In the Studio With M/M (Paris)
Behind the Scenes of the French Design Duo's Collaboration With Kanye West
Only in Kanye West’s world could a hip-hop album beget a luxe accessories line. Today photographer Antony Crook steps into the studio of acclaimed graphic design and art direction team M/M (Paris) as they prep a new range of scarves inspired by the artwork on West's latest, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The superstar commissioned M/M's Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag to create an illustrative letterset for the album's liner notes as a complement to its cover art series of five bawdy paintings by American artist George Condo. Augustyniak and Amzalag subsequently approached West with the idea to remix the artistic elements into a range of silk scarves, pairing their baroque-style letters with Condo’s images, such as a severed head wearing a crown and a naked sphinx straddling a likeness of West. Augustyniak and Amzalag have collaborated on artwork and music videos for Björk for over a decade, but working with West was an education—“a complex exploration of power,” in their words. The scarves, which measure almost a square meter in size, will be sold in a limited-edition of 250 (50 of each of five designs) this spring at Colette and www.mmparis.com. Click here to keep up to date on their release. To read about the new publishing venture from M/M (Paris), click here.