THE JOURNAL

In a globalised world where you can find a Starbucks in Borneo and Wi-Fi connection in Timbuktu, it can sometimes feel that the individual and original are as elusive as an undiscovered Fabergé egg.
At MR PORTER, we understand that style is very much about personal expression, which is why we’ve launched our ART/CRAFT collection, a thoughtfully curated range designed by brands that champion artisanal workmanship and individuality.
“Each brand was tasked with an open brief to create something truly special to them, and I’m thrilled to see the methods they used to story-tell their pieces,” says Mr Sam Kershaw, MR PORTER’s Buying Director. “I’m excited to provide our global customers with interesting and hard-to-find brands, which produce products with genuine individuality and longevity.”
Artist collaborations, vintage processes and inventive production methods have all been employed to produce pieces that put creative expression front and centre. Here are 12 of our favourite ART/CRAFT designs that deserve a place in your future style archive.
01.
New wool order

When it comes to artisanal knitwear, you’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that does it better than The Elder Statesman. Despite hailing from California – a place you would think has little use for woollens – the brand’s supremely soft cashmere pieces loomed in a host of folksy patterns have garnered it cult status among knitwear aficionados. Its latest effort revisits a favourite craft technique of the 1990s, as this tie-dye jumper in an artful spectrum of eye-catching hues attests.
02.
Homespun knits

Brother and sister design duo Ms Carlotta and Mr Nicolò Oddi turned their fixation with kitschy-cool vintage woollens into a label that celebrates traditional knitting techniques. This sweater, hand-purled over seven hours, is embroidered with a light-hearted palm-tree motif that will add a touch of wry tropical humour to a sedate winter wardrobe. As well as using only natural fibres, the brand favours recycled wool, which gives it added kudos with the green brigade.
03.
1990s redux

If you take any interest in matters sartorial, you’ll know that the 1990s are back in the style limelight. This Transcendence hoodie from Camp High has that decade’s coveted nuance in abundance, but with an artful point of difference. Its pattern is formed by scattering ice over the garment before strategically sprinkling it with dye and allowing it to melt. This ice-dyeing technique results in a painterly watercolour print that’s a fresh take on the iconic tie-dye pieces you might have missed first time around.
04.
Noble jewels

Working out of a small atelier in east London, Duffy Jewellery eschews the cookie-cutter nature of machine-made jewellery, instead using locally sourced materials to craft designs that feel like hand-me-down heirlooms. This hand-engraved gold and emerald necklace has a mythical quality that alludes to the regal ornaments of past civilisations. It might look like it belongs in a high-security museum vault, but you’d rather have it around your neck.
05.
Painterly expression

Mr Josué Thomas’s LA-based label Gallery Dept. is all about extolling the virtues of artistic integrity, creative collaboration and tongue-in-cheek dissidence through fashion. And does anything speak of an artistic temperament more than a love-worn, paint-splattered outfit? Pull on these hand-finished, rustic canvas shorts and let loose your inner Mr Jackson Pollock.
06.
Vivid yarns

Milanese house Missoni is renowned for its masterful use of colour and pattern. Its signature zigzags and bold colour schemes have found their way onto everything from tailoring to high-end wall tiles. Its subtler, yet still sanguine space-dye stripes, as seen on this cloud-soft mohair cardigan, are a considered way to add a punch to a muted winter wardrobe.
07.
Singular selvedge

Japan holds the crown as the world’s premier producer of high-end denim, but KAPITAL takes the time-honoured craft to a whole new level. Employing intricate embellishing techniques from patchwork to needlepoint, it produces pieces that are a step above your standard selvedge. These distressed jeans are a solid example of the brand’s hand. A collage-like assembly of mismatched patches and embroidery, inspired by the Japanese art of repair through patchwork, or boro, give them the appeal of an heirloom quilt.
08.
Style amalgam

Swedish label Our Legacy has a knack for taking hard-hitting styles and adding expressive and subversive details that turn traditional design on its head. This leather jacket combines two style genres that brands with a less bold vision wouldn’t have the confidence to combine. The proportions of the jacket follow the classic café-racer template, while the bold yellow sleeve stripes add a well-placed sportif accent.
09.
Modern metallics

EÉRA founders Ms Chiara Capitani and Ms Romy Blanga found the seed of their brand in a vintage snap hook picked up at a Tokyo market, but their designs have a distinctly futurist feel. This pendant is handmade in Italy and has been produced using aerography spray-paint stencilling to give it an iridescent dégradé finish that is as singular as it is striking.
10.
Statement kicks

If anyone were to gauge the worth of the premium sneaker market today, it would probably add up to more than the contents of all the off-shore bank accounts in Zurich. In the continual quest for the exceptional, Enfants Riches Déprimés has just dropped these small-batch high-tops designed in partnership with Vans, which are hand-customised from the embroidered patches to the sterling-silver hardware and bespoke laces. Be quick on your feet, though. They won’t be around for long.
11.
Storied threads

Mr REESE COOPER®’s rich creative background in the fields of photography, furniture design, film and fashion have had a perceptible influence on his eponymous label. Describing each collection as a “chapter” in the brand’s story, Cooper produces everything in Los Angeles, exploring innovative production methods to bring a sense of the unique to every piece. This jacket has been made using a hand-dyeing technique that results in an irregular fade across the garment, which, like a fingerprint, makes it truly one of a kind.
12.
Hard-hitting gems

The men’s bijouterie scene is on a firmly upward trajectory, thanks to forward-thinking jewellers such as Ms Suzanne Kalan. Forging all her precious pieces in Los Angeles, Kalan is aiming to change the perception of baguette-cut stones and how they can be used to bring off-kilter charisma to men’s jewellery. This ring is set with pink sapphires, traditionally cut in a round or oval shape. Rethought in a geometric baguette profile, they’re rugged yet refined.