How are the three elements of psychology, philosophy, and ecology connected to the experience of hiking? This is the underlying idea behind Printa's latest capsule collection, which is made special by diary-like travel collages as true works of art. Behold, the Trail of Sunlight!
Bálint has been hiking regularly since he was a child. Over time, exploring different landscapes has turned from a family tradition into a personal hobby for him. As he says, hiking for him is not about performance, but about contemplation and recharge: “I used to walk these routes less consciously, now I pay more attention to the landscape,” he emphasizes. His favorite locations include the alpine landscapes, more precisely the Julian Alps, which he likes to rediscover from time to time. “When I want a little peace, I usually go on another hike. This usually happens in the summer. Then finally, when I reach a mountain peak, I look back on the past year: actually, it is a kind of anniversary for me,” he details.
The hikes of the past years and the experiences and impulses gathered during this time inspired Bálint's latest garments. The abstract pattern world that characterized his previous works is now taken over by a more direct figurative representation. The two main motifs of each garment are given by specific landscape elements: the mountain peak and the typical plant of alpine landscapes, the alpine thorn. In depicting these, Bálint used his own photographs or sketches made during the hikes: each garment takes shape as a real travel diary of the designer. “The arrangement and the looseness of the travel collages were also shaped by the perspective of time. I always carry a notebook with me while hiking, so on the train or during a rest at a mountain hut, I always have time to document what I see there in a different way. The lines of each motif reflect this sketchiness. The entire collection gives the impression that I created it while hiking,” highlights Bálint. It is particularly interesting that, as a kind of recommendation, we can also discover a geographical coordinate on each piece of clothing, which indicates specific locations, Slovenian peaks.
In addition to all this, the sweet chestnut also appears among the motifs used, as a kind of tribute to the decisive and unavoidable figure of nature tourism in Hungary, Pál Rockenbauer. The favorite hiking spot of one of the creators of Hungarian television nature filming was the sweet chestnut forest in Mecsek. “Pál Rockenbauer had an impact on the popularization of hiking in Hungary and I think that through him, my parents as well. So his work inspired me to go out more and more often,” notes Bálint. The name of the capsule collection actually refers to the same reference: the fantasy name Trail of Sunlight comes from Pál Rockenbauer’s nature film series In the Footsteps of the Sun , in which the Earth and the Earth’s ecology are presented during a five-month journey.
Trail of Sunlight garments also carry additional underlying ideas: psychology, philosophy and ecology appear as prominent typographic elements on the various brightly colored T-shirts and sweatshirts. “I can’t imagine being in nature without thinking about ourselves. To set off, we need philosophy; to be there, we need a kind of arrival, which is to say, psychology. Through all this, we can also understand ecology to some extent, that is, we can create a connection between our environment and ourselves,” the designer concludes.
You can get our latest Trail of Sunlight clothing items at the Printa store or at the Káli Cool location in Káptalantóti until the end of the summer!