Tim Coppens & Sebastien Perrin

At pitti uomo 91 this january, the new york-based, new age designer spoke with the music maestro about their collaborative history and the brand’s european runway debut.

SEBASTIEN PERRIN: Mr. Coppens, when we first met you were basically building your own set. Do you remember?

TIM COPPENS: It’s true, it’s true.

PERRIN: It’s crazy! You had just done that beautiful jacket with kilim and the leather sleeves, and had such particular ideas on how to build a set that would match its feeling.

COPPENS: I mean, it was my first season, there was nothing! There was no history, nothing set up, nobody was telling me what to do. I think that during the casting, there were like 200 models there! No organization, everyone just showed up. We had no idea what the brand was, but in my head I kind of did. So I made this jacket; I spent a month sourcing it from the carpet district in New York. I found a Persian rug and made the jacket out of it—it was the centerpiece of that entire first collection.

PERRIN: Everybody wanted that jacket.

COPPENS: Yeah, it was cool because of the artisanal kind of way it was constructed. That, for me, has always been important. But for the start of it, I was literally hammering MDF boxes together. I was doing everything. Making clothes...it’s industrial. I happen to be pretty handy with a hammer and screwdriver.

PERRIN: That’s not true, you were bruised everywhere! [Laughing]. It was amazing. You made a whole ramp.