Maria Frida

One of the most influential female artists of the 20th century in many respects – from gender history to politics, from art to contemporary culture in the broadest sense – was born and lived in the same place, according to a single act of love, the creation of this collector’s item at Marcolin is the result of the particular symphony created between a client – a brand with a marked penchant for experimentation – and a creative team eager to surf the waves of inspiration. How did the union between a modern, revolutionary icon and a plant with equally nonconformist symbolism come about? The link was created by virtue of the creative input provided by GCDS: namely the client’s logo and marijuana leaves.

Created as an object of desire and to successfully parade down a major catwalk, later recreated as a prototype to enrich the Marcolin archive. The fact that it is a collector’s item is defined by the elaborate geometry of the details: the eyewear, with its generous volume and pastel colours, echoing the shapes and colours typical of the 1970s, is composed of 250 silkscreen-printed, hand-painted flowers. Flower by flower, they were positioned individually, following the common thread that would then create the visual effect to be achieved. Also contributing to the unique character of the piece was the special importance attached to the names by which the projects resulting from this collaboration are identified. In this case, uniting the collective imagination linked to Frida Kahlo with the leaf and its symbolism was the creative flair of a team well aware that even if we called a flower by any other name, its rebellious and revolutionary scent would remain.