I had my first visitor since moving to Taiwan! My Portland State professor Alison came to Taipei for the World Stage Design Conference. We toured the Dihua neighborhood and I got to take her to my favorite fiber building to explore several floors of fabric stores. She shopped for gifts to bring back home and we found this great gallery of paper crafts where we took the photo above.
The World Stage Design Conference was outstanding! Designers from around the world presented work in the exhibition hall and I was left tingling with inspiration. There were set, lighting and sound designs present but of course my faves were the costumes.
This paper creation was for a production of The Tempest. I didn’t take a picture of the designer info-ahh. But isn’t it stunning?!
Sofia Pantouvaki created these Tempest costumes below by creating the material using dying and felting techniques.
Designer Gino Gonzales created this costume for Hakbang Sa Hakbang Measure For Measure. The design concept was a subversion of a “Western ideal”-the costume silhouettes were kept but the materials used were locally produced materials in the Philippines. The piece below is made from muslin, simamay, raffia, coconut shells, hemp and wooden beads.
Angelina Atlagic created this costume for The Libation Bearers.
Qin Wenbao created this fabric sculpture costume for Maguhu Dream which has layers and layers of folded fabric.
After months on the road and months sequestered writing it was wonderful to be immersed in the world of theatre again. The book is almost done so now I can finally start setting up a sewing workspace. I picked up a notebook and colored pencils to start costume designing again. It feels deeply gratifying to return to designing. I’ve missed it!