On September 6, Surface and Herschel Supply Co. ushered in a jam-packed Armory Show and Fashion Week with a panel and cocktail party in the brand’s newly opened Soho flagship. Herschel VP of Creative Jon Warren joined furniture designer and artist Djivan Schapira in a conversation moderated by Surface associate editor Jenna Adrian-Diaz. Before the talk, guests perused the new store and custom screen-printed graphic tees over drinks from Blue Point Brewing and tacos and elote from Café Habana.
Schapira and Warren’s shared background in skateboarding and craft culminated in an illuminating conversation that touched on everything from embracing the unexpected and creating at scale to the ways men’s high fashion co-opted styles from skate culture and trade professions. “Design is always about problem solving,” said Warren, who went on to describe how redesigning one of Vans’ staple shoes during his tenure there influenced the way he approached the challenge of rethinking Herschel’s fan-favorite bags with the New Classics collection. “You’re constantly trying to find new solutions. Bags have existed for thousands of years, but the question is ‘How do we make it better, is it minding weight, recycled fabrics? It’s always evolving and changing. That’s what keeps me excited, trying to find new solutions.”
For Schapira, it was the jump from producing handmade furniture to fine-art skateboards in a cross-disciplinary collaboration with fashion designer Jonathan Cohen that helped him grow. “It was the first time that I was working with curves and vents, something that was structurally sound,” he said. “I could have a little bit more fun in terms of the graphic pattern. It was a very simple way of not only finding a clientele that was willing to feel a bit more free with what they put on their walls but was also a learning curve in terms of pushing the production style I developed.”
After the talk, panelists and guests mingled over DJ-spun tunes by Jahmal Padmore in an epic kickoff to one of New York’s biggest weeks yet for art and fashion. Photo credit: Jacques Morel.
