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‘Multimedia shows resembling a nightmare'
Elegant, innovative, timeless, strange and curvilinear is how the international design collective ThreeAsFour describes its fashion extravaganzas. Until recently, Gabi (originally from Lebanon), the Adi (from Israel) and Ange (from Tajikistan) together with their German colleague Kai (they only use their first names) were causing a stir as AsFour.
The quartet made a big impression on New York's underground fashion scene in 1999 with ‘Puppencouture', a performance installation peopled by 44 miniature puppets that were modelled on AsFour's members. It was an interactive happening, in which the public had to prevent the dolls from falling. ‘It was a nightmare,' Ange remembers. All the same, they followed it with more multimedia shows that agreeably push the boundaries between fashion and art. In 2002 they won the American Ecco Domani Award for new designers.
Their highly original designs have attracted clients such as Björk, who they dressed as a mermaid, as well as Mariah Carey. Their most famous design is the ‘circle bag', a concept that started as a joke: a circle with a hole in the middle. Helmut Lang thought it was wonderful. Since ThreeAsFour has been operating as a trio their output has become less conceptual: ‘We're over that now.'
Their commercial work includes designing clothing, accessories and rugs for the American label Kate Spade.