While Berlin-based Manuel Raeder provides the traditional services of a graphic design studio, his work transcends the printed page to enter the public consciousness. The defining focus of his practice is on content and concept, with the result that form is relegated to the periphery of his creative process. Stripped of visual distraction, Raeder’s aesthetic has an honesty that forces the audience to look beyond the surface and interact directly with the content.
In-depth and constant dialogue is vital to achieving this creative distillation, both within his studio environment and with his clients. “Everything I work on and do, I consider a collaboration,” says Raeder. This emphasis on collaboration and on taking the process beyond the object is also at the core of what motivates BLESS. Neither designer nor client is limited by a single traditional discipline: the breadth of their interest and talent means they continually look for new opportunities and forms of expression.
Challenging the perceptions of their audience is central to the aesthetic of BLESS. The ability to see every decision as a unique opportunity for creative intervention, free from established conventions, is the driving force behind their process. There is a beauty and simplicity to their lookbooks, which are published within a different ‘host’ fashion magazine each season. Rather than approach them as a simple design problem, BLESS have carved out an alternative to conventional fashion advertising and lookbook distribution. Beyond the economy of combining these two key aspects of communication, this creates heightened expectation, a broader audience and inherent collectability. Raeder says that more than producing just a lookbook, they are trying to “join together new friends or make unusual encounters happen”.
The lookbooks are supplementary to, or completely integrated into, the ‘host’ magazine. They change physical location, distribution and format every season. Throughout this fluctuation, Raeder has maintained a sense of continuity by adopting a rigid set of photographic principles. Although professional photographers are employed, their images are put through a ‘collective’ editing process. From participants on the catwalk to friends in the audience, a broad range of photographic material is collected and then edited down. Disregarding the beauty of the images, Raeder and BLESS deconstruct them to their base components to analyze whether they are viable for publication in the lookbook. This rigorous process yields cohesive results season after season.
Raeder’s ability to achieve such a close and productive collaboration with his client is ultimately a key factor in the success of the lookbooks. Rather than breaking down conventions there is a complete lack of acceptance of predetermined solutions; and even within the cyclical nature of fashion, Raeder and BLESS see this process with an objective clarity, recognising that every situation is new and requires a unique solution.
The 11th issue of Pacemaker from March 2006 hosted the combined N°28 ‘Climate Confusion Assistance’ and N°29 ‘Wallscapes’ BLESS lookbook. The A2 poster format was folded down to A5 in the same way as the host magazine. “The presentation of the new collection happened in Paris during fashion week inside a gallery in front of wallpapers by BLESS. Due to that we designed two posters printed back and front, with images mixed of the wallscapes and the presentation. Almost like opening up another space, making the confusion between where the model’s are standing and where the wallpapers with BLESS objects start even more confusing.” Photography was included by Carl Henrik Tillberg Maria Ziegeiböck, Cécile Bortoletti, Jelena Rundqvist, Nadège Baudon, Irene Leung, Sonny, Heinz Peter Knes and BLESS.
The N°36 ‘Nothingneath’ collection lookbook was a loose insert into the centrefold of the first issue of Paris LA in Winter 2008/09. Slightly smaller than the host magazine, the 20 x 27-cm (7¾ x 10½-in) lookbook featured images of the models by Heinz Peter Knes gathered on the narrow staircase of Hôtel Particulier in Paris.
The N°27 ‘Eased Up’ presentation took place in a Paris flower market. Running over the final 33 pages of the Spring/ Summer 2006 issue of Textfield IV, the lookbook formed the only colour pages in the whole magazine. Referencing the growth and decline of flowers, the images fluctuate in size before presenting every look from the collection as a grid on the inside back cover. Photography was included by Cécile Bortoletti, Christian Badger, Manuel Raeder and BLESS.
As the most explicit example of integrating with the host magazine, elements of the N°32 ‘Frustverderber’ collection lookbook feature on every page of the sixth issue of Monthly Vampire from 2007. Restricted predominately to the lower central quadrant of the page, the lookbook slowly builds up to a temporary full spread where it becomes completely incorporated into the editorial content. Photography was included by Heinz Peter Knes, Bernd Kaag, Samuel de Goede, Cécile Bortoletti, Jean Yves Giot and BLESS.
As an extension of the lookbook, Raeder incorporates The Dater to “provide a sense of space and time, future and past”. The Dater (shown here at the bottom of the left-hand page) is fully integrated into each lookbook, providing the reader with relevant, sometimes personal dates of importance for BLESS in the coming months. Sometimes empty, the format also encourages the readers to add their own information.
Each season Raeder is commissioned to collaborate with BLESS on a fabric pattern. Derived from the graphic design of the previous season lookbook, the fabric is then integrated by BLESS into the ‘Last Season T-shirt’ for the current collection. Acting as both conceptual reference point and integration between the cyclical seasons of fashion, this side project possibly best illustrates the strength of their collaboration and the break with the conventional designer/client relationship.