Ido Karni

Hello, my name is Ido Karni, I am 27 years old from Israel, originally from a remote peripheral city called Eilat, and I currently live in Tel Aviv. I am a fashion design student at Shenkar University. The apparel I designed and sewed was created as part of the leather course in my third year at Shenkar. I used cowhide and a unique transparent horsehide. My project focuses on the invisible people , those who do not take center stage in society and are often pushed to the sides. These are the more vulnerable individuals who live alongside us, whom we see every day. In my project, I chose to bring them to the forefront and highlight the invisible members of the working class who remain behind the scenes. I was inspired by the Chinese artist Liu Bolin, also known as "The Invisible Man," who captures this exact feeling in his work. He uses his body as a canvas, blending entirely into the background, an act that emphasizes how easily people and their very existence can be overlooked in public spaces. In his works, Bolin paints himself to merge almost seamlessly with his surroundings, as if he were an integral part of them. Through this visual disappearance, he raises questions about identity, visibility, and social neglect, thereby revealing the reality of the invisible people. I chose to work with the most iconic garment associated with the working class: the denim. I juxtaposed it with luxurious cowhide leather, creating contrasts through layering and concealment much like the social layers within our population. For the upper part of the design, I used a simple workers jacket that simultaneously conceals and reveals the entire body, crafted from transparent horse leather.