Japan-based hair artist, head prop designer and wig maker Tomihiro Kono [河野富広] presents its latest book PERSONAS 111 - The Art of Wig Making [konomad editions, 2020].

A journey of 180 pages through hair experimentations, transformations and possibilities, published by his own house co-founded with the photographer Sayaka Maruyama.

Artifact c/o Spazio Maiocchi will be flooded with Tomi hand-made creations as a stargate for multiverses feelings and characters. The wigs become sculptural elements that amplify, mask or define identities, suggesting personal and collective imaginaries.

This will be a rare opportunity to find Tomi's previous book HEAD PROP studies 2013-2016 [konomad editions, 2017], his ‘fancy wigs’, custom face masks made in collaboration with Collina Strada designer Hillary Taymour during the Coronavirus lockdown in New York, and T-shirts. Three free limited editions posters will be available for the public.

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— Tomihiro Kono started his practice as a classical trained hair stylist. His passion for hair soon led him to begin exploring more experimental hair and head designs, bringing him to create very personal head prop designs. In 2007 Tomihiro moved to London and collaborated with Dazed & Confused, i-D, and 10 Magazine, developing its own artistic grammar. He collaborated with Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garçons, Jil Sander and Aganovich and after living in New York, Tomi is now back in Japan, represented by Julian Watson agency. With his impressive portfolio and his two monographic books, his vision keeps contaminating present and future possible horizons

— Sayaka Maruyama's practice traverses the mediums of photography, film, drawings, installation and performance. Drawing on classical Japanese references and Surrealist motifs, her work explores contradictory contemporary understandings of notions of beauty, from both Western and Eastern perspectives. She has exhibited widely in London and Tokyo, and her images have been published in periodicals including the British Journal of Photography, Silvershotz magazine, the Financial Times Magazine and Eyemazing. Her latest photo essay will be published in the next issue of Pan and The Dream, out in September 2020

— Anna Battista is an Italian-born freelance journalist, writer, curator and independent scholar. Among the publications she has collaborated with Dazed Digital, The Guardian, Vogue Italia, Interview Magazine and Pan and The Dream. Her latest essay is featured in the book Personas 111 - The Art of Wig Making 2017-2020 by Tomihiro Kono. Anna’s architecture, art, culture, design, fashion and film notes are collected on her site

— The event is part of a Warm-Up series created by SPRINT—Independent Publishers and Artists' Books Salon