Interview
《An Interview with COLD Archive Creator》
About COLD Archive
COLD Archive began its journey in June 2019. COLD was created by Lewis James Dixon and for the sole purpose to provide inspiration to people around the world, by uploading extremely rare and unseen imagery and video with a daily consistency.
I: How would you describe COLD Archive?
C: COLD can be described by a main platform that showcases global subculture and Youth cultures, mainly back dated from as early as the 1950’s.
I: Do you want to develop your own fashion label?
C: Since COLD has grown quite a lot since last year, it has opened up the possibility to add another avenue of Fashion which is design. I personally have studied Fashion Design and I’ve always enjoyed it. Mostly the researching aspect to it. COLD has started its own label.
I: What was the inspiration of the Teeth Brace T-shirt?
C: The Inspiration behind my ‘Teeth Brace’ Design was a UK raving poster from the early 90s. It had three different false theta braces on, and the image came to me right away, that teeth on a T-shirt could look cool.
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《Drilling Lab 選物選談》
IMPLY is a select shop located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, including apparel, accessories and tattoos. In this space, minimalism is presented by various plain, sharp cutting individual brands selection.
We had a small talk with the owner of IMPLY.
DL: You have shared that "The definition of minimalism is not to have completely nothing, but find a way to be." How do you practice minimalist in your life?
IMPLY: It is important to know how to choose. The " cut off, give up, and part from" can help me practice minimalism in life. First, the “cut off” is to cut off unnecessary things. Second, the “Give up” is to give up excess wastes. Last, the "part from" is to part from the attachment to subjects. That is, it's important for minimalist to choose necessary things.
DL: What do you think about DrillingLab?
IMPLY: Drilling Lab’s design is inspired by industrial clamps, using the most primitive material without extra processing to present our "Less is more” concept, interpreting factory machinery aesthetics. I think this is what makes DrillingLab different.
DL: IMPLY is more than just a select shop, but a platform to share. What idea do you want to convey?
IMPLY: As a director, I hope everyone in here could obtain something, physically or mentally. IMPLY not only provides design brands of Taiwan, but includes shoes from Hong Kong and independent tattoos. There are too many things happening, too many ideas popping up! We hope to build a larger display sharing platform here. Drilling Lab plays one of the roles, to convey the true thinking direction without pretence.
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I: What are your thoughts on entering the Asia market for the first time? What's your expectation?
T: I'm really glad for this development. It's something that we were looking for, as a natural progression of Aumorfia's relationship with Asia. Watching the continuous positive reaction from the Asian public, we believe that our first natural presence in the epicenter of the Asian fashion will give us and our customers the opportunity to get to know each other better and extend this relationship further on.
I: What made you choose IMPLY? T: IMPLY, in Aumorfia's consciousness, has a strong and consistent face defined by minimal and dark, luxury and sporty, masculine and feminine style; a face that actually fits our perspectives on fashion and the way we want to see our creations be worn. The most important thing, of course is that Luke Chan, the head of IMPLY, from the first time we found each other, gave us the certainty that he likes and respects our products. We loved his style and the way he presents our times through his social media. It is important for us to feel that the person who represents Aumorfia understands our philosophy and believes in it.
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Luke Chan is the founder of IMPLY, a minimalism lifestyle multi-brand selection store.
L: What is Minimalism to you? I: Minimalism is a choice or even an attitude, which can be incorporated into design, clothing and lifestyle. By removing superfluous elements, minimalism brings an ideology back to its pure and peaceful origin.
L: What was your motivation behind launching a lifestyle multi-brand selection store? I: Initially my aim was to introduce and promote Taiwanese brands as a lifestyle to the people of Hong Kong. My vision for IMPLY is to become a platform for worldwide minimal items to gather.
L: What were the challenges (if any) while launching and managing IMPLY? I: Location was the first problem, it was not simply about the store location itself but also the whole package including the decoration of the store, online advertisement through various channels and the development of a brand image. In terms of management, as the owner of IMPLY, it is a must for me to play all the roles necessary (for example, accounting, marketing, inventory and many more) in making this store a success. It was extremely difficult to take care of every problem all at the same time.