In issue 8 of Schön! we have an interview with couture designer Silke Wilhelm, originally from Lübeck, Germany, who founded her label, Silke Wilhelm I, in 2003.

She calls her individual style of heavy draping and simple tailoring ‘Audiovisual Couture’ and her designs have a pure femininity about them that is somewhat absent in other designer’s work.

Each piece of her collection is powerful in its own right, yet holds its naivety due to the pallid colour schemes and minimal accessories.

Whilst Wilhelm was studying, she entered numerous international design competitions before landing a job with Vivienne Westwood in London, an amazing experience that has surely helped to inspire her collections even to this day.

 Wilhelm also won the Barclay Catwalk Fashion Award in Switzerland and has been ‘discovered’ by MTV’s Designerama for her incredible talent.

As the youngest of three siblings and a self-confessed ‘daydreamer’, Wilhelm was always seen as ‘somehow different’, but this dissimilarity has luckily set her apart from thousands of other fashion designers all over the globe.

Her designs seem effortless, as if created whimsically from a childhood dream, however Wilhelm did not even consider being a designer in juvenile fantasies. Due to her multitude of other interests, she had zeal for just about everything in the industry before settling as a designer. 

Her passions for music, photography, styling, journalism, choreography and PR gave her a taste for adventure before she finally realised that she could combine her overflowing talents into one area: fashion.

Wilhelm’s aim is to go outside superficial beauty in her designs, and she tries to combine the element of ‘motion’ in all her work to keep her ideas constantly evolving: a pivotal revolution for such a young force.

Despite all this, her work does not simply stop at designing. From this year, Silke Wilhelm has also become the Creative Manager for the charity campaign ’Vision – Action. Change’; a movement against female genital mutilation. She is currently working on campaigns to make people aware of the cause, commissioning artists, musicians, photographers and designers to help with the themes of the charity.

Check out issue 8 of Schön! to read a full interview with Silke Wilhelm as she discusses her inspirations, passion and style.

Photography by Jackie Hardt

Words by Sarah Fox

In the current edition of Schön! Andoni & Arantxa present to us an Italian love-affair with fashion, spectacle and flawless photography.

 The duo had not always been destined to become photographers. Both born in 1982 in north Spain, they only met for the first time in Madrid in 2004. Andoni was a musician in a band situated in San Sebastian before later moving to New York City. Arantxa, on the other hand was a model, travelling between Europe and The United States.

After finally meeting, they travelled the world together, moving from country to country before deciding to become photographers; a career which they now find an essential way of life.

The style of their original images is nothing short of stunning: 50-inspired pictorials, architectural scenery and clever overlays ooze a sense of sexy sophistication.

It’s this classic vision of glamour that makes Andoni & Arantxa successful in their field. Each image appears to have a romantic component sewn into the pixels of the photograph, transferring a dreamy, idealistic world directly onto the page.

Paris was the place where Arantxa first studied photography, and it’s clear to see how the city and it’s supreme beauty have inspired the duo’s work. When looking through their portfolio there is a Parisian persuasion running through the images, hinting yet more themes of romanticism and sentiment.

Andoni did his studying in New York, a city renowned for it’s edgy, yet wearable fashion, and this also appears to be echoed in the photographs to make the otherwise rapturous images more mysterious.

The couple’s travels around the world have added further external influences to their art, and in issue 8 of Schön!, their shoot titled ‘Italiana’ peerlessly portrays a classic love story with the elegance of Italian fashion, beauty and art.

Text written by Sarah Fox

In issue 8 of Schön! we have an interview with Michael Kutsche, an anomaly who, despite a lack of academia or training, has still managed to break out of the revolving artistic vortex and establish himself amongst The Greats.

Kutsche is a German artist based in Los Angeles whose unique creations led to him being personally handpicked by Tim Burton as a character designer for the director’s latest conception, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, in 2008.

Looking at Kutsche’s work, it is hard to believe that he is self taught. From the uncanny likeness to real objects to the surreal background and renaissance-like patterns, there is definitely nothing amateur about his art.

He works using a mix of both traditional and digital media – a technique he has brought into his own - which blurs the origins of both mediums to create exceptionally lifelike yet divergent worlds.

The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ images are a prime example of this, showing how the most mundane of realities can become occupied by eccentric, unconventional characters; thus making Kutsche the perfect partner for the bizarre Burton.

It was Kutsche’s Caterpillar drawing, featured in Schön! 8 that first sparked interest with Sony, who were quick to suggest him (along with a couple of other conceptual artists) to Tim Burton.

After toning down some of his original drawings to appeal to a Disney audience, he took to focusing on the shape and perspective of the characters; making sure they had original clothing, whilst maintaining a playful element. We have these exquisite, magical drawings in issue 8 of Schön! so you can see for yourself the talent that transcends from page to screen. 

The next projects for Michael include ‘John Carter of Mars’ and ‘Thor’, however he still makes time for his own projects, such as paintings, for future exhibitions and books.

The whole story of his success could well have been conjured up whilst taking a trip down the rabbit hole, but for Kutsche, this fairytale is a reality.

You can check out the whole editorial and interview with Michael Kutsche in Schön! 8.

Text by Sarah Fox

In Schön! 8, we have an exclusive deliberation of the revolutionary apple-created technology: The iPad.

Not only can it be used to read books, magazines, create documents, listen to music and play games; it has also created a new expression of drawing.

Luis Munoz-Rodriguez, a former Ballet dancer who uses illustration as an extension of his passion for physical movement, is one of the creatives who are now producing Electric Art on the iPad, and he’s not alone in this act. World famous pop-artist David Hockney has also expressed his admiration for the technical tablet, and we expect many more confessions to follow.

Munoz-Rodriguez has previously illustrated for us in Schön! 6, however he has created drawings on the iPad for our 8^th issue of Schön! proving that they are just as powerful in print as they are on the LED touch screen. The device hosts a diverse range of materials and colours to truly depict the artists’ imagination and talent.

 The innovation of Luis Munoz-Rodriguez’s designs shows that the iPad holds even more significance in both the business and art worlds, giving it yet more staying-power in our society.

The iPad is a platform for everything that is audio visual, and thanks to the geniuses at Apple, it is now a canvas.

Judging by Munoz-Rodriguez’s drawings, it appears many more tapestries of talent are yet to explode via the energy of Electric Art.

Text by Sarah Fox

In Schön! 8, we showcased the work of Spanish photographer Paco Peregrín, whose captivating images are anything but predictable.

Each project he undertakes manages to successfully smudge the line between celebrating his artistic visualisation and the exceptionally distinctive pieces of work that he creates.

His trademark of transformative makeup is a theme which sets the tone of each shoot, ranging from pretty pastels and acidic-brights to unadulterated gothic glamour. No matter the approach, Peregrín manages to make his photographs look incredibly beautiful in a wild, dishevelled, open-to-the-elements sort of way, whilst still maintaining a constructive sophistication which can surely only come from years of experience and raw talent.

Peregrín graduated from Seville University, Spain, with a BA in Fine Art and has now photographed and art-directed for high-profile companies such as Nike, Diesel, Gant, Adidas, Levi’s and Carlsberg (to name a few), leaving no room to argue that his work is getting the attention it deserves.

Exclusively represented by FACTORY 311, the creative image licensing network, Peregrín’s style is defined by mixing a range of fashion and conceptual design to create physical, hazy, graceful images that appear to have crawled out from a Tim Burton movie landscape; splattered with makeup and adorned with the most chimerical clothes.

After winning a Gold Lux award in the 2008 National Professional Photography Awards in Spain, it seems that Peregrín is well on his way to the top of his game.

His models are said to resemble Klaus Nomi, a German singer in the 70s, who was known for his heavy makeup and theatrical costumes, however the looks Peregrín creates have a more classic, refined finish.

In issue 8 of Schön!, his appropriately named shoot ‘Spectacular’ kicks off the issue in style, firstly with block-colours and whimsical, vivid images; morphing into darker, deeper expressions of his work using ribbons and silk on a tenebrous emerald backdrop – seeing is believing.

Text by Sarah Fox