TEATUM+TEATUM were commissioned to create the concept and design for the Teatum Jones
Spring/Summer 2013 collection to be shown in the Orchid Room at the Dorchester Hotel on the
17th September 2012.
The Teatum Jones collection is inspired by the space and culture of the Cold War, looking to this
recent history with directly opposing ideologies to inform the theme in their new collection.
The proposal consists of two linear spaces organised around a reflective, white central corridor.
Spatially the corridor has been referenced to communicate the hidden dynamics of power. An
in-between space, providing opportunities for secret conversations through whispered tones.
In Cold war film and literature the space of the corridor is used as a setting to amplify the fear of
otherness.
The show is organised as an island of backlit light with a central perspectival corridor
and two parallel spaces organised to the left and right of the corridor. The island is rotated in the
Orchid Suite so that the formal geometry of the existing space is changed and new territories
are created between the room and the Island. The circulation allows a continuous movement
around the Island to simulate the long slow experience of a film tracking shot. The audience
experience eight models choreographed to move across the three spaces in a continuous loop
from East to West, to a music score inspired by the Cold War.
Three door openings are formed on each side of the corridor and these openings allow views
across the three zones and through to the walls of the Orchid Suite in the background. This
spatial organisation allows the audience to experience the show as a series of fragments when
looking across space, three spaces collapsed into one view, continuously shifting and changing
our perception. In contrast, the central corridor offers a single view, reinforced by perspectival
walls, a space that has a single focus. The walls are formed in gloss white Barrisol, a seamless white
surface that will reflect the materials of the room and animate the pattern and form of Teatum
Jones new collection.
The event is conceived as an installation as opposed to a traditional catwalk, in which the spaces
allow a dynamic interaction with a moving audience, amplifying the viewers experience and
immersing them into the space and the Teatum Jones collection.
Process
Teatumjones.com
TheDorchester.com
