EcoSalon’s favorite fashion designers, jewelry makers and artisans on the nature of creativity. 

“Beauty will save the world,” remarked Dostoevsky in the 19^th century. If ever there was a time to believe in the possibility of that statement, it is now. When our public discourse is reduced to ideological political posturing, the impact of beauty and creativity in our everyday lives offers both a vital opportunity for connection and a prospect for cultural renewal.

Over the years at EcoSalon, we’ve delighted in sharing the stories of the fashion designers, jewelry makers and artisans who are dedicated to creating true objects of beauty while choosing ethically responsible methods and practices that upend the customary business models in fashion, jewelry and art. Why do they do it? We asked them the question, “What compels you to create?” Here’s what they had to say:

Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard and Melissa Kirgan, Eko-Lab

“Creativity is a deep unconscious force. A process that reveals the unseen see-able and dreams reality. There’s a peace that comes from designing that in some small way we’re making the every-day more beautiful.”

Joy Opfer, Kyler by Joy O

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of  Eat, Pray, Love, has said that she believes there are currents of creativity and ideas circulating around the planet, looking for people to bring them into physical form. This idea is a lovely way of explaining the process of creativity – I often feel that I do not so much create, as synthesize ideas. When we work hard to be there, to be open and prepared for the muse when she arrives, to welcome her through sweat and tears, ready to manifest the boldest visions, a blend of the hive and our own minds – this is a gift.

Fashion is one of the biggest industries on the planet. To act as though it is frivolous is, at this point, a waste of time. Each person, through their choices can inspire change and awareness – and creating one more choice that supports handcrafted and carefully made goods is one that I am proud to be a part of.

Meghan Sebold, Afia

Life can be nauseatingly tragic with many things feeling out of our control. People can be corrupt, dishonest and disloyal – and often times it seems that those people win out. I see only two ways of dealing with the dark side of life: you can respond to corruption with conniving strategies, dishonesty with lies, attacks with counter attacks – or you can reject it and a attempt to create light and beauty in dark situations.

I’m certainly no hero to the women who produce my line – most of them are suspicious of my intentions. They think I’m there to use them for cheap labor – why else would I cross the world to be there? We stand in a room together across a table, having difficult conversations. Trying to trust each other. Trying to create a product together.

Shannon South, reMade USA

So many of us have the innate desire to create. It is what makes us human and what keeps our species going. It’s what fuels innovation. Those of us who are informed and concerned try to do so in the most thoughtful and sustainable way – a path that is not easiest or the most profitable, yet one that gives meaning and integrity to our vision.

Sasha Duerr, Permacouture Institute

I am a plant dyer because it immediately connects me to time and place, to my environment, to my community, and to indescribable depths of beauty. Plant color can ONLY be created – like an amazing meal you toast  to and savor with friends, or an heirloom peach that came to ripen in the sweetness of a perfect growing season – in that time with those conditions. It is a depth of experience that is often not repeatable – and therefore difficult to commodify.

I am consciously grateful to have chosen to make it my work – beyond promise of financial gain or security. This is why I started Permacouture – experimentation and knowledge needs to be shared if it is ever to be sustainable or regenerative to last beyond our own generation. This love for the wonder of the bigger picture has fueled my passion as both an artist and advocate for slower ways of being and creating. I am always awed by how much there is to learn.

Davora Lindner, Prairie Underground

The idea that “Creativity is it’s own reward” seems like such a universal truism. As designers and manufacturers our role isn’t entirely creative but we feel fortunate to work in an industry that demands this engagement. It has introduced us to the writers at EcoSalon and to like-minded women all over the world. That level of aesthetic communication is startling – it’s this connection that is the inspiration behind Prairie and remains the central theme of our work.

The photo (above) is from when Prairie Underground was still based in our homes.  We had received a large volume of orders for the Hard Times Dress that featured a hand painted print.  I needed to figure out a way to execute this in my studio apartment.  The solution was to paint the textile and feed it out my window to dry, then repeat.  Our passion to create is something that end users don’t often see.  The memories of this time are some of the fondest in my life.

Elizabeth Bruner, Piece x Piece

When you  start to seek out original and handcrafted crafted clothing, it feels like an important revelation. Handcrafted means respecting the time it takes to actually create something. There is meaning in the fact that someone has thought and carried out all the little steps it takes to make a truly unique item.

It’s never been about money for me. I know I’m not going to be a rich woman working with scrap fabrics but what compelled me to start Piece x Piece was the fact that I simply could not ignore what in my heart I knew I could change, if even on the smallest scale.

Alice Wu + Moriah Carlson, Feral Childe, 

When we started Feral Childe, we were young artists trying to make it in the New York art world, trying to fill the emptiness in our own closets, and striving to provide an antidote to fashion’s obsessions with brands, logos and over-consumption. We felt a responsibility to make things that were thoughtfully made, using available materials such as off-cuts and fabric remnants so gnarly and unloved in their raw state, but full of potential beauty in our hands. We believe in the power of the handcrafted to affect one profoundly. When something we have made touches an individual in a way that makes them think differently about the world we live in, we are inspired to continue our work.

Maria Moyer

It’s submission to the process. From inspiration to execution, I have to get out of the way and let my hands and my understanding of material attempt to catch up to some idea of what is possible. The result is always a surprise and that is a delight, sometimes a disappointment and always there’s something to learn. The whole thing is a miraculous privilege.

Kirsten Muenster, Kirsten Muenster Jewelry

I’ve always felt a need to create with my hands. My father helped me make my first ring in our basement when I was a kid. The feeling I had then (and still get today) from translating an abstract or conceptual idea into a tangible object with my hands is indescribably addictive.

Nature, unusual materials, ancient artifacts and crafting techniques inspire my work and process. Creating handcrafted objects is vital because they have the power to tell a story, carry on a tradition and remind us of the connection between every set of hands involved in the process or supply chain. I hope to influence others with my work to keep the cycle going. That’s why it is so important for me to know where my materials come from and whose lives they impact. We’re all connected.

Howard Brown, Stewart+Brown

At Stewart+Brown, the reason we do what we do is because we MUST have a sense of both passion and purpose in our work. And we must have beauty in our lives and not at the expense of the environment or supply chain stakeholders. We could not find that collision of ideals in the corporate world even when working at great companies, so we created it ourselves with our own company. It has been the greatest adventure of our lives. In a world of mass production and consumption there still needs to be value, integrity, humanity, and yes, great design without compromise. That is the goal we work towards every day.

Gretchen Jones, Gretchen Jones NYC

I believe it is our responsibility (the creative’s of the world) to be an instrument for the greater whole. We were given a gift, but in that gift is responsibility. Responsibility to be a communicator for humanity and the world, as we know it. We transmit cultural movements and the direction life is taking. Without us, we are collectively nothing.

Art in itself is about translating what cannot be translated in words. I take responsibility for that job. My “job” is to learn how to use my gift to better our lives. To open us ALL up to new ways of thinking and enable us all to live more enriched existences. I may need money to survive, but making money from my work is there by default. The passion to create is about the greater whole, not the ego or bank account… and that, is what the life of an artist is all about.

The post Beauty Will Save the World: Sustainability’s Top Makers on What Compels Them to Create appeared first on EcoSalon.

Whether you tip toed through the end of 2010 holiday parties with a naughty or nice outlook is really something between you and the man with the untamed white beard. We are already gazing ahead to spring/summer 2011, particularly with numerous fashion week line-ups now at our slush-saturated heels. An upcoming fashion trend that might surprise you in this era of recession-studded austerity is an increasing fascination with macramé, crochet, and hand-made lace. Both Fashionising and Style.com have announced that caftans and hippie-chic ponchos have been upgraded to luxurious and supremely feminine offerings for 2011. A testimony perhaps to our desire for fashion that demonstrates the labor of love that goes into quality ethical construction and accessories that also tell a story?

Mark Liu, A/W 10′

As a fiber artist I am always looking for evidence of stunning handwork in key fashion investment pieces. I have also admired how both indie and sustainable fashion designers were the first to go “knotty by nature,” ahead of celebrated names like Celine, Catherine Malandrino, Gucci, or Pucci. London-based zero-waste designer Mark Liu even created a knotting system as a way to eliminate textile waste in the creation of his Winter 2010 collection, “Singularity Point.”

Eko-Lab, A/W 10′

There is definitely something alluring about donning fiber-crafted fashion – as the cord, yarn, or ribbon simply gets softer and more malleable with wear. Knotted couture is actually an ancient phenomenon. The earliest skirt on record is a Paleolithic mini-skirt made of knotted strings that were weighted with tiny pebbles that went klickety-klack as women swished in front of the campfire. We have evidently come along way, ladies, if Roberto Cavalli is now keen on creating body-hugging string gowns for the rock-chick Venuses of our times.

Eko-Lab Crochet Panties

Xing-Zhen Chung Hilyard and Melissa Kirgan of Eko-lab have incorporated some wild and knotty crochet into their sustainably minded fashion designs, principally as organic trim elements but also as a head-to-toe testament to their slow design alchemy. I loved the crocheted top hat and fringe shawl from their AW 2010/11 collection. These “conscious fashion” pioneers also know how to whip up some superfine and sexy crocheted bikinis that rival anything that our Stone Age counterpoints might have crafted.

Michelle Lane’s Japanese cord jewelry collections twine mysticism and the patterns of physics into sculpted wearable art that creates a certain intimacy between the wearer and the object. Lane views her necklaces and bracelets as being more of an extension of clothing than jewelry, and given that she crafts each piece by hand, there is no doubt that this designer has a healthy-preoccupation with organically generated and mindful, small-scale production.

Michelle Lane

Similarly, award-winning Brit designer Tanvi Kant explores wild knots and loopy crafting in her recycled sari fabric necklaces and free form textile creations. Not only is she resourceful in her deconstruction of discarded textile materials, but her one-of-a-kind designs also allow for expression of her cultural heritage and colorful roots. Each knotted design can be artfully shaped on the body according to the individual’s accessorizing whims. Also not to missed on the recycled scrap textile front is designer Michelle Lowe-Holder’s Victorian-style “ribbon Reclaim” neck wear crafted from off-cut fabrics from previous collections and reclaimed ribbon flocked together on a crochet base. (Thanks, Sass Brown, for this tip).

Michele Lowe-Holder

A quick peruse on eBay for eco-macramé or knotted accessories offers up a whole treasure trove of hemp rope bracelets, hippie-style belts, and yes, you guessed it, hanging plant holders. One seller who really stands out, though, is Imperishable Things. Knots can be deceptively simple, and these recycled cotton and nylon rope designs caught my eye with their chic domestic interpretation of cord. Don’t you just love it when yesterday’s clothesline can become tomorrow’s cocktail party conversation starter as noose-style bling?

Imperishable Things

Top Image, Tanvi Kant via Crafts Council UK

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While homegrown brands such as Acne and Cheap Monday have introduced an edgier style in recent times, Swedish design has long been recognized for its crisp, uncontrived aesthetic. Perhaps there’s something about living in darkness for most of the year that makes Swedes appreciate light-hued and uncluttered fashion and interiors.

Until its recent closure, one of the highlights of a shopping trip to NYC was enjoying a soothing visit to Stockholm native Johanna Hofring’s store, Ekovaruhuset (House of Organic). Proving there is so much more to Swede style than IKEA and H&M, Johanna offered under-the-radar organic and fair trade brands along with those created by her design collective, EKO-Lab. Reassuring us an online store was coming soon; Johanna shared her eco fashion journey.

How did you get started in Eco-fashion?

Just by hearing about the effects of conventional fashion – I got emotionally involved right away. I ordered my first organic fabrics in 2003, switched out my whole collection and opened Ekovaruhuset in Stockholm in 2004.

How did Ekovaruhuset (House of Organic) get started?

I opened the first store in Stockholm because I felt the world was missing such a store. And it was a bit of a coincidence that I came upon a very amazing space right away.

Please tells us a little about the designers who make up Eko-lab collection? And the line’s aesthetic?

Eko-Lab is a separate entity consisting of myself and two designers named Xing-Zhen Chung and Melissa Kirgan. We work a lot together also and occasionally collaborate with more designers. We are all friends and have worked closely for many years. We’re all influenced a lot by nature and handicraft, so our work looks good together.

Any plans to open any more stores?

At the moment I am downscaling. I have closed the store in New York. I’m having another baby in a couple of months and I am starting to like the idea of just having an online store so I can live in the countryside in Sweden.

Sustainable fashion is gaining more media exposure – what do you think the movements biggest challenge is right now?

To actually reach the customers to sell enough to be sustainable on a financial level. We’re working on combining good business practices and professionalism with our passion for ethical fashion.

What are your thoughts on how to attract a more mainstream consumer?

I guess to be more mainstream, although for me that doesn’t feel very inspiring…

What’s your go-to eco-outfit this season? What are you looking forward to wearing this Fall/Winter?

Oh, I’ll be wearing whatever is comfortable and soft, since I am having a baby soon. I guess I will look for things easy to open up in the chest area – not a big fashion season for me! But as a designer I feel very inspired by wildlife and nature’s beauty. Clothes that can be as functional and wearable in a forest as on the street. Like moccasins and things with good pockets and smart little bags and pouches attached. I’d call it eclectic warrior style.

In an ongoing series, Rowena Ritchie explores how the sustainable clothing movement is changing the global fashion scene today with interviews with the international fashion community and a glance at each region’s unique sense of style.

The post The Global Fashion Closet: Swede Style with Johanna Hofring of Ekovaruhuset appeared first on EcoSalon.