Interview: KAFT
Luca Curci talks with KAFT Team during VISIONS, third appointment of ANIMA MUNDI 2022, at Palazzo Bembo – Venice Grand Canal

KAFT is a design brand that tells stories in wearable forms. Reinterpreted forms are the brand’s canvas. KAFT loves to share this canvas with collaborations with different artists and has worked with many great artists around the world such as Cinta Vidal, Monassi, Oscar Llorens, Johnson Tang in its design journey for over ten years.KAFT designs have reached 85 different countries so far and appeal to a passionate, art-loving audience who likes experiencing new things, dislikes the ordinary, and focuses on how the objects in their lives make them feel.kaft.com

Luca Curci – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
Kaft Team – KAFT is a design brand that tells stories in wearable forms. In 2010, the thoughts shaped by this idea began to slowly scatter. During this period, we started with 10 designs and to this date, more than 400 designs appeared. At a point where we overflowed from t-shirt designs, our designs spread to different product groups.

LC – What are you currently working on?
KT – For the last 2 years, we love launching our designs with 3D clips in a scenario and have entered a digital universe completely. On the other hand, we started on our 2023 designs. While playing the same game we know and continuing our illustrations, we are also curious about new product groups. Our design range expands every year in line with this excitement. Kaft Colors Project – Story, video, and sound narratives about the colorful characters of every color in Kaft palette. At the end of this year, the narratives of all colors will be completed. Hybrid Minds, is a project where we consider both the physical world and NFT ecosystem together and carry it out with collaborations with artists from all around the world. The limited-edition (100 editions) t-shirts represent the physical universe, whereas the 1 NFT of the artwork represents the presence of the project in a digital ecosystem. We launch our 2022 designs with 3D videos and sounds integrated with their story. Videos of the designs we have launched so far:

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
KT – From day one Kaft has been a character that produces, thinks and evolves not only as a brand but also as an artist and so the period we live in has been one of the most significant sources of inspiration. While creating our designs, we think they should be far from the ordinary and popular culture and based on an idea and a story. Coming together with different disciplines, trying out brand new techniques and sometimes getting back to nature are among the things that inspire us.

LC – What is the most challenging part about creating your pieces?
KT – The first moment of generating an idea may be one of the hardest parts. Sometimes an idea shapes and moves quickly and sometimes, it can take a long time to process an idea. Details are essential for us; we go through every detail thoroughly.

LC – How is your creative process?
KT – Our creative process begins with gathering as a team and sharing many things we are inspired, nourished by and experienced. As we share, the ideas floating freely in our minds start creating an environment, evolve and grow, and sometimes give rise to completely different fresh ideas. Trying out different techniques and methods is also part of this process. At the end of the day, chasing what excites us the most often takes us beyond what we had imagined.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
KT – We are happy to be a part of a concept that inspired many cultures. We highly care about our bond with the earth. We are pleased to see the different perspectives of artists all around the world under this concept.

LC – Can you explain something about the products you have in our exhibition?
KT – We use t-shirts as our canvas and each design has a story. The artworks we sent for the exhibition are 2 of our t-shirt series. We turned these designs into panels with our t-shirt fabric in order to depict this feeling. The stories of our designs in the exhibition are as follows:

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
KT – We had the opportunity to meet It’s liquid in 2021 and appeared in an excellent article together. In this article, we shared the birth and story of Kaft to ITSLIQUID readers. It was a delightful process. Thank you for your support and genuine attitude towards us. This year we are taking part in the Anima Mundi exhibition with 6 artworks. This time, we found our place in IT’S LIQUID not as a design brand but as an artist. For this reason, we are quite excited.

LC – What is your idea about ITSLIQUID GROUP?
KT – It’s impressive to see such a community when it comes to art. We appreciate the increased visibility of artists around the world and giving them a chance to participate in such precious venues and exhibitions. There is also something beautiful about seeing such different ideas and perspectives around a single theme that nourishes us. ITSLIQUID GROUP truly achieves this.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
KT – We are happy to have worked with you. Our communication was solid from day one and we felt fully understood and supported. Thank you again for this opportunity. And our social networks are these: