From the moment Filling Pieces first stepped into the big brand-dominated sneaker market in 2009, the Amsterdam-based label has quietly and confidently walked its own path, turning heads as it passed on by. Its latest move is Inner Circle, an extremely limited top tier seasonal capsule featuring the brand’s most progressive designs to date in a minimally branded footwear collection. Selling only 250 units per style worldwide, you’ll have to be quick as Filling Pieces continue to change the pace.
The inaugural offering ignites with the use of rubberized neoprene, a functional material initially developed for scuba diving, but now pioneered in sneaker design by Filling Pieces. “This is our passion project that showcases our dedication to innovation, but also our desire to provide our own inner circle of clients and consumers with a product that’s very personal to us,” founder and creative director Guillaume Philibert explains in the release. As we share the debut campaign featuring Sahara Lin and George Koh, Filling Pieces exclusively shares an intimate conversation it had with the campaign’s photographer, Fabien Montique.
How did your upbringing in Barbados influence your life and career?
My work is an exploration of things that scare me or things I want to experience. Growing up on a small island kept me wanting to learn new things about the world around me each day.
Do you go back to Barbados often? What do you think of the creative scene in Barbados? Is there any culture in particular there you’d like to highlight?
I visit as often as possible. I love the evolution of the creative scene on the island. The young artists creating works around their Bajan identity and experience is special.
What made you move to the US initially?
I moved to New York to start a company that focused on digital design and content.
From Barbados to the US and now Paris? What made you decide to base yourself there?
Paris is the most beautiful city I have experienced. Walking around inspired me. It was a natural move after a year based in the city working on a documentary for Kanye.
You’ve said you are obsessed with aesthetics, especially how things look visually. What look and feel did you want to achieve with these images?
Film is a luxury, it fits perfectly with the ethos of Filling Pieces. With this project, I wanted to translate an aspirational luxury with an ease, to take the viewer back to a moment like those portraits by Jamel Shabazz of 80s kids in the subway — the portraits of them in their fresh sneakers. That pride. The complexity.
You’re best known for your photography and film direction, yet you like to describe yourself as an artist. What mediums are you enjoying working on at the minute and is there anything you’d like to explore?
Film photography is magical. I would like to explore theater stage design in the future.
You have a reverence for old artists and photographers and you enjoy painting, which could be described as an old art form. Yet you were first noticed through your web company. What role do you think technology plays in art and photography, and how do you balance the old and the new?
Technology has opened the world to the entire process of image-making. Information is power and the access to information has democratized photography in a way. Selfies are the new self-commissioned portraits. I am aiming to create images that make people feel something beyond the aesthetic. Images with information in the layers.
What are the particular challenges of working with film versus digital?
The challenges are part of the magic of film photography.
What made you choose the Hasselblad?
It is the best camera for film photography.
Is there a particular aesthetic or part of the process that you enjoy most when working with film?
Film forces you to think about every exposure. The unknown. Film grain is super. A film still looks like the world around stopped just for that moment. The tangible result is also rewarding.
When did you first start shooting film? Was it before or after digital?
I started shooting film in 2008 in tandem with digital. I use film exclusively for my personal projects. So this project with Filling Pieces is particularly special. And I am super thankful to the Filling Pieces team to have taken the challenge of film.
You like to shoot in black and white, why is this? How do you approach a shoot where color is integral?
Black and white takes the reality of out an image; the focus goes to the emotion. I think in primary colors when color is integral.
You respect the works and style of old artists and photographers. Were there any in particular who influenced or inspired this shoot?
Richard Avedon, Joan Didion, and Jamel Shabazz.
Is there a certain emotion or quality you wish to capture in a subject, individual, or a brand? How do you go about discovering this or planning for it?
I am looking to capture my uncertainties and insecurities when I take a picture. I create characters in a life scenario that will evoke my feelings. It is fiction in a way but there is magic in the mundane when things don’t go as planned. That is what I am looking for. I have the privilege of collaborating with brands that want to say something to their customers and also visually represent the youth who support them.
Did you always want to work in fashion photography, or was this something that came organically?
I see the medium as an expression that continuously evolves as I learn and grow. Fashion photography is part of my journey.
Finally, what’s next?
I am working on two books. Also, after working on the stage and runway design for Off-White spring/summer 17, we’ve got an upcoming art exhibition at 032c.
