The collection, Tasty, is a special collaboration of two Moscow sisters. As a fashion designer, Nensi Avetisian is inspired by her Armenian ancestry and a fresh reinterpretation of sustainability, while Bella, her sister as a confectioner, conveys memories with flavors. The new level of food design!
One of the most recurring elements of Nensi’s brand is the tight structure that imitates the ceilings of Armenian temples. Her iconic bag made from recycled leather jackets was likened by many to egg cartons, which is why she took reflective photos and videos of it. According to her, she especially enjoys how the pieces she designs can be interpreted and integrated into everyday life in many ways. So the search for a connection with clothes and food had already started somewhere here with her. The idea is not alien to the designer’s creed, because as fashionwear can perform other functions (like an egg holder or even edibility), a new aspect of sustainability is embodied. This concept has become clear in the recently debuted Tasty collection.
“My sister Bella and I already had some small projects together that was similar to the Tasty series, now we’re continuing these. In one of our previous projects, for example, she made a cake to celebrate our sisterhood, our love for each other, our Armenian roots, and our creativity. The concept of the current Tasty series is based on the idea of combining pieces from my SS22 collection and our family recipes,” Nensi told us. “I’ve been making pastries since I was sixteen, and then I decided to go to culinary college. It was hard not to be seduced in the kitchen when I was a kid when a whole closet at home was full of mom’s cake utensils. Our mother, Liana Avetisian, is a successful chocolate maker and confectioner. And my sister is my best friend, my mentor and my inspiration. We learn a lot from each other and she always challenges me with her ideas,” Bella added.
The result is three special dresses/desserts that will be available for purchase from spring. Here’s the menu: the first course is a jelly dessert made from rosehip tea picked from forest bushes that echo the pattern of the SS22 mesh dress. The second is their special family sweet, a honey, leafy, ground walnut paste in the form of a structural bag. And the third is their grandmother’s favorite, a caramel candy with salt crystals that also reinterprets the peculiar bag.
“I keep a list of the “tastes of my life” where I write about the tastes of my childhood, school, college, university, and different jobs. The flavor combinations that piqued my interest at a given time have always been important to me, and have carried an extra layer of meaning for me ever since. Like the porridge my grandmother cooked for us in our childhood, or the tea made from rosehips that we also collected with my grandmother from the forest bushes. For me, every recipe focuses on an important memory that I then love to share with my family. I like the interesting yet simple flavor combinations, the salty cheese with the ripe red, juicy watermelon, the coriander malt with the crispy rye sourdough bread. I also like to use scents when baking: rosehip, jasmine and spray roses from the Krasnodar Territory, or the smell of incense from Armenian temples. I see a great opportunity in our joint projects with Nensi, I still want to try a lot of recipes and implement new ideas. In the future, we want to organize an exhibition where guests can taste our objects, even with the presentation of a collection at the same time,” Bella, who is responsible for the flavors of the Tasty collection, shared with us.
Meanwhile, we asked her sister what sustainability means to her and the future of the brand in a broader context: “For me, sustainability means honesty and openness. It means dialogue between everything and everyone. It’s not just about the materials we use, it’s about people, their working conditions, their use of language, and the way we behave on the internet. Basically, this is what I always think of when creating collections, drawing sketches, working on production, communicating with customers: how to make each chain of creation and production more ethical. I would like to develop my brand in the future with local production and collaboration with local and Armenian artisans. For me, the most important thing is to stay creative as the brand grows and stay in line with my ethical and philosophical commitments. I envision a future in which handmade and craft approaches come to the fore in fashion manufacturing,” Nensi said.
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