She's Cosmic: Aimée Wilder Customizes the La Sardina DIY (NSFW)

Native New Yorker and multidisciplinary artist Aimée Wilder debuted her namesake home design brand with a particular focus on eclectic and playful wallpaper back in 2009. Fast forward to today, Aimée's brand has continued to grow, including rugs, fabrics, and accessories.

Thanks to her extensive background in fine arts, particularly with analogue photography, we had the opportunity to connect with the designer to create a one-of-a-kind La Sardina DIY 35mm camera.

Hello Aimee, welcome to Lomography Magazine! Can you start off by telling us a bit about yourself and your background with analogue photography as well as Lomography?

Thank you! In college I shot with a Pentax Zx-7, but unfortunately it was stolen just after I graduated, so I set photography aside for a while. In 2009, after initially launching my own brand, a friend and I serendipitously met an older photographer at a vintage furniture store in Williamsburg. He invited us to a few test shoots along with this young Dutch model, which ended up being magical. We shot for a few days at the studio and on the Staten Island Ferry. A few weeks later we ended up modeling for him and spent the day at his Christopher Street apartment. He really wanted to play and have fun while being creative.

I mentioned having no idea how to shoot my wallpapers for my website, so he offered to meet the following weekend to teach me. We shot the sets for my first collection using his vintage furniture and objects with all natural lighting, and to this day we still use this process for photographing our wallpapers.

Years later, after developing cement tiles made in Vietnam, we had 12,000 lbs shipped to a dark ground-floor studio, and again I had to learn how to shoot a new type of product. This time I needed more than natural light alone but didn’t have the skillset. Again, very synchronously, I met another photographer while eating at a Brooklyn watering hole, who taught me how to shoot with strobes. In the first days, getting the shots down, he showed me how to craft light and I learned how to work independently using a wide range of photo equipment.

I’ve always shot while traveling and at concerts and taken photos of my friends. Now I’m diving deeper into photography and working on a self-portrait project that I’m really excited about. Each photo included here is the first release of a whole series of images that I’ve shot since this summer.

What was your inspiration for your La Sardina DIY design? How did you come up with the concept?

I chose to use my design She’s Cosmic, which was resized to a smaller scale to better fit the camera. Inspired by 1960s psychedelic posters, She’s Cosmic celebrates the empowerment of women and all their magical characteristics. As a proud woman-owned small business, I wanted to honor the diverse roles that women play. I chose a turquoise-and-white colorway to complement the white of the camera body. This specific print is from a UV print process on sustainably forested clay-coated paper, and won't fade over time.

Do you have any tips or tricks for our artistic community members who might want to design a camera of their own?

Absolutely! I found it most important to incorporate values that are central to my artistic practice. Start by reflecting on what drives your creativity. It’s helpful to think about the camera as a design object and how to complement the color of the body and its unique design with the colors of the artwork being applied to it. And then, based on your vibe and aesthetic, determine how minimal or maximal you want to go with the design.

Anything else you'd like to share?

I’m excited to be turning my studio in East Williamsburg into a multipurpose workspace and gallery where I can have events and show my work, as well as the work of other artists. I’m hoping in 2025 that I can have design and art clients visit the space in person to see materials from the Aimée Wilder line, like textiles and wallpaper alongside my art and photo work. I’m still trying to figure out how making art relates to having a 15-year-old business, but I do think the images I am creating can have a crossover with the brand.

Special thanks to Aimée Wilder and her team for collaborating with us to bring you her custom camera design! If you're interested in keeping up with her and her designs, make sure to check out her Instagram and website. To check out her photography work, visit her art website and follow her photography Instagram account.

written by eloffreno on 2024-12-20 #gear #culture #people #art #diy #collaboration #experimental #painting #drawing #interior-design #fine-arts