The Print of Beauty – Pasi Räbinä
Aalto ARTS Books,
Aalto University 2019
Authors:
Pasi Räbinä
Sofia Pantouvaki
Maija Pellonpää-Forss
Heta Haanperä
Joanna Weckman
Graphic design: Kaisa Tiri
Photos by Kati Leinonen, Ilpo Okkonen,
Kaisa Tiri, Kai Tirkkonen and Jussi Tuokkola
This richly illustrated book contains English and Finnish texts by leading experts and researchers in the field of textile and stage costume design in Finland.
The Print of Beauty book presents Finnish costume designer Pasi Räbinä’s stage costumes and fabrics from the past thirty years. Räbinä has consistently developed various techniques to modify materials and he has, thus, reached a signature style where the fabrics themselves become interesting. Painted, printed and dyed costumes enable us to examine the illusion of stage costumes as a mood from a certain era, style or costume.
“The material is an important part in my design process – it provides me with a tool for expression and thinking. Materials are not isolated parts of the visual entity. Rather, I see materials as a utility, which benefit the content creation and the atmosphere for the story.”
The Print of Beauty was written out of the necessity to present modern and up-to-date working methods and techniques in creating unique fabrics. The book will be in full colour and visually imposing work for designers and other enthusiasts. The book provides plenty of illustrations of performances and costumes in order to give solid professional content as well as visual inspiration.
The objective of the book is to add and share knowledge of the possibilities offered by printing and dyeing fabrics for the design of stage costumes and, furthermore, to develop these techniques and methods to meet the needs within the performative arts.
“By designing the materials I feel that I can make the stage costumes more lively, which may bring out the essence and the ambience of the costume better. I try to get more texture and sculpturesqueness out of the fabrics by printing and shaping the material by hand. The finished costumes will thus become as unique and lively as possible.”
The book launch in PQ19- Prague Quadrennial Exhibition, Prague, Czech Republic.
The book launch in Helsinki Book Fair 2019, Finland