A new collaboration by artist Oona D’mello and House of Sōhn has resulted in a stunning capsule collection of wearable art.
A very different kind of exhibition was recently held in Mumbai, where artworks and clothing designs were crafted by borrowing elements from each other. A collaborative project between contemporary fashion label House of Sōhn and artist Oona D’mello, Est. Form blended the two mediums to create striking art to adorn walls and equally stunning wearable art. The results of the collaboration were displayed last weekend at The Stands, Mumbai. The exhibition was attended by Vijay Chand, Arjun Rampal, Noi Cecilia Oldne, Kalpana Gandhi and others.
Oona has developed interactive installations named ‘skins’ inspired by the paintings. These skins are a part of her existing signature textile-alteration artworks. Her works offer a free-flowing interaction of colour and movement, inspired through experiences and memories. Sohni’s clothes meanwhile express unrestricted feminity with clean cuts and neutral hues. Her capsule collection of wearable art was designed exclusively for the exhibition and model and designer Gabriella Demetriades wore the piece ‘Allies’ for the evening.
About the Artists
Born in Mumbai, Oona completed her Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She went on to serve as Art and Gallery Director at The Chicago Mosaic School, alongside executing events at the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics. She has held solo and group shows in Chicago and Ohio, as well as in China and India. She has exhibited her textile-based paintings in Venice, Italy and Singapore. Est. Form is Oona’s first show in Mumbai.
Sohni, on the other hand, has a degree in Psychology and Business and she moved to Paris to pursue her passion for art and design. There she worked as a forecast and trend consultant for fashion, luxury and art. She followed it with a series of courses in art history in Paris and fashion design at Parsons, The New School of Design in New York and the London College of Fashion in London. She then trained at the ateliers of Nanette Lepore, Marchesa and Duro Olowu in New York. Sohni returned to Mumbai in 2015 and founded House of Sōhn – a contemporary women’s label telling inspiring stories about women, art and culture through the medium of fabric.