Our latest SHADOW collection is special in several ways: on the one hand, it is a great pleasure for us that we had the opportunity to work with two super talented Hungarian designers on the collection, and our old dream has come true: this is the first NON+ collection for which we used uniquely designed and manufactured material, the pattern of which was designed by Balázs Viola , whom we would like to introduce to those who do not know her yet.
Photo: Márton Kecskés
Viola graduated from MOME's Master's degree in textile design in 2018 with a special scarf collection, a personal project: processing inherited objects in classic textile patterns. Nostalgia, subjective memory and retro are also frequently recurring elements in Viola's work, especially in her collaborations with Dóri Tomcsányi, in which they often evoke elements of the socialist object culture tradition, building up the pattern set for each new collection.
Viola has designed patterns for several Hungarian fashion brands: her first illustrations were for KELE, but her collaboration with the Tomcsányi brand is also one of the first in Viola's career, and continues to this day. We have also seen Viola's illustrations on YKRA backpacks and VYF's fantastic silk scarves - a brand for which Viola is both co-founder and pattern designer.
Viola's works are inspired by moments of everyday life, and the research process preceding each new task is particularly exciting for her, which creates an opportunity to delve into previously unknown areas. Recently, she has been devoting special attention to experimenting with continuous patterns and designing exciting logically structured patterns.
The creation of each new illustration is preceded by a lot of sketches, hand drawings, painting and experimentation, and the digital design phase only follows after this. For a really well-functioning pattern, it is important to pay attention to the correct proportion of the surface and the pattern, the structure of the pattern, its dynamics and the relationship of the connecting elements to each other. In addition, how repetition appears and how much emphasis is placed is also very important.
While Viola's illustrations are mostly characterized by figurative depictions and a unique sense of humor, NON+ created more abstract patterns, the first of which is now presented in our webshop as the eponymous pattern of the SHADOW collection .
We are very happy to be working with Viola and are confident that the collaboration will create exciting and popular pieces for NON+ fans!
