TSATSAS. PAST PRESENT FUTURE

An exhibition at the Deutsches Ledermuseum

TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann

Since 2012, Esther and Dimitrios Tsatsas have been creating leather bags and accessories that are well outside the conventional fashion designs and possess a persuasive formal vocabulary of their own, free of any aesthetic restrictions. Ten years after the launch of TSATSAS, the Deutsches Ledermuseum (German Leather Museum) in Offenbach/Main is now hosting a comprehensive solo exhibition that presents the work of the designer couple and offers detailed insights behind the scenes of the label that has an international reach but is still producing locally in Offenbach/Main.

With its impressive historical collection of more than 30,000 artefacts, the Deutsches Ledermuseum has been documenting the cultural and historical relevance of leather as a material for over 100 years. However, it also feels obliged to highlight the present around the topic of leather and now integrates with “TSATSAS. Past, Present, Future” the modern yet timeless designs of a young accessory label into the museum.

As curators of the exhibition, Esther and Dimitrios Tsatsas were given the opportunity to let visitors experience their creative work process from their very own personal perspective – from the initial idea for a bag to the transformation of a traditional artisanal craft to the sources of cultural inspiration in contemporary art, design, architecture and music.

Within the exhibition, elaborate installations show the challenging creative process behind the designer duo’s leather goods. The first design steps that ultimately led to the founding of the label are shown, collaborations with architects and designers are highlighted and the design process up to the final product is illustrated by the example of the TAPE bag.

The centrepiece is the kinetic installation OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR. Inside a glass cabinet, models of the TSATSAS collection, created between 2012 and 2022, glide past visitors in a terminal loop. Arranged neither chronologically nor hierarchically, but staged purely intuitively, the 32 different objects melt through their monochromatic presentation into a symbol of the TSATSAS’ visual conciseness. There is no beginning and no end – the retrospective view of the past merges fluidly into the now.

“TSATSAS. Past, Present, Future” is shown at Deutsches Ledermuseum until March 26, 2023. More information on the exhibition can be found at www.ledermuseum.de.

TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann
TSATSAS. past, present, future - DEUTSCHES LEDERMUSEUM | Photography Gerhardt Kellermann

Photography
Gerhardt Kellermann

Video
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
Nora Cammann, Dimitrios Tsatsas

Video
TSATSAS. PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Nora Cammann, Nina Eichsteller, Noah Eliyas Henrich, Ole Wei-Yang Ripper