The Mayor of Montreal, Gerald Tremblay, has awarded the Phyllis Lambert Design Montreal Grant to university professor and fashion designer Ying Gao. Created in honour of Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), the $10,000 grant will enable Ying Gao to design "modulatable" garments, whose construction will be directly inspired by transformations in the urban environments of Berlin and Nagoya, both of which share UNESCO City of Design status with Montreal. In addition, the Ville de Montreal will contribute $5,000 to assist the recipient in promoting and disseminating her project.
"The Phyllis Lambert Design Montreal Grant allows us to encourage designers whose approaches have a community aspect that is enriching for our city. In turn, it helps raise the profile of talented young creators in Montreal and abroad," Mayor Tremblay said, adding that Ying Gao is a worthy ambassador for Montreal and that her project sparks exchanges between members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
The jury members were unanimous in acknowledging the relevance of the link between the research project and the chosen cities (Berlin and Nagoya), and in their enthusiasm for picking this candidate. "Ying Gao has a decidedly avant-garde approach to fashion design, linking it to transformations taking place in cities. Moreover, her research encompasses several fields: fashion, textile technology, architecture, urban planning, interactivity and multimedia," explained Benoit Dupuis, Partner Architect in the firm ACDF and spokesperson for the jury. Ying Gao has had a remarkable career thus far, having presented her projects in well-known venues in Montreal, Switzerland and Belgium, which demonstrates her desire to disseminate and share knowledge.
The jury consisted of Giovanna Borasi, Curator of Contemporary Architecture at the CCA; Benoit Dupuis, Partner Architect with ACDF; Angela Grauerholz, Director of the UQÀM Design Centre; Marie-Josee Lacroix, Director of Design Montreal; and Mario Masson, Division Chief with the Ville de Montreal's Department of Large Parks and Nature in the City.
Creating "Modulatable" Garments
Ying Gao's project proposal is for a study trip involving a reflection on the function of apparel. Her original and rigorous creative approach challenges the notion of garments as we know them. Her work investigates the modular nature of clothing and its construction by observing transformations in urban spaces. The conceptual and esthetic framework of her designs will draw inspiration from the cities of Berlin and Nagoya, especially their impressive mass-transit systems. Ying Gao will be developing her project in collaboration with two Berlin-based designers as well as the Japanese industrial firm Amaike Textile Industry, inventor of the world's lightest fabric.
The production phase of the project will extend over the next eight months. Ying Gao will present the outcomes of her research in Montreal by means of exhibitions, conferences, publications and teaching, and will also give presentations in Berlin and Nagoya.
Ying Gao, University Professor and Fashion Designer
Ying Gao is Director of the Exercices de style design laboratory and a professor at UQÀM's Graduate School of Fashion as well as its School of Design. In 2002 and 2003, she completed a double project that included two clothing collections, "Pekin" and "Accidents de parcours," inspired by the traditional hutong architecture of Beijing as well as the city's newer urbanization. Returning to Montreal in September 2003, Ying Gao tackled the projects "Cardigan meteorologue" (2005) and "Indice de l'indifference" (2006), in which she investigated the relationships between individuals, their cities and their climatic and social environments. Ying Gao created two new projects, "Walking City" and "Living Pod," in 2007 and 2008. These involved two types of interactive garments, one inflatable and the other light-sensitive, developed as a tribute to the British architectural collective Archigram.
Photos: Mathieu Rivard