Dont Trust James
by Trung-Tin Pham
Solace
(2021)Solace is what Trung-Tin named the feeling he had during 2020. In that time it is hard to grasp at anything tangible, the world was dealing with the unseen disease of Covid-19. A similar experience he shared with many people around him, was taking refuge in the home they grew up in. For Trung-Tin it was his family’s house in San Diego. What was supposed to be a five day stay during spring break turned into five months.
Existing in the same space as your past can bring back memories that drift in your subconscious. This translated through all of his senses, such as hearing the crickets chirp in the dead of night, the smell and taste of his mom’s Vietnamese cooking, and the visual and feeling of the room he grew up in.
Spending countless hours indoors he did not interact and speak to others, giving him the time to sit, listen, and reflect.
Design elements were drawn from shapes that expand away from the body, abstracting what could be underneath. Trung-Tin is very inspired by textiles such as quilts which can capture memories in its creation and usage. A motif that drove this collection was the visual of oil slicks and water ripples, which can shift and blur reality.
The atmosphere of this collection is meant to be playful, bringing a sense of youth and nostalgia.