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Kaffe Fassett in the centerpiece of the exhibition, a recreation of his studio that is an explosion of objects, fabrics, memorabilia, samples and sketches, and the inspiration for all the work he has created in the other rooms. -
Starting the exhibition outside the museum already, making a spectacular entrance, Johan and Kaffe yarnbombed a giant yew tree and surrounding lampposts with bright knits, fabrics and pom-poms. -
The Victorian ebony glass museum display case, painted to match the green room, features a collection of Kaffe’s vegetable-inspired miniature needlepoint cushions, and cabbage and cauliflower ceramics. -
With walls in Kaffe’s distinctive shade of green, the hollyhock tapestry and floral cushions from his design for As You Like It by the Royal Shakespeare Company seem to vibrate under the theatrical lighting. The carpet is a digital print based on one of Kaffe’s needlepoint designs. -
Kaffe’s autobiography, Dreaming In Colour, is available from Takealot,com (R494). -
A dramatic dress with a knitted bodice, which Kaffe made with British designer Bill Gibb in the 1970s, forms the centrepiece of the yellow and brown spaces. Several of Kaffe’s quilts were also printed as linoleum carpets. -
A mirrored tunnel leads visitors into the first exhibition space, the recreation of Kaffe’s studio, reflecting the dazzling colours of his work.
PHOTOS Stuart Ross WORDS Johan Engels
South African theatre and opera set designer Johan Engels had the privilege of meeting the world’s brightest maximalist, Kaffe Fassett, and designing his retrospective exhibition in the UK.
Below is his account of the experience, as featured in VISI 72. You can also experience the colourful work of Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably who start their South African tour on 29 June 2015.
It was a bright blue theatre set of mine that first caught Kaffe Fassett’s eye during one of his visits to South Africa in the mid-90s. My house has always been filled with Kaffe’s bold and colourful floral cushions and fabrics, so our meeting was perhaps inevitable. When it eventually happened, it was an exuberant embrace of two maximalists, out to take revenge on a dull and colourless world.
“Since my concentration wherever I go is on the arts, I was thrilled with the inventive artwork I saw in galleries, art centres and on our visits to townships,” recalls Kaffe, who was in South Africa to conduct craft workshops. “The way people who attended our workshops fearlessly used colour and pattern, and burst into song had us loving every moment of the experience.”
Born in San Francisco, Kaffe went to England at the age of 27, working first with British fashion designer Bill Gibb and then, in 1962, on his first commission as an artist by the American Museum, near Bath. His work has since become world-famous in the fields of knitting, needlepoint, patchwork and quilts, and is distinctive for his bold use of bright colour. Kaffe considers colour as important as breathing and it is the pivot and passion of his life. His work is first and foremost an arrangement of colour and then, as he says, the rest follows.
When I was asked to design The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the American Museum, it was not only to celebrate his 50 years as an artist and colourist, but also his 50-year association with the museum. My experience as a theatre designer inspired me to see this exhibition as a series of stages, in pools and palettes of different colours, each to enhance and contrast with Kaffe’s work.
The exhibition itself was planned meticulously with a large-scale model, as I wanted Kaffe’s input in choosing the right shades of colour for his work. Each room or space had a different colour, starting with an eye-shattering shade of fuchsia pink in the entrance hall, draped in giant floral garlands, with the walls lined in enlarged printed wallpaper of one of his fabrics.
Following from that, we created rooms and spaces arranged in his particular bright shades of green, golden yellow, red and Moroccan blue. Knitwear, quilts and needlepoint could vibrate against the bright colours of the walls, lit in a theatrical way for the most dramatic effect.
The exhibition was described as “operatic”, “eye-popping” and, as Suzy Menkes wrote in The New York Times, “bright enough to trounce even the spring daffodils outside”. But I am most happy that Kaffe considers this exhibition as the one closest to his ideal of perfectly showing his work in an explosion of joyous colour.
For information on the South African tour, visit kaffefassett.com.
