Kristin Texeira for Drake's

Introducing the latest entry in our artist collaboration series. This time around we teamed with Brooklyn-based artist Kristin Texeira, who created six paintings exclusively for a collection of pocket squares.

Texeira is known for her bold, semi-abstract paintings which are deeply suggestive of specific times, places and moods. In fact, for Texeira the canvas is a medium in which memory can crystallise and be preserved forever: ‘I paint to remember,’ as she puts it herself.

Across the six paintings which we have made into pocket squares, Texeira’s distinctive brushwork and use of colour create miniature self-contained narratives. She explains: ‘I told six adventure stories. There is The Farm: from my hometown – as a child, walking out to a sacred tree in the middle of a farm and finding it covered with ladybugs. The Golden Pig: telling of travels in Florence, Italy, climbing steps to a statue and making a wish in a fountain. The Island:  referencing the magic of phosphorescence on Martha’s Vineyard in late summer. The Roof – a shooting star my first night in Brooklyn, NY; The Sunset – roaming the hills of San Francisco, and The Bridge – the meeting place when I lived in Paris. Each story leads you to a place where you can make a wish. These are treasure maps to make wishes on.’

Our Creative Director, Michael Hill, had long been a fan of Texeira’s work, and on a trip to New York decided to get in touch to propose the idea of a collaboration. ‘Out of the blue Michael hit me up via email and asked if I would be interested in collaborating. He happened to be visiting New York and stopped by my studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We had a great morning discussing our inspirations – travel, art, interacting with others. I had been working on a series inspired by my two-month stay on a houseboat in Sausalito – he spoke of Japan. We both talked about our love of David Hockney. It made me excited to start working on something for Drake’s.’

And so, a collaboration was born. The resulting pocket squares are small pieces of art in their own right, but of course they double as beautiful accessories. The rich colour palette adds a welcome flash of colour to a more muted ensemble, whether worn in a breast pocket, or knotted about the neck.  

Texeira is someone who understands the emotional significance that certain items of clothing can absorb. ‘I have clothes that I’ve held onto because they tell a story. Any object – whether it is a piece of art, a ceramic vase, a scarf, or a seashell – can contain a story, and act as a way to re-enter a memory. You remember what shirt you were wearing the day you fell in love, or a bandana you wore as you drove across country, or a pin on a sweater given to you by someone long ago.’

‘These pocket squares act doubly as memory holders. My memories, shared within the imagery as markers of time and place; and the object itself as a memory – maybe given as a gift, maybe worn for a special event. There is a story within the pocket square and the story of the pocket square itself.’