Artist: WALTER RAES
Walter Raes was born in St Niklaas in Belgium & moved to London in 1989. After living in the UK, he observes, “I think that what is thrown away in London & around the world is criminal; it’s from these consumer society throw-outs, that I make my designs.”
For the last few years, Walter’s obsession has been creating WEARABLE & DESIGN ART entirely from household & industrial materials, frequently recycled from skips. His artistry is totally inspired by these rejects. Walter takes disposable remnants of our everyday lives & creates brilliant pieces which are explorations in form & function.
His works of art are witty physical manifestations of his views on the wastefulness of our present day society: baseball caps, trainers, shopping bags, electricians’ ties, baby dummies, ironing boards, Tetra packaging, plastic ring holders for cola cans, shoe trees, large cola bottles, worker boots, bicycle parts, plastic knives /forks, & coat hangers...
In association with Cooper & Taylor, Walter worked for Landscape Design Ltd, & acted briefly as a consultant for Dunhill International. His designs have received enthusiastic coverage from VOGUE/UK & Italy, GRAZIA, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, Observer & leading-edge magazines: DUTCH-Holland, HOT-Italy, DIF-Portugal, plus 18 pages & growing on Google & endless entries on Facebook & Twitter.
MTV 's Stylissimo-Milan, produced a major program on his work. Walter’s designs have caught the eye of Diane Pernet & her international Paris fashion blog, diane:ashadedviewonfashion.
Isabella Blow, the late international fashion guru, was very passionate about Walter’s art. She included his Casette Tape Boogie Dress, in her Times’article Avant-Garbage,alongside Galliano & McQueen designs, with the following quote: “What is so exciting is how Walter is able to transform the objects in such a way that the original use is initially hidden.”
Walter continues creating works of art, hiding the original use by giving the object a new, functional use. His unique structured sculptures produce smiles, giggles or even much laughter as viewers take in one of Walter’s designs, from the spread legs of The Bored Housewife to spiked shoulders of the Lady Westwood.
Walters’ most recent works of Design Art are an integral part of one of the King’s Road trendiest salons. At Hari’s Hair Salon no.2 clients become enveloped within Walter’s work. His stunning eleven work stations, witty & surreal, have transformed the salon into a functioning machine of Installation Design Art. Hari has ordered glittering plastic water bottle Christmas trees for both of his hair salons.
WALTERWORKs exhibition at London Design Festival 2011 was a triumph with interest from Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Italy & Buenos Aires.
Working along his own lines, outside the normal fashion seasons, gives Walter the freedom to create his work from recycled materials that spontaneously excite his talent, & approach the challenge of creating WEARABLE & DESIGN ART.
© Landscape Design Ltd