Philosophy:
The Creations of AMF can be seen as tools of transformation. We strongly believe in self-expression and individuality and for this reason AMF is specialized in custom pieces and one of a kind creations.
Everything is made in House for AMF Korsets does not believe in mass production.
Leather:
We only use selected European leathers (mostly from southern germany). All our creations are made from chrome free, natural tanned leather.
All Designs and creative works, such as sculpting, hand painting, wounding and stitching are by done Louis Fleischauer.
Interview with MDR (german)
http://www.mdr.de/wgt/flesh-art-louis-fleischauer-100.html
Interview of Louis Fleischauer with Jana Loren for Digital Lust Magazine:
DL: Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you transition from musician to artist then fashion designer?
LF: This transition never took place, I might be more known for my wearable creations at the moment, but sound, sculpting and design go hand in hand.
For my human instruments I design and sculpt a piece that is used to help to create sound. With Aesthetic Meat Front I’m still very active performing live soundscapes, but also include my wearable art to help to create a certain energy on stage.
Last year I had several exhibitions in Galleries (Germany, Los Angeles, Tokyo) where I showed a mix between wearable art, sculptures and sound installation. The medium to me is secondary, important to me is the energy it creates.
DL: What inspires you to create your beautiful apocalyptic fashions?
LF: The purity of nature, organic shapes, open wounds, raw desires, the fight for survival, the energy of the jungle. I still draw from the memories I collected on my travels, when I went to Borneo in the Jungle or visited the landscapes fare north of Scandinavia. Much of my inspiration I also take from my daydreams and nightmares.
DL: Why do you not believe in mass production?
LF: Aside from being the source of the destruction of our environment and the enslavement of humanity, mass production is the enemy of individuality. You make a million blue jeans and white t-shirts and you end up with a million people dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts. Mass produced ‘fashion’ is nothing else but a uniform for consumers. Wearing a uniform makes you part of a group, you give up your individuality and therefore become obedient to the will of this group, which makes you easy to control.
DL: What is your process for prepping the materials?
LF: Hunting humans, preparing the special leather.
DL: What type of materials do you use and why?
LF: Leather, bones, dries flowers, ripped up bible pages, destroyed money, gaze, blood. I like working with organic materials because of the energy it possesses. When I work with leather, each hide is different, has its on personality. By using organic materials I can use it’s individual character as inspiration, work with the material rather then blindly forcing it into a sterile shape, rather then avoiding a scar I use it a decor, including it into the design of my creation.
DL: What kind of machinery do you use to make your wearable art?
LF: Almost everything is made by hand, I have a rivet machine an oven lots of knifes.
DL: Describe the general process you go through to design and realize a piece of clothing.
LF: It starts with a raw idea, a feeling. Sometimes I make a little sketch before, most often I dive right into manifesting the piece I have in mind. Much of creative process happens during the making of the piece, when I cut and sculpt the leather I often let the material lead me into a certain direction, this way every creation has its own personality.
DL: How long does it usually take you to construct a piece?
LF: A piece of wearable art takes usually between 2 days and 8 weeks, but I worked much longer on some pieces before.
DL: Which piece in your collection has been the most challenging to accomplish?
LF: On my latest piece Gaia I worked over 80 hours on the bottom part alone, but the most challenging to me is to make a basic piece over and over again just because it pays the bills.
DL: What inspired your recycled religion collection/ 4 Pony Girls of the Apocalypse? Is there some kind of religious statement you are trying to convey behind your creations?
LF: Yes Religion poisons the minds of the mediocre mass. I started making Bible Belts right after Bush came to power, when I still lived in the US. It was quite satisfying to make your living by ripping up bible pages, while living under a religious right wing government. It became such a ritual of cleansing that I reach a state of catharsis every time I open the holy book in order to recycle it.
DL: Did you like the movies Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser or Silence of the Lambs? Because your work seems to reflect the darker parts of these films.
LF: The Hellraiser films definitely planted a seed of inspiration in my young mind, which subconsciously still influences some of my work.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs or entertaining movies, but the inspiration for the New Flesh Collection is purely carnal and started the first time a blade kissed my body. The unfortunate part of having an open wound is that it eventually stops bleeding (or you stop breathing). When I create a wound on one of my creations it always stays fresh.
I enjoy creating with my hands. When I sculpt leather, I’m directly connected with the material. Sculpting is the first creative part about making one of my pieces; at this moment there is strange connection between me and my work,only my hands and the skin in front of me exist.
I love slicing and stitching the leather, it’s like caressing your lovers skin with the kiss of a blade. To open your lovers skin is the purest combination of love, lust and trust. The essence of this moment is what I want to eternalize with the wounds I use to decorate my wearable art.
Each piece reflects a different mood, a different desire. Sometimes the skin is clean and innocent, sometimes dirty, sliced and hold together by stitches.
When you wear leather, your skin is covered with the skin of another, why not be honest about it and show it? The New Flesh Collection is designed to invoke your deepest desires, you’re covered in skin and the reflection of your primal hunger. Inside the New Flesh you’re more naked then before.
DL: Some of your designs were featured in different movies and music videos. Will we see more of your work in any movies in the near future?
LF: Yes, I’m currently working on creating pieces for a film in Canada, and there are 2 more in post production at this point, if all works out I will start on some new pieces for a Berlin based production soon.
DL: I enjoy your work and am curious if you will be releasing a line of accessories such as purses, wallets or backpacks.
LF: Currently working on some new bags and purses. Finished the “Naked Lunch Box†not too long ago.
DL: Does your personal life reflect in your Art?
LF: My art is my personal life.
DL: Give us a slice of your mind. How does the body suspension, hooks, chains, bondage, etc- culminate with your art?
LF: Transformation is a recurring theme in my art. Rituals of exhaustion such as Hook Suspension and other forms of Body Modification have been used since ancient times by Shamans to reach a state of trance. Trance is the perfect state of mind to plant the seeds of personal transformation.
DL: What kind of message are you trying to convey to the world through your art?
LF: With my art I seek not only to reflect the collective deathwish of our civilization but also expose an antidote for this unconscious drive towards self-annihilation.
My art is an invocation of primal energy as an answer to a sterilized, consumer friendly reality shaped by a mass media to bread one homogenized people. Living within an artificial reality we ‘civilized’ people have become disconnected from our true nature. With my art I dare people to take a journey into the carnal dreamscape of their mind in order to reopen a channel to the Pristine Self within them.
DL: Will we be seeing some new collections from you in the near future? Or do you just create custom designs?
LF: You will see plenty, I have no choice, I must infect the world with reflections of my mind!