BOOKS

Kasia writes and edits publications on arts and culture. Current projects include a photography monograph and a cultural history compilation. Recent copyediting jobs have included books published by Sternberg Press London, Onassis Foundation Athens, and Para Site Hong Kong.

Her first book, The House of Beauty and Culture, was about a radical crafts collective that pioneered deconstructionist design in the 1980s. Published by ICA London in 2016, it includes unique interviews with stylist Judy Blame (1960-2018), artist and tailor Christopher Nemeth (1959-2010), set designer Alan Macdonald (1956-2017), wood carver Dave Baby (b.1955), fashion designer Richard Torry (b.1960), and photographers Cindy Palmano (b.1963) and Mark Lebon (b.1957).

To understand their world, Kasia looked at the group’s influences David Bowie, John Waters, Derek Jarman, and Vivienne Westwood. She interpreted their scene using theoretical texts by Deleuze and Guattari, Charles Jencks, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Umberto Eco, combined with her personal experiences in Soho and the East End. Her text placed HOBAC’s work in a lineage of détournement that can be traced back through Rave, the Beat Generation, Situationist International, Surrealism, and Dada.

Kasia additionally interviewed Susanne Bartsch in her Chelsea Hotel apartment and Kim Jones at his Louis Vuitton office, gathered archival imagery, and commissioned photography of surviving objects from Lewis Ronald. The book’s editor Gregor Muir wrote a prologue exploring how HOBAC’s approach foregrounded the work of the YBAs. Launched at Dover Street Market and previewed in AnOther magazine, it was stocked in the Tate and MoMA bookshops, besides Waterstones, Rizzoli, and independent art bookshops worldwide. The first edition is now sold out.

Kasia often receives questions about the HOBAC group from artists, designers, journalists and students. In 2019 she gave a lecture on their work at the V&A, writing an accompanying article for Vogue. Magazines such as AnOther and Wallet continue to feature her work on the subject, i-D considers it among the most sought-after books to be launched at Dover Street Market, and the publication was included on Fashionista’s list of The 21 Best Fashion Books of All Time According to Professors.