Art, fashion & inspiration

Jean Goulbourn of Silk Cocoon brings art and beauty with the special preview of renowned New York artist Emily SyCip Cheng’s new book, Chasing Clouds, A Decade of Studies, along with the presentation of a limited-edition line of Silk Cocoon items, interpreting the works of Cheng as shawls, blouses and barongs. Cheng is a niece of Washington SyCip.

Emily and Jean met two years ago in New York. Jean was very impressed with Emily’s work and their collaboration has produced invaluable and wearable pieces of art. In 2007, on a trip together to Rajasthan, India, Emily and Jean immersed themselves in color, textiles, palaces and holy sites, inspiring them to do a line of luxury shawls.

Cheng’s floral drawings are embroidered on Silk Cocoon’s delicate hand-woven fabric, dyed in opulent colors, perfect canvases for the asymmetrical designs. The translucency of the fabric allows for the shape of the body to peek seductively through, while the central motif draped across the middle of the back creates the memorable image of a woman walking away. The shawls, to be worn with cocktail dresses, gowns or jeans, make every wardrobe glamorous.

This time, Jean takes the paintings of Cheng into Silk Cocoon’s distinctive barongs for men and sophisticated pieces for women.

Cheng’s Chasing Clouds is a collection of 10 years of drawings garnered from her extensive world travels and her equally extensive visual library. It is a rare glimpse into the inner workings of an artist who is passionate about the origin of forms and images, and how they are integrated in our times.  Her work and this book are a must for anyone interested in visual culture and the contemplative life.  Of her more than 20 international solo shows, two were in Manila­, at the Ayala Museum and Metropolitan Museum.  Cheng currently teaches Asian art history at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

The limited-edition collection of shawls and barongs will be launched on Sept. 2 at Silk Cocoon, Renaissance Makati City Hotel. Call 811-6856. The book will be launched at Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4, on Sept. 3.