Canadian Jasper Garvida (b.1977, Philippines) studied Fashion Design Womenswear at Central St Martins College of Art & Design. Upon graduation in 2004, he worked as a fashion designer running his own label until 2017. He then applied to study at the Royal College of Art (RCA), completing the Graduate Diploma course in 2019 followed by a Masters in Sculpture in 2021.

His practice explores ideas of transformation, concealment, materiality, fragility, memories, the body and touches on issues on isolation and mental health.

 

Garvida translates his fashion design skills through making, applying the skills he acquired in garment construction such as pattern cutting and sewing. He finds meaning through understanding and testing the qualities and properties of materials.

 

The tactility of making is central to his practice. He combines his knowledge and intuition with the materials, allowing his senses to guide his hands and to give character to a piece. Adept at both rough-hewn and polished work, his attention to the iterative is the strength of his work – focusing on delicate figures.

 

To create forms, he begins by observing the body and the shapes it creates - how it moves in space, how it communicates through gestures and expresses feelings. He then works his materials by hand to captivate the emotion within the form. He seeks to capture the intangible, those subtle and fleeting moments that might otherwise escape the eye.

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