THE NEW COLLECTION FROM SASSOON SEES A RENAISSANCE OF ORGANIC MODERNISM IN CONTEMPORARY DESIGN.

Vienna, 1903, a hotbed of creative innovation. Secessionist painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele and Wiener Werkstaette designers Josef Hoffmann and Kolomon Moser led a style revolution. The sinuous lines of Art Nouveau were combined with the geometry of Modernism to create a new aesthetic - organic modernism. Klimt painted the primal force of sexual attraction in canvases lavishly embellished with gold leaf featuring seductive wraiths with porcelain skin and berry stained lips.

The new collection from Sassoon sees a renaissance of organic modernism in contemporary design. Nature meets geometric modernity in a series of shapes that are diametrically cut with L shaped layering and reversed graduation techniques to create paradoxically oppositional effects. Sassoon International Creative Director Mark Hayes says ‘We’re finding ways to create shapes that are geometric when flat and when ruffled have volume in unexpected ways.’

Colour is geo-ganic, the abstract squares, sinuous lines and L shapes used as decorative devices in the work of Klimt and Egon Schiele are transcribed into subtly toned sections of related colours such as cyclamen, violet and mulberry - then accented with a vibrant flash of belladonna. Gold and coral with a flash of emerald green recall the colours of a silk kimono falling from a model’s body caught on canvas by Egon Schiele.