Interview: Renata Espinosa

Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss, who founded Bless in 1997, exist in the design-as-art, art-as-design school of production, creating objects and clothing that both question the nature of consumption and fuel it as well with their highly coveted limited edition products. Each Bless collection starts with an object, an idea, a garment or an all-encompassing design solution for life – the Bless version of “basics” – often incorporating recycled goods as materials. They have sought out alternative business models to continue production according to their own vision, through creative funding, in some instances, via corporate sponsorship and collaboration. In this sense, they are like commodity artists, using the language of contemporary commodity culture – the buying and selling of goods – as their medium. Not surprisingly, their work sits equally well as a gallery installation, a pop-up shop or on the racks of a (carefully chosen) boutique. For the customer also seeking substance as well as style at the point where art and fashion blurs, Bless is the go-to, always ready with a new answer to everyday life that is as fashionable as it is functional. Here, we talked to Bless about their take on denim – the greatest symbol of the “everyday” if ever there was one – as well as their past collaborations and future dreams.

Blend: Historically, denim has been used from as a functional, hardworking fabric for work clothes, to the basis of clothing associated with youth rebellion to a high-end designer object. Now, you can't escape denim. Everyone wears it in some way or another. How do you feel about denim? Boring or essential?

Bless: We are definitely on the essential side. In our generation, and from our personal and professional point of view, the denim is as classic as a suit made from English wool, a white shirt in a cotton fabric, a black evening dress in silk and many other key items people wear nowadays more to fulfill, than to break, the rules of society. Of course, the appearance of denim could also still stand for a rebellious aspect, but today, even bourgeois grandfathers proudly wear their denim.

Do you think of denim as a garment - i.e. jeans - or as just another fabric?

Definitely as a garment. In the past, we mostly used denim for pants or maybe for some for jackets. Once, we used denim to cover cushions for chairs. In collection BLESS N°18 “Allroundwear,” which was our first big clothes collection, we used blue denim for pants and skirts in order to bleach them and to underline our aim of creating a basic and comfortable everyday look. Together with the color white for t-shirts, jumpers and other tops, the color black for jackets, coats and dresses and the color of natural leather for accessories, we proclaimed a “pret-a-well-being” aspect in wearing fashionable clothes [with an emphasis on the materials themselves].

Tell me about some of the denim-related collaborations you've done: Levi’s in 1998, Bless advanced “jeansrings” and Wrangler. What were the different objectives for the projects?

Because we didn't have any proper production company, we collaborated with Levi’s more as a sponsorship through denim jeans, which we customized for our first collection called "Basics."?For the jeansrings, when we cut up denim clothes for our patchwork cushions for the interior collection "N°07 Living room conquerors," Jörg Todtenbier, who helped us realizing this project, came up with the idea of the denim rings, when he tenderly saved the nice parts of the used jackets and pants. Wrangler commissioned Bless to design the inspirational part for their line called Blue Bella. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well, because the head of Wrangler changed their mind and cancelled the whole project after its presentation. In the end, besides the fact that we liked the pieces a lot, it was more a nightmare than a fruitful project.

Could you talk about "Team-Ups" - another project you did, which seems to be a project about the nature of collaboration, or perhaps a commentary on it.

At that time, we felt that we want to expand our editions in order to make our products even more accessible, but without compromising on our idea to work on different fields. We developed a vision to collaborate with many different companies, because we see this as a good possibility of sharing knowledge, ideas and facilities. Therefore, for BLESS N° 12 we collaborated with Bucherer, a Swiss jewelry brand, for our mixed jewelry necklaces and bracelets; with Adidas for a limited edition of unique sneakers and we were looking for a home textile company to produce our bed sheets, but we didn't find one for this. “Team-Ups” is more a placative strategy for surviving as a small label – a business model trying alternative and efficient ways of collaboration. The aim is to look offensively for different possibilities of production, because the other way around means waiting for the marketing strategies of bigger brands who want try to decorate themselves with the name of the designer in the first place, and the product has to fit in the context of the brand.

What other projects are you working on right now, either for the brand or as a collaboration?

Currently, we have a license agreement with Alain Mikli. This started with the sunshield, and continues with other glasses projects we come up with each year. We also started to collaborate with the German company BLANK, who is re-launching our bed sheets with the sleeping couple [Bless No. 12] next season, together with other products, most likely. For Winter 09/10, we are working together with OXBOW, a French brand who wants to re-launch a very successful item from the ‘80s, the skolpen. ?

Are there certain conditions or criteria for you when deciding who you will collaborate with?

Not really. We are very open to whoever would like to collaborate and then just see if it makes sense with our current work or not.

Likewise, when you are coming up with a new Bless product or series, what is the process for deciding what new thing you will make?

There is no general recipe. If you see early Bless as a friendship and the structure it forms today as a collective of like-minded people, then the products are the documentation of how to have a good time today. Sounds maybe a bit too “peacey,” but somehow you can't see the product just as a design item, an add-on to the variety of medicine against boredom. Somehow, for us, our work is an obsessed gesture of the vision to change through offering constructive alternatives.

Bless designs such an in-depth array of items. What ties them together?

All our projects have in common that it is about results and solutions for sometimes very personal, so-called "problems, about what is lacking in “alldaylife,” about the renewal of “alltimefavorites.” Sometimes the products add a commentary, others should just provoke a smirk the moment you discover them. In general, we believe in good quality and that there is always a price you have to pay for it. Of course, this means you have to be patient with Bless, because it takes time to let customers discover the advantages of this focus.

How did your latest shop in New York transpire, on Ludlow Street? The shop sounds a little like a cross between a museum retrospective of your work and the "gift shop" for the exhibition, and I'm also reminded of Marcel Duchamp's "Box in a Valise," where he created miniature replicas of his most important works. In going back to your work of the past 11 years, how did you decide which products were the most important to feature?

We really enjoyed doing this shop #20. After the temporary shop in Mexico City, where we occupied this beautiful villa with a garden to introduce our range of products, interiors and clothes, we came up with the idea of offering selections in boxes in New York, because Bless is not so new for New Yorkers, and there are already a couple of very good shops selling our collection regularly.

What is your design philosophy?

Fits every style. Bless is a visionary substitute to make the near future worth living for.

What things have inspired you as a brand, and why?

We were super naive in the beginning and thought we would be very realistic in imagining what we want and what we should ignore. In general, "inspiration" is a very unimportant term for us. The question, "What inspires you?" is often asked, but in fact it can be anything that suddenly triggers the impulse of creating a new product that improves our life in general or specifically a certain demand or a specific situation.?

Who do you think is the most influential designer of the last 50 years?

We never thought about this, and don’t really care, actually. So many people did such incredible things. There is no "best, greatest, most amazing" one.

How do you think fashion will change as the realities of global warming sink in?

An optimistic view: Because we don’t do fashion, but simply clothing for our well-being, we will react accordingly if we feel like. A pessimistic view: Fashion-interested people don’t care about environmental issues. And a personal tendency: Fashion does not really matter anymore, but not only because of global warming, it changed already due to a meteoric development in communication.

Is there anything you haven't done yet that you're dying to do, as a brand? What about something you'd like to do just for yourself, personally?

Because our personal wishes are strongly connected to our brand, we are still working on a product everybody would recognize, a product called BLESS.