╳ Hats Off To Yasemen

╳ Was it divine intervention or just pure luck when Thread Count Lab’s path crossed with Yasemen Hussein? Neither unfortunately, it was via Linkedin, the business-related social networking site! However ‘unromantic’ our meeting might have been, we are however a match made in heaven. Ms Hussein uses the most unsympathetic of materials to create the most delicate sculptural pieces imaginable. Her work is both classical and contemporary, echoing the spires of Gothic cathedrals and the sublimity of a Baroque painting, all re-worked into an aesthetic all her own.

╳ Describing her work as “wearable sculpture,” Ms Hussein creates her beautiful pieces from her chic live-in studio in outer London. On graduating from the University of Wolverhampton, in 1994 with a BA Honours in glass, Yasemen was awarded a scholarship to study at Illinois State University. At its College of Fine Arts, while completing a Masters specialising in glass sculpture, she also embarked on a series of courses at the Penland School of Craft and here she embarked on a love affair with steel and copper: “it was heaven” Ms Hussein says. Today she collects copper from scrap yards and charity shops transforming ‘junk’ into treasure…”copper bends as though I’m drawing with it” Yasemen confesses, “I love to weld it. You cannot stop me trying anything.”

╳ Since opening her studio, the London-based artist has secured several high-profile commissions including working alongside über-Milliner Philip Treacy, lingerie giant Victoria’s Secrets and pop stars Will-i-am, Britney Spears and Katy Perry. In particular, Thread Count Lab is enthralled by her 2010 Museum of London permanent exhibition pieces, where she was commissioned by Mr Treacy to design 22 copper hairpieces to wear with his spectacular hats. The backdrop to, and theme of the exhibition, as envisaged by curators Beatrice Behlen and Hilary Davidson, is a masquerade in a Georgian Pleasure Garden. One reveler wears a midnight-blue crinoline, printed with golden stars topped off with a copper antlered headdress that soars into the twinkling nightscape. The headdress, crafted by Yasemen, was inspired by Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon, which interestingly was a popular fancy-dress costume of that era. Other pieces we covet are her confections in concrete namely the Concrete Console (2007) and Triptych (2008). Yielding such fine detailing from concrete is no mean feat…and something TCL knows a ‘little’ about!

╳ To find the patience to work on the curves of Yasemen’s copper feathers or the delicate patterns on her concrete panels, she admits; "sometimes it's so frustrating, and the profanities that explode from my mouth are really not very ladylike. I've discovered that a good swear word (or three) is effective and so is smashing my hammer on my big metal table as many times as it takes my anger to subside!" However for someone who is so uniquely talented Ms Hussein is remarkably modest in trying to enhance her profile and in a recent email exchange she wrote: “I have a live/work space in zone 3 South London and if you wanted to take a closer look at my work you are more than welcome to visit, I can promise a decent cup of tea and a biscuit tin full to the brim.” True beauty inside and out.  

╳ Images (top to bottom)

Concrete Stool, 2006
Concrete detail, 2008
Toyoka detail, 2006
Triptych detail, 2008
Concrete Console, 2007

Eliza Griggs
Amadine Dupont
Diana
Kitty Barker
Museum of London, 2010

╳ To see more of Yasemen Hussein's beautiful work follow this link.