I had an appointement with Kiki several times this week, but everytime I past her expo she has been very busy with a lot of people visiting her show. So I told her everytime "I'll be back", since I obviously didn't want to disturb her "mingling"- but after a couple times I quickly understood that she's probably going to be busy like this the whole week. So I started to ask some questions, while people were saying hi and giving her compliments on the side.
Kiki had a really good show last year at Salone, but it seems it's even more popular this year. She tells me that a couple of important names has dropped by, like Hermès and Artecnica, and that they seemed very interested in further cooperation with. Her expo is shared with the designer Joost, and she tells me that even though they have very different design styles, they think it works good together, and that they compliment eachothers work.
Kiki has a lot of different things this year, but the show is much more expensive, so of course more difficult to sell. I ask her if she prefers a certain type of material, and she smiles and answers "I like to work with any kind of material- it dipends on what I feel like, and if a material fascinates me, I definitely have to work with it!" She obviously handels her materials in a gentle and sophisticated way, with thural detailing of embrodery and hand stitches on the chairs, handmade glass lamps with decorative reflections on the wall, and details on the wooden cupboards that look more like jewelry than a piece of furniture.
This year she also worked with the Dutch Textile Museum, so all the textile she made for this years Salone show, is made in cooperation with the museum. And they even bought two of her creations for their collection. It was the Room Divider and the Chaise Lounge that is part of the expo this year. That was a big honor for Kiki, since it will be shown to a much broader audience. I ask her if she considers herself an artist or a designer, and she laughs a bit, "That's not the first time I've got that question today!" She's obviously on the borderline, so I expected her answer, "It dosen't matter a lot for me if I'm this or that, and I think it will be an endless discussion. I want to focus on what I'm working on and not think about what that makes me or not".
Kiki has a really good relationship to Salone del Mobile and this is her third year in a row participating. She thinks that Salone has a big value, and it's probably the biggest and most important in the world right now. But she, like many others we've talked to, believes that Miami Basel is going to become bigger and more important in the future. She was there last summer, since she was nominated for the award "Designer of the Future", given out by Design Miami. She was 1 of 7 nominees in the world, and that was a great honor, since that means she was (chosen by other designers) 1 of the 7 most talented young designers in the world!
In the months to come she is going to be working on the Dutch Textile Museum exhibition, and also for a Carpet exhibition, were she and 3 other contemporary carpet designers are going to exhibit together. Since there is a crowd already waiting for her to finish up and to get her attention,- I wish her a good night, and good luck.
(Kiki was interviewed by Natalie, friday april 18.)
Text and photos by Natalie
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