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From taking Balenciaga’s Triple S for a digital spin to making Nike’s Air Max 720 seem even lighter: this CG designer can do everything.

YILMAZ SEN blurs the lines between reality illusion

The graphic designer Yilmaz Sen from Copenhagen taught himself the art behind 3D modeling + photography as a way to escape boredom & keep finding excitement in his work.

As we talked to him in an exclusive chat, we realized that the outcome of his experimentations was bigger & more innovative than he could ever imagine: his pieces became an invitation for people to explore as many variations of reality as possible thru weird & abstract movements that warp everyday scenes into unidentifiable images. And, from there, the unexpected became his signature style & authenticity, the only expected element of his projects.

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“I happen to be excited about creating things I haven’t seen yet.”

Maybe that’s why Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga, proposed a project that would give him total freedom to build castles in the air: the brand’s SS19 digital campaign. Sen’s original perspective fits like a glove with Balenciaga’s edgy & distorted fashion, making typically static imagery (like most clothing campaigns) come to life with surreal movements that create a certain angst – with a state-of-the-art style by the end. Like with his take on the suede and leather upper Triple S that portrays the comfort from those three soles & the everlasting versatility of a shoe inspired by three different sports: running + basketball + track & field. The liquid movements applied to its surface seem to mirror the infinite symbol, playing with perspective and stretching the material into a surreal form – which makes the pair even bolder. That’s how his art works for products & brands: it makes us wonder, it sparks creativity, it has the power to inspire.

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“Any aesthetic style or emotion is possible to express using CG techniques.”

In a world where CGI models, like Lil Miquela, claim their space as influencers in the industry, these crossovers between fashion & computer-generated art are still jaw-dropping, but not a trending topic anymore. Yet, the Sen + Balenciaga collab brings a new, more powerful perspective to this already innovative combo: both sides create the urge to experiment, raise questions & corrupt “normal” in their own fields. And that’s what turns a simple digital campaign into a never-before-seen form of expression.

To accomplish that in a fashionable way, Sen mixed real images with digital textures, mimicking classic fabrics but adding impossible distortions to all of them. He plays with materials such as leather & turns garments, shoes + bags into out-of-this-world objects just to create extreme reactions.

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“To me, every material, form, or light is an instrument. Composition is what’s really important.”

The same goes for other huge projects, like the short videos for Nike’s Air Max 720 & Zalando Sneakernet x Nike that show flexibility & comfort in a whole new way. Or even the collab with fashion vehicle 24s that shows the connection of high-fashion pieces, like leather Dior sneakers, with street style thru twisted images of different Paris landscapes.

All in all, it is through understanding the concepts behind his creations that Yilmaz Sen's signature begins to take form: his work is about the subjectivity of reality and its capacity to break apart the idea of rational. And if he can do that & change the way we see the world while blasting a dope playlist, even better.

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“Music helps me develop my ideas further.”

Check out the compilation of hits he shared exclusively with METCHA for inspiring & making new ideas from scratch.

Wanna keep that inspiration going? Hit up [metcha originals].

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