NYC - R O S S M E N U E Z is the bad-ass creative genius behind S A L V O R P R O J E C T S, a lifestyle label that specializes in originating avant-garde prints and textiles and applies them to the coolest, most directional accessories, footwear and apparel (and occasionally home furnishings). Mr. Menuez’s designs are all about sleek modernism mixed with elements of high-tech industrial design. With a formal degree in Sculpture (BFA, Hunters College) and nearly two decades of hands-on experience working in product development for Habitat in London and designing furniture in Japan, Ross has set his sights on womenswear and has been producing some mesmerizing capsule collections recently.
Ross infuses his clothes with a raw and sensuous elegance—some provocative, some subdued—and he has struck a chord with major buyers, editors and celebs the world over. With his own peculiar yet precise vision (he calls it ‘portable architecture’), he is well-known for combining proprietary graphic-work with bleeding-edge shapes and silhouettes that are functional and eccentric off the catwalk as they are on it.
His favorite fabrics are modal jersey and silk gazar, which have “amazing draping properties and are amongst the most versatile and comfy materials around.” Ross has embellished his clothes with amazing silk-screen prints and visual narratives, including picturesque cloudscapes and surrealist mountains; last season he adorned many of his pieces with visceral imagery of police brandishing weaponry and riot-gear during a recent G-8 Summit. The clothes themselves are intriguing and well-crafted and adroitly meld drape, print and tailoring along with his own sci-fi tendencies. Think Bernhard Willhelm meets Yohji Yamamoto with a smattering of Zaha Hadid.
His role models and references include futurist/inventor, Buckminister Fuller, who employed synergetics and ‘ephemeralization’—essentially an industrial method of ‘doing more with less’ as well as Terrence McKenna, a pseudo-philosopher who often advocated the exploration of altered states of mind by way of psychedelic substances. Ross, who has been called the ‘sage of prints,’ is a fearless entrepreneur-designer who loves freaky imagery, bold messages and eye-popping color-ways—and his designs are pretty much the coolest things around!
No, seriously, Ross is one of NYC’s most mental, most rigorous and hard-working designers. His creations—shoes, bags, scarves, dresses, shirts, etc.—can be intellectual, sometimes challenging, but always super-cool and fanciful. With an amazing creative vision and adept facility for CAD, Ross makes stuff that is at once avant-garde, technical and classic, transcending both time and culture. His latest creations are primarily womenswear but his shoes, bags and accessories fall into the unisex camp and sidestep gender altogether embodying a mod, androgynous aesthetic.
For Ross, fashion design is conceptual art; lazy minds need not apply. Mixing kitschy/cosmopolitan references from E.T. and Ho Chi Minh to street- and pop-culture, he happily works long-hours in his mid-town studio, cranking-out artsy prototypes of everything from translucent lopsided vases to canvas shoes and jersey hoodies. He loves complexity and computer-driven designs, and has a knack for FORM-Z, a surface modeling program for manipulating complex composite objects. He applies perspectival drawings, prints and photo-techniques from paper to three-dimensional forms, mixing the virtual and real, and the spectral geometries that emerge from perplexing, enigmatic spaces and objects. Ross cites Sori Yanagi’s ‘magazine kiosks’ from the ’70’s as a major design influence and is bonkers for all things Bruno Munari and Azzedine Alaïa. Other heroes include Rick Owens, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Chris Foss.
Simply put, Ross’ stuff is polymorphous and functional, and his prints and graphics are seriously dope—not to mention his shapes and silhouettes. What really makes him distinct is his ‘anything goes as long as it’s cool/original’ approach: his collections and creations have manifested themselves in the form of everything from florescent zebra pillows, silk-screen tapestries, hand-made knits and silk-jersey scarves, wall-size posters, high-top Velcro shoes, etc. Ross is incredibly prolific, has tons of passion and often loses himself in the product development and design process. “When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good, leaving no trace of yourself,” he says
Having cut his teeth in all things design related, he launched Salvor Projects in 2003 and is enjoying considerable momentum. His range includes pretty much everything and embodies a cutting-edge eclecticism that is all about quality, craftsmanship and the coolest graphics ever! Customers and collaborators include Bjork, Bruce Weber, Mariko Mori and Marianne Aulie. Ross has collaborated with other labels, including Rogan, and sells at the world’s most progressive boutiques and department stores: Seven NY, Dover Street Market and Oak.
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