Tabla de contenidos para Issue 15 en White Paper by - English

Quipu. It is an ancient system of information coding and communication used by the Quechua civilization. Using knots (which is what ‘quipu’ translates to in the Cusco–Collao Quechua language), it consisted of a long textile rope from which hung multiple knotted strands in different shapes and colors, capable of encoding information as if it were an alphabet. “When I learned about it, it seemed incredible to me that this information system existed,” explains Cecilia Vicuña, “and that it had been erased from our culture and our memory.” Now, her art is reclaiming it. Her craft made of scraps, sticks and “thingamabobs”, as she calls them, revives this way of communicating through natural objects transformed by a woman's hand. “In my quipus, I insert materials such as twigs, bamboo sticks and…

You were trained as a designer but you are more of a curator now, how or why did you move from one aspect of design to the other? During my studies, I already specialized in exhibition design and after graduating I started working on projects in public spaces and designing exhibitions. So from the start, the exhibition as a medium has been my focus and main interest. I soon started managing the production of exhibitions and not only designing the space, and a short while after I became more and more interested in the content rather than the form. I decided to give it a go and never looked back! It was your family circumstances that brought you to live in Schloss Hollenegg. What made you feel that you could…

“My first clients were pop stars, a hat can make an average person look like an icon.” Thank you so much for your time and for answering these questions for White Paper by. First of all, congratulations on your journey in such a complicated yet exciting world as hats. It's quite complicated to have some time with you, it seems that the big fashion houses don't leave you even a minute, what does it mean for you to move to the different universes of each designer? It's difficult to juggle time because there are only 24 hours in a day. However, I have great teams in London and Paris. When I walk in the door, I become that house. All your designs and proposals on the latest catwalks are incredible.…

Incense flows through the veins of the Omani people. The harvest of this ancient plant is a tradition that still takes place twice a year despite the adversities of the high-altitude climate in which it grows. With their Manqaf in hand, the most traditional ones gather in the mountains to take whatever nature wishes to give them. In a tribute to this heritage, Amouage, the international luxury fragrance house, has launched a program focused on the regeneration of Wadi Dawkah, in the Dhofar region. The site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to hundreds of centuries-old frankincense trees. With its gesture, the House aims to protect, restore and expand this cradle of valuable resin, a key ingredient in its fragrances. This is an important milestone in the sustainable development…

“PAINTING STILL HAS A LOT TO OFFER, BUT WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR APPROACH.” The art of fusion is in his DNA and he has made it an essential part of his work. Marc Ferrero, born to an Argentinian-Italian father and a French mother, was drawn towards drawing, art and fiction from an early age, but less so to school and educational institutions, soon abandoning them to focus on a self-taught career where characters, worlds and stories, many stories. And just as these stories slowly came to life, he was gradually beginning to write his own. He first took to the world of comics but soon realized that if he wanted to bring his art to a broader audience, he had to express himself in larger formats. He abandoned cartooning,…

Located in a historic 13th-century palace in the heart of Brescia (Italy), the non-profit cultural association Palazzo Monti is renowned for its program of artistic residencies for young creatives. It all started, once again, with a family inheritance: that of a 13th-century palazzo located in the historic center of Brescia (Italy). It was 2017 and the collector Edoardo Monti had been away from his homeland for almost a decade, dealing with Stella McCartney's PR, first in London and then in New York. It was then that news arrived of the empty historic house acquired by his grandfather in the 1960s. He returned to Italy and founded Palazzo Monti, a non-profit cultural association and multifunctional exhibition space, but first and foremost a true creative home. The 1,000-square-meter space was too large…

Joy, passion and illusion are contagious when listening to Carme Ruscadella, one of the most renowned chefs in the world. Her restaurants have been awarded seven Michelin stars and numerous prizes throughout a truly incredible career. Carme is a master of flavors and quality products, who, together with her tireless way of seeing life, never stops experimenting, learning and transmitting all her knowledge in the kitchen. A few years ago she decided to close, together with her husband Toni Balam, the restaurant Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar where she won three Michelin stars. It seemed like her work schedule was going to slow down a bit, but it's surprising how many projects Carme Ruscadella is involved in. Can you give us a brief summary? I think that when…

We are just a few days away from ARCO. Am I interrupting your preparations? Actually, I have never prepared anything for ARCO. I've always presented something from the previous year, a preview of upcoming exhibitions, or a combination of both. For example, the Rubells bought a painting that had been shown at the gallery. I have always worked at ARCO like I do at home: I exhibit in all my galleries (as I do at Art Basel) because I want things to be happening for me on my home turf. At Paris+ or Frieeze London, on the other hand, I only give one painting to one gallery. You work with several notable galleries, which means frequent exposure to a very heterogeneous public. How do you organize your work in order…

Could you tell us how the idea of creating the podcast came about? Did you expect to have this big an impact on the industry? I didn't expect it, but it's been wonderful because it has all happened in a very organic way. I came up with it at the beginning of the pandemic because, like I guess everyone else, I was feeling very isolated and out of touch. I wanted to keep telling stories about jewelry, which is what I love to do, so I thought a podcast was the most modern platform to do that. Even though you don't have the visual support, there's something about just the voice and a conversation that makes you feel the emotions and feelings that only jewelry provokes. Podcasts are a great…

“Always remove, always strip away. Never add… There is no other beauty than the freedom of the body”. The phrase, by Gabrielle Chanel herself, was an inspiring principle, a constant throughout her career. And she proved it from the beginning with designs that prioritized freedom of movement: her scandal was that of simplicity, putting an end to the ostentation and discomfort with which haute couture was associated until then. The renewal that she brought to fashion was more like a revolution, a new beginning that could perfectly well be said to have found its equivalent in the figure of Isadora Duncan. Born five years apart—the dancer in 1878 and the dressmaker in 1883 —both were re-founding their respective disciplines at the beginning of the 20th century. The first one, dance,…

The history of the Creed family name goes back for generations. The prestigious luxury house founded n 1 760 has an incomparable legacy of aromas through the creation of more than 200 perfumes over the course of its history. But what is truly remarkable about the firm is the creative spirit and keen sense of smell inherited throughout its seven generations. A 260-year-old Legacy Its history dates back to 1710 when a penniless young man from Leicester named James Creed set off for London to fulfill his creative dreams. Five decades later he reached true success when he successfully presented King George III with a pair of perfumed leather gloves. Soon his granddaughter, Queen Victoria, appointed the House of Creed as an official supplier to the Royal Household. And a…

Vincent Leroy is a contemporary French artist who plays with industrial materials to the point of giving them a poetic dimension, creating monumental works of kinetic art to interact with. Vincent Leroy (1968, Avranches) spent his childhood tinkering with tools on a farm in Normandy, in northern France. He built all kinds of things: airplanes, cabins, musical instruments, etc., and has never stopped since. In his twenties, while studying industrial design at ENSCI-Les Ateliers in Paris, he slipped into the university workshops to use the machines so he could design small kinetic mobiles that he then sold. Production increased and before long he was exhibiting in galleries and creating increasingly larger pieces. From there he went on to the monumental works he has exhibited all over France and became known…

Art for the sake of art—and what better introduction than two leading figures in their respective fields talking about what unites them and what they're passionate about? From his studio in Berlin, artist Olafur Eliasson responds to curator and advisor Javier Molins in a one-on-one that begins with questions about the most recent work of the Icelandic-Danish artist and goes all the way to the deepest meaning of art and culture. Olafur Eliasson's year began just like the last one came to a close: with a frenetic pace. He has just closed an exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and another one at the Castello de Rivoli in Turin will remain open until the end of March, but in spite of that, his studio is constantly working on new projects.…

It was still nighttime when I left Madrid. A city half asleep and sleeping poorly. I could already feel that dry clarity of the Spanish capital. I'm obsessed with getting to places with plenty of time in advance, it's part of my OCD. Hence, I arrive at the airport several hours early. Almost miraculously, without having planned it, I am sitting next to my best friend's wife on the plane. Cristina makes the trip more bearable; she is an exceptional woman who puts me at ease. I hate flying. I like to arrive in London at Gatwick and leave through Heathrow. More solo traveler pet peeves. On the Gatwick Express, I look out the window. The English haze still encompasses the dreary fields and suburbs surrounding London. There is a…

The new version of the emblematic Tradition Quantième Rétrograde 7597 combines the best of Breguet's watchmaking heritage with the most contemporary and avant-garde design. They say that there is no such thing as modernity without a strong tradition. Perhaps that is the motto that best defines the spirit of the Breguet watchmaking firm and its new version of the iconic Tradition Quantième Rétrograde 7597. The founder of the maison, Abraham-Louis Breguet, was the mastermind of the most complex creations of his time and, at the same time, creator of the simplest watch ever made: the ‘souscription’ (subscription in French), which allowed one to read the hours and minutes with a single hand. The minimalist aesthetic of the piece was as ahead of its time as its marketing method: as stated…

It all came to life a little over four years ago. The seed, however, was planted long ago—Anna Torrents' passion for perfumes and the world of art goes back a long way. She says that as a child, when her parents went on trips she would ask them to bring her perfume samples; an aromatic curiosity that she cultivated everywhere and every day, like when she would go to her friends' houses and try to smell and identify the fragrances their mothers wore; all those scents persist in her memory today. That obsession for perfumes combined with her boundless love for art gave birth to Genyum, an original and exquisite collection of fragrances with which Anna intends to pay tribute, give visibility and reflect the talent and the artistic environment…

She sums up her professional ambition as striving to do her utmost best for each client and each project. Despite the simplicity and modesty implicit in her answer, the fact remains that the result of her vision has served to shape and revolutionize the recent pop consciousness and the international fashion industry. Alongside the world-renowned Björk, stylist Edda Gudmundsdottir managed to transform the Icelandic singer's music into a spiritual and globally recognized experience, materializing the artist's dreamlike and extravagant yearnings to embrace the challenge and make her one of the greatest music and fashion references of our time. Not even her chronic shyness and reluctance to place herself in the media spotlight, which Edda interrupts momentarily to respond to our questions at White Paper By, manages to disguise her influential…