The North Face teamed up with Alfie Kungu, a painter to create a capsule collection. In a unique offering unlike anything The North Face has dropped before, the 10-piece unisex range – made up of garments, bags and mules – comes doused in the artist’s signature abstractural art.
The designs draw inspiration from Kungu’s enduring love of the outdoors, nurtured by his upbringing in the hills of Yorkshire. Kungu uses earthy colors and cool shades of blue, as he refers to the adventurous wildlife that surrounds him. The overlapping prints can be seen as a scene of mountains, rivers and twinkling sky if you look closely.
For the new collaboration, Kungu took to both his remote Yorkshire studio and inner-city London space to create the “hundreds upon hundreds of characters, compositions and abstract pieces” that led to his final print. Kungu invited Hypebae to his East-London studio for an exclusive interview. Read more.
Was there an initial influence that influenced your decision to pursue art?
Because my father is an artist and my mother is very skilled at painting, I have always been around art. When I was a little girl, drawing wild animals and monsters was something that I enjoyed. This was an enjoyable way to spend time, and it was something I was familiar with so I kept at it until I realized I had no choice but to stop.
Please tell us about the evolution of your practice through the years.
I’ve found that I don’t really like to break up my practice into separate things. All of it is interconnected. My technique is known as relief painting. It’s a method I developed in just over one year. The silk will be placed over the canvas. Then, I’ll do the painting onto the silk and take off the canvas from the back and it’s got the bleed through – the relief. You can create beautiful nuances that are impossible to paint. The painting will have more essence if you make mistakes or leave gaps than the ones that you tried. The bits you leave out tell a bigger story. Although it may seem a little excessive, once you are familiar with something it is like your favourite meal. No matter how many times you prepare it, you will still like it.
Because your technique is distinctive with bright colors and textures, it makes sense that they should be an important part.
It is fascinating to try new materials. It’s easy to get involved in the process of exploring color and texture. My work is characterized by an exploration of different materials. This gives me the drive to create more. Also, it’s about pairing colors. It’s fine to have one color. The relationship between two colors is what excites me most.
Let’s talk about the importance and value of material. How does your collaboration with the North Face, working with garments, compare with the usual art sheets that you create?
In fact, I approached it in the same manner as before. I was thinking of how to translate my idea into a work of art. At first, I did not consider that the garment was either a bag or a pair of mules. It was enough to make a small piece of paper and then convert the various elements into colors. The sky is blue, the water is green, the land is green, and the nature is also blue. Having these elements allowed me to create an environment in the painting as well as an abstract composition. This is how I broke it down. To start, I created the foreground. This will look like a river that flows back towards the mountains and then to the skies. Each color corresponds to different places in nature.
Do you feel any emotions or feelings that were missing from the design?
My practice allows me to communicate my enthusiasm for the outdoors and my admiration of nature. I love the fact that I can share this passion with others. They’re seemingly quite separate things – you might be quite outdoorsy, and also make artwork but they come together. It was an exciting experience to create this collection. I love the way it expresses my passion for both nature and outdoors.
Why do you find the outdoors so fascinating in your job?
I’m always inspired by the outdoors because no matter how familiar you are with somewhere, there’s always something new that you’ll come across and it’s just really important to me to spend time outdoors.
How does it affect someone who grew up in the country?
It’s been my favorite outdoor brand since childhood. When I was young, I asked my mom if she would give me money so I could get it. It was freezing cold when I started University in Bristol. I used to wear this The North Face puffer jacket in my studio. Over the years, it just got more and more paint on and eventually it was covered on the inside and outside – and I still have that jacket. I’d wear it all the time in my studio and people would always say, “Is that a limited edition?” Or, “Is that a collab?” I’d always reply, “one day, one day.” But without realizing, the jacket related to this collaboration. I thought ‘I could do it like this’ and make it part of the story.
Hypebeast is now showing the Alfie Kungu collaboration with The North Face. To shop the pieces featured, head to The North Face’s website now.