11. Athi-Patra Ruga reinterprets the iconic Lady Dior handbag

Athi-Patra Ruga, one of SA's current art stars, has reimagined the iconic Lady Dior handbag in his image for a special-edition capsule collection by the brand.

South African artist Athi-Patra Ruga was recently invited to participate in the fourth edition of the Dior Lady Art Project, alongside 10 other rising international art stars. And unsurprisingly, his two designs strike a precise balance between ideas that are highly conceptual, and a sensual reaction that leads one to instantly want to touch these exquisite accessories.

The first of Ruga’s two bag designs is an enigmatic 3-D self-portrait made from pearls and framed by fabric, crystals and metal flowers. “I’m aware of the politics of representation and nothing emphasises that more than [the] face,” he says when asked about the decision to include a version of his visage in miniature. “There wasn’t much of a back and forth [with Dior] about putting the mask on the bag, but it was very much a technical feat; the larger conversation was about detail, with many hours spent crafting every facet – the reward being to create something beautiful for the owner to touch and behold.”

Ruga’s renderings for his Dior L ady Art bags were sketched while on holiday in Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, where he and his partner are in the process of creating a holiday home. He says that while working on them, he envisioned the Azania that he wants to create and decorate, which is exactly what their new home is too: a blank canvas to be fashioned after their imagination.

Ruga adds that he thinks the ideas e xpressed in his designs would not have come out in the same way had he started drawing them in Cape Town rather than in the Eastern Cape.

The second of his two Lady Art designs, a blue lambskin leather bag with a quilted scallop pattern, was inspired by Christian Dior’s iconic Junon evening gown, first created in 1949. “I am highly enamoured by luxury and being able to have a conversation with this fashion house that is the crown jewel of haute couture,” says Ruga.

He also reveals that working with the Dior studio was a positive experience. “Instead of them grabbing what they want and going off to interpret it as they wish,” he says, the Lady Dior Art Project was an opportunity to work in a way that “is a luxury I don’t take for granted as a craftsperson”.