Daniel Arsham’s New Brand Is Made for China’s Hypebeasts – JING DAILY
Mon 27 Jun
NYC-based artist Daniel Arsham is best known for producing pop culture sculptures that confront us with the prospect of time. His eroded geological art hints at the future and past all at once, so it makes sense that his newly-launched genderless clothing label evokes that exact concept.
Co-founded with Stefano Martinetto, the CEO of business accelerator Tomorrow (which looks after the likes of A-Cold-Wall*, Coperni and Charles Jeffrey), Arsham’s debut brand Objects IV Life reworks objects from the past to stand the test of the future.
The first release, Chapter 001, dropped last week and is a collection of utilitarian ready-to-wear pieces crafted in Portugal and Los Angeles from deadstock fabrics. “Even all of the fasteners have variation because it’s all recycled metal,” explains Arsham. “So not everything is going to look the same.”
Despite being a concoction of reused materials, every piece embodies an immaculate workwear staple. For this reason, Martinetto thinks its appeal will extend beyond the fashion crowd and reach “[consumers] who are more interested in quality, longevity and feeling appropriately-dressed at any time.”
The collection encapsulates the minimalism that had the ‘90s in a chokehold, something Arsham and Martinetto bonded over while having dinner in Shanghai back in 2019, where the idea arose. “I came back home and shipped Daniel a little box with 20 line sheets from Helmut Lang in the ’90s,” says Martinetto, who worked with the designer in the past.
Arsham expects Objects IV Life to resonate with Chinese shoppers due to its “reductive quality” that is not only present but a trademark of his artwork, defining the aesthetic that attracted his now-loyal fanbase of Chinese collectors.