innovative, timeless, strange and curvilinear. The collective made a big impression on New York's underground fashion scene in 1999 with ‘Puppencouture', a performance installation peopled by 44 miniature puppets that were modelled on AsFour's members. It was an interactive happening, in which the public had to prevent the dolls from falling. ‘It was a nightmare,' Ange remembers. All the same, they followed it with more multimedia shows that agreeably push the boundaries between fashion and art. In 2002 they won the American Ecco Domani Award for new designers.

Their highly original designs have attracted clients such as Björk, who they dressed as a mermaid, as well as Mariah Carey. Their most famous design is the ‘circle bag', a concept that started as a joke: a circle with a hole in the middle. Helmut Lang thought it was wonderful. Since ThreeAsFour has been operating as a trio their output has become less conceptual: ‘We're over that now.'

Their commercial work includes designing clothing, accessories and rugs for the American label Kate Spade.

[text extracted from the 2007 Arnhem Fashion Biennale]

For more information, visit ThreeAsFour.