Welcome to the 62nd insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we enter the grotesque world of Carol Christian Poell, exploring the artisan’s ill-mannered techniques and distorted expertise.
Carol Christian Poell is a conceptual designer that has successfully negated all premises and boundaries that pertain to the form of wearable art. Since establishment in 1995, the Austrian creative has invented and pioneered abstract techniques such as object dying and transparency leather tanning, as well as furthered obscurities like vein injection processes. Not only has Poell enlightened and reshaped our present day, but he’s deconstructed our notions of the atypical.
Looking back, we can trace the designer’s inordinance and recurring themes to his heritage. As anatomy and leather remain at the core of the CCP namesake, a parallel is drawn to both his grandfather’s work as a doctor, and family’s long history in the leather working field. Trained in the craft from a young age, Poell’s stance on avant-garde focuses instead on the construction and finite details of a garment, opposed to the appearance of such.
With a yearn for discovery, Carol Christian Poell developed maximalist techniques which would often stray from any practical regard. The basis of each garment resides first in theory, making the deconstruction process (much like Margiela’s) a proclamation of premise rather than product. For example, in his Spring ‘06 collection the wool knit sweater was reinterpreted with human hair, creating an aesthetically similar item but polarizing difference in concept.
The same ideologies shine through in the pigment of Poell’s Fall ‘99 bull’s blood dyed pigskin trousers that “bring life back to leather”, or his latex dipped sneakers focusing on time’s momentary stagnancy. Whether he’s injecting live animal veins with paint to form patterned leather, or floating models down a river to illustrate the progression of fashion - it’s clear CCP is intended to provoke thought, however unusual his medium may be.