Kié Lee, the designer of Kié Einzelgänger was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1992. Her painting experiences commenced when she grew up with surrounding works in her birth city Basel. Her childhood drawings were deeply influenced by Jean Tinguely Museum & Kunstmuseum Basel which was locally located near her house at Missionsstrasse. Following years, she was often exposed to view the 1920s-40s Dadaists & Surrealist’s work from Zurich and Paris which eventually became a main source on her fashion design. Later at her adolescent age, she found herself inevitably being attracted back to this specific visual arts through her own strong obsessions on films, photography, documentations…etc.

Kié decided to move to New York in her teenage and achieved a BFA degree (Bachelor of Fine Arts) at Parsons School of Design. Following her fashion career as a clothing designer, she achieved MFA degree (Master of Fine Arts) at Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Kié officially begins to paint again in 2021 when she finally settles her private atelier in Europe.

“As I turned 30, I realized that I am naturally forced to make some sort of a "subject" every single week (literally anything, like a piece of toile or half-finished patterns, failed samples, raw files of unedited nude photographs, finished products …etc)and wanted to materialize them permanently so that these small steps I progress would not vanish away. Normally, I am not a big fan of abstract art because I prefer to visualize a clear "subject" rather than guessing the insinuations. I value anything that is made from zero. The achievements that were made after the countless failures. I needed to find a way to express "made from zero" on our Kié Einzelgänger making process.

“100 percent that I made from zero” will always be“100 percent mine”

2023. November