Wandler Kicks Off Artist In Residence Program With Germans Ermičs
LONDON — The Amsterdam-based Latvian artist Germans Ermičs is the first guest of the buzzy accessories label Wandler’s Artist In Residence program.
The artist reimagined three of the brand’s classic styles — Hortensia, Lin and Georgia — in a vivid blue gradient hue, mimicking the glass creations that Ermičs is known for.
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The capsule will be available from Thursday exclusively online. All proceeds from the sales of the collaboration will go to humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.
Elza Wandler, founder of the label, said she came across Ermičs as his works popped up frequently on her mood boards.
“I like how he works with glass and color, so intuitively I was attracted to his work. When I found out he lives in Amsterdam, I couldn’t resist to reach out if he had time to meet up for coffee and it clicked straight away. That is the plus side of the lockdown — you were looking more around you for inspiration, and little did we know that his studio is just 15 minutes away from ours,” she said.
She added that the program is not a seasonal project. She and Ermičs have been developing projects in other fields. For example, he helped design the brand’s first pop-up inside Harvey Nichols London.
“We’ve launched the spatial objects as a second part of the collaboration where we worked on the mirror glass chair, which is one of my favorite designs from his work,” Wandler said.
She is also very impressed with his bold and refined vision.
“I like the way he thinks in form, shape and color, something I can relate to. We first have an open conversation with Germans and discuss what would be nice to work on and explore the spectrum of possibilities within each other’s field of expertise. It has a lot of potential, but it also needs time to evolve. The process starts basically with a blank canvas and can go in different directions. In September, we are doing a project in Amsterdam but can’t say what we’re doing yet,” she added.
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The brand, which is distributed in more than 200 wholesale doors, previously worked with the Los Angeles-based fine jewelry designer Lizzie Mandler to debut an exclusive mule for the holiday season in 2020, as well as with Spanish artist Julio Rondo for the spring 2021 season.
For fall, Wandler released a mini size of the bestselling cross-body bag Penelope, as well as introduced the Uma baguette-style and Joanna bag, both imbued with a laid-back attitude. The shoe collection had a new Swarovski-encrusted sandal. A concise capsule collection of leather apparel separates was also introduced.
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