Like that beloved holey T-shirt you'd never throw away, Area's new line is the product of love, late nights, and a few (worth-it) mistakes. Earlier this year, designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk were experimenting with a hydraulic embossing machine––aka a hunk of 1930s steel only 20-somethings with a knack for strange fabrics would try––when they punched clean through their cotton. But, over time, the holes evolved into a beautiful, intricate mesh. "It was a happy accident that become a collection," said Beckett.
Now available at Opening Ceremony, Area's capsule collection of T-shirts, tanks, and shorts, will change your opinion on what holes can do for clothing. Unlike that frayed pair of denim, these pieces are delicately, deliberately perforarted, creating a subtle geometry that evolves over time. When you first buy a piece, its apertures are near invisible. Eventually, they evolve into small openings, and finally, a cobweb-like mesh. "The technique of embossing is temporary by nature, but with Area, it's an evolution," said Beckett when OC stopped by her studio on a recent afternoon. "[The texture] doesn’t completely disappear; it just changes."
What's more, the garments age differently depending on how you wash and wear them: Dry cleaning will give your T-shirt more texture, handwashing creates scattered, sparse apertures, and throwing it in your wash-and-fold bag will accelerate the mesh effect. "It also depends on the person wearing it, how much perfume you wear, how much you sweat," said Piotrek. "Every one of the shirts is completely different."
Unique pieces are, of course, inevitable when you're producing fabric using a massive piece of Great Depression-era machinery. The hydraulic embosser, which Beckett discovered at a New Jersey factory when she was still a student at Parsons, is typically used to stamp furniture leather or fake crocodile handbags. "The vintage metal plate we're using on the shirts was originally made for car seats!" Beckett said.
Meanwhile, the minimal and modern aesthetic of Area couldn't be further away from a gritty factory. Beckett, an alum of Calvin Klein, and Piotrek, an alum of Chloé and Emanuel Ungaro, took inspiration from Bruce Weber's O Rio de Janeiro photographs, Judith Shea's sculpture, and yes, the famous less-is-more sensitbility that Beckett picked up while at Calvin. "We don’t want to be a generic minimalist, though," Piotrek said. "It also needs to have soul."
Shop Area HERE
Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg of Area in their studio-showroom on Canal Street. Photos by Michael Elijah
Area's T-shirts, stamped using a hydraulic embossing machine, come tightly folded in the same packaging they're wrapped in at their New Jersey factory.
"Everything we do is about texture," said Piotrek.
The designers took inspiration from Bruce Weber's photographs, Judith Shea's sculpture, and the famous less-is-more sensitbility that Beckett picked up while at Calvin Klein.
A mini-e