Fashion designer Mary Katrantzou (b.1983, Athens) studied for a BA in Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design before transferring to Central Saint Martins, London, where she completed her degree in Textile Design in 2005 and graduated with a MA with Distinction in Fashion in 2008. Her first ready-to-wear collection debuted at London Fashion Week in spring/summer 2009, with the support of the British Fashion Council. Despite it being a small collection of only nine dresses, Katrantzou picked up 15 prestigious stockists including Browns, Joyce and Colette. The designer received show status in 2009.
Already at her 2008 graduation show, the designer mapped out her signature style: trompe l'oeil prints of oversized jewellery featured on jersey-bonded dresses. These pieces created the illusion of wearing giant neckpieces that would be too heavy to be worn in reality. Since then, all of Katrantzou's thematic collections revolve around an icon of luxury, an object from art or design that a woman would not be able to wear if it were real. She has based collections on perfume bottles, artisan blown glass, eighteenth century society paintings and interiors and French gardens, all the while keeping the printed image central to her aesthetic.
This two-dimensionality and Katrantzou's meticulous attention to detail when it comes to patterns, symmetry, and colour make her textile designs impressive visual creations in their own right. The nature of her work lends itself exceptionally well to the creation of works of art - and Katrantzou's collaboration with Sedition is her first step into the realm of digital art.
Katrantzou's designs have been featured in publications including Vogue, Dazed & Confused, The New York Times, Wallpaper* and Grazia. Currently, she has over 100 stockists worldwide, and all of her collections are complemented by a capsule jewellery line with the same play of illusion and effect. She received the New Gen Award for the fifth season in 2012, was awarded the prestigious Swiss Textiles Award in 2010, and has collaborated with Topshop, the perfume line Six Scents, with Atelier Swarovski, and with the renowned Parisian embroidery house Lesage. In November 2011, Katrantzou was given the British Fashion Award for Emerging Talent: Women’s Wear, and in February 2012, she received Young Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.
Mary Katrantzou continues to live and work in London. Pound is her first digital artwork produced exclusively for Sedition.
