Kimera’s practice and the bond between collaborators Dessi Terzieva and Britt Maton reflect a tension of dualities. The pair are a lesson in friendship and work, having seamlessly combined the two, creating an environment that’s simultaneously intentional and silly.
Like the materials they work with in Kimera’s light sculptures, they describe their relationship as both malleable and clear. “It's almost as if we're both material in this life and we're able to play and be malleable with each other. So I think that's also why it happened so fast,” says Maton of their meeting. Listening to them ping-pong off of each other is a brilliant display of both chaos and measuredness—these are women with clear purpose, determination and intent, who, at the same time, welcome in the unknown and absurd and let it take them on the ride.
The ride started with what other people might consider trash. To create the signature pleated patterns of Nin’s garments, a heated press is used, with recycled paper pressed between layers of fabric to create the texture. This reused paper was piling up in the back room where the pair were working together. At the same time, Terzieva was exploring sculptural light in her art practice, experimenting with light bulbs inside of floating dresses and creating “these weird plastic bag lights in my bedroom” which call back to her grandmother’s ritual of washing and reusing plastic bags in Bulgaria. Together, they found a new way to breathe life into this otherwise discarded paper, and so breathed new life into their collaborative relationship.
“We have a vision, and we’re pretty strong in it. We trust each other and ourselves enough to make executive decisions on our own and fill the other in after—and vice versa,” Dessi says of pulling off their first big project while working from separate continents. From there, everything shifted—both their working partnership with the birth of Kimera, and in their relationship to each other. Britt describes the intensity and excitement of that period as constant, “sending the same kinds of references back and forth, just sharing, staying so engaged, and tethered inside that inspiration.”
There’s a beautiful duality in the process of creating each Kimera piece; it’s at once a birth and a death. Committed to using recycled and upcycled fabrics and materials, the reused paper from Nin Studio is also considered to be going “extinct”. Through Kimera, Britt and Dessi are resuscitating it into a completely new lifetime, and reenvisioning the way they create, what they create, and how they create with each collection.
Kimera’s debut collection was focused on restraint. The pair—whose ideas seem to just fall out of them both at will and at random—challenged themselves with creating a classic collection that leaned on structure, beauty, and shape. The result was a perfectly balanced marriage of organic beauty and rationalized intent; a duality otherwise difficult to find.
The true layer of duality here is between form and function. Kimera is using something functional—light—and bringing it joy; taking something old and reused and making it fresh and new; creating a ‘living body’ out of a flat surface; finding softness in structure. The brilliance is
seeing where this duality spills into the relationship between Terzieva and Maton. They are making serious work while having fun; they are clear and direct with their intentions while being open to magic; they are creating new avenues for friendship and collaboration; finding both softness and structure in their synergy. The true magic of Kimera lies in the tension between these material and the ephemeral worlds.
The women have equal admiration and affection for each other that lies in testament to their shared vision of their work. Dessi says of Britt, “I am always impressed, and I'm always having so much fun. She taps into my inner child; we're big kids getting things done. I’m having the time of my life while doing things we’re very proud of.” And Britt of Dessi, “We are having a ball. I’ve met my match. She has the ability to control and also the ability to completely surrender. There is never a fixed way; and I really enjoy getting to enjoy you.” Their duality has created a unity.
STORY CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHY Brandon Harrison, FEATURING Babacar Thiaw, Mame Fallou Bousso, Karim Diouf, Mandione, Bassirou, MOTION EDITOR Nick Sgaglione, PRODUCER Brandon Harrison, LOCATION Copacabana Surf Village, Dakar, Senegal
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