_{Image courtesy of Karim Adduchi}

Interview: Karim Adduchi

Luca Curci talks with the artist Karim Adduchi, the winner of an HONORABLE MENTION of IT’S LIQUID INTERNATIONAL CONTEST 4TH EDITION 2017.

Illustrator, painter and fashion designer Karim Adduchi was born in Imzouren, Morocco, in 1988. He grew up between the sewing machines and threads and moved, at the age of five, to Barcelona. As it was his first time ever to attend school, but unable to speak, Adduchi turned to drawing as a way of self-expression. He attended the University of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where Adduchi further developed his art. Drawing inspiration from both the Italian Renaissance and contemporary art, he laid the fundaments for his recognisable style of illustrating. In 2010 Adduchi moved to Amsterdam to study fashion design at the Gerrit Rietveld in which he graduated last year with a striking collection called ‘She Knows Why the Caged Bird Sings’. Just a year later of graduating Karim Adduchi was invited to open Amsterdam Fashion Week.

_{Image courtesy of Karim Adduchi}

Luca Curci – What do you think about the concept of this contest? What drove you to partecipate in this contest?

Karim Adduch – A great platform to bring visionary artist to a global audience.

L. C. – What is the message linked to your artworks?

K. A. – It’s not just about appealing to our own regions, but about providing a cross cultural bridge, a beautiful source of inspiration and hope to the world, by using thread that sustain the bridge between people. I feel that I have responsibility to tackle those issues from our social context, through fashion lens, of course.

_{Image courtesy of Karim Adduchi}

L. C. – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?

K. A. – My goal with my collections has always been reconstructing the ‘forgotten history’ of Morocco. I want to show my integrate cultural background into my designs. As a designer of Moroccan origin, I feel responsible to some old cultural traditions and history of my culture. I do this by doing anthropological research and conducting visual experiments. But my main goal is to open the minds of the public, proving that fashion is not only to dress, but also a reason to work together, to learn, and to promote diversity. I see fashion as a way to tell stories, to build a bridge between people, cultural act and worlds.

_{Image courtesy of Karim Adduchi}

L. C. – How is being an artist nowadays?

K. A. – A combination with being creative and entrepeneur, the romantic perception of having a mecenas is no longer real. An artist, nowadays, has to be creative in the work to reach the goals, never giving up because is hard.

L. C. – What is art for you?

K. A. – A window to escape, a door to open, and a tool to learn and interact with others.

_{Image courtesy of Karim Adduchi}

L. C. – What is your creative process like?

K. A. – My working process is based on experimental and anthropological researches used in order to get to the final results. I start research about Berber tribes in Morocco, the way they think, talk, and they every day lives. It’s the reason why I often travel to Morocco, to make the research stronger by having a first person experience. Ones I have all the information collected, written and organized, I draw an historical line from the past heritage till the present, finishing by addingmy own point of view. That’s the way I have to translate a personal view into universal, by empathy and experiencing the real context of the culture.

L. C. – Do you think It’s LIQUID Group can represent an opportunity for artists?

K. A. – Yes, nowadays what an artist is looking for, more than inspiration, is exposure and It’s LIQUID is a great platform to globalize artists.