Fashion watch brand Swatch has launched two new collections designed in collaboration with Chinese fashion designer Uma Wang and Japanese artist Hideaki Kawashima.
Each designer has created two styles of watch for Swatch’s Art & Fashion special collections.
The timepieces by Uma Wang include a multicoloured zig-zag patterned watch with an embroidered strap, and a black and white watch with her name stamped on the strap and safety pin-shaped hands.
Wang studied design at Central Saint Martins before launching her eponymous fashion label in 2005. Her watch designs for Swatch features a traditional print and colours of textile from the Yunnan province in southwest China.
She said: “The collaboration with Swatch was a pleasure for me.
“Swatch is not only commercially successful but also creative and artistic which is a difficult and admirable position for any brand to achieve and maintain.”
Meanwhile, two doll-like watches by Hideaki Kawashima have also been launched.
His art tends to depict women in mysterious and unusual ways, and his Swatch designs also continue the theme, with a bright pink and bright blue watch bearing women’s faces on the dial that, although appearing similar, bear subtle differences.
As an artist Kawashima normally works in pale, almost translucent acrylic paints, often working straight to canvas without the use of sketches before creating artworks.
He said of his Swatch designs: “When I designed these two wristwatches I envisaged them having the character of a strange creature entwining around one’s arm, just like someone’s loving pet.
“Let’s say these are your Little Mister and Little Miss.”
Kawashima’s designed will be limited to 777 pieces.
