HAND/EYE Magazine's Posts - Ethical Fashion SOURCE Network2024-03-29T10:15:08ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazinehttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1960832898?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=145vrgc96l6rm&xn_auth=noFabulous Flags: The glittering tradition of voudou flags reminds us of the beauty of Haiti and its peopletag:ethicalfashionforum.ning.com,2010-01-27:2622461:BlogPost:356132010-01-27T19:30:00.000ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazine
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BY: Colvin English<br />
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To many of us, “needlework” conjures up images of grandmothers, maiden aunts, and war widows working on antimacassars and altar cloths. In Haiti, however, needlework means vivid visions of saints and devils, curses and prayers, even African goddesses transformed into colorful images of the Holy Virgin. Needlework and vodou go hand in hand.<br />
It may surprise you…
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BY: Colvin English<br />
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To many of us, “needlework” conjures up images of grandmothers, maiden aunts, and war widows working on antimacassars and altar cloths. In Haiti, however, needlework means vivid visions of saints and devils, curses and prayers, even African goddesses transformed into colorful images of the Holy Virgin. Needlework and vodou go hand in hand.<br />
It may surprise you that vodou maintains a strong community of master needle workers concentrated in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti. In opposition to our images of spinsters at their darning, most of these artisans are men -- the lean, strong, descendants of Africans who, in spite of the brutal dislocation of slavery, brought their religion with them. The embroiderers are vodou practitioners themselves. Working with apprentice craftsmen, the vodou masters create intricate ceremonial flags (drapo in Creole) and other sacred objects to be used in the elaborate ceremonies celebrating every aspect of life and death.<br />
Each piece is drawn out on a base fabric, and then painstakingly embroidered with beads and sequins over the entire surface of the flag. Often these pieces are in excess of 36” x 36” and require innumerable hours to create. The colors and designs on their surfaces celebrate the images of a rich culture.<br />
The practices and images of vodou have developed over the centuries from the mixing of traditional West African animist beliefs with indigenous Caribbean culture and the conversion of both of these groups to Catholicism. Most experts believe the basic beliefs of vodou come from the African Yoruba and Caribbean Taino tribes. And along with these beliefs came a tradition of bead working and ceremonial adornment. (Throughout Africa you can find similarly adorned ceremonial “flags” which incorporate local beliefs and materials – such as the safety pin aprons found in South Africa and the asafo banners of Ghana.)<br />
As in most ancient religions, animism celebrates feminine and masculine energy and personifies it in its deities. The gods and goddesses of ancient Rome and Greece each represented an aspect of humanity to be celebrated, or perhaps feared. Animism is no different.<br />
With the ability to give and sustain life, feminine energy is especially revered. There are many roles of the feminine – mother, daughter, sister, lover, healer, confessor (priestess), and provider (nurturer). Vodou celebrates these female images with special verve and has merged traditional goddesses with celebrated images of Mary, the Mother of Christ who is a central theme in many vodou creations.<br />
Erzulie is the vodou goddess of feminine energy. With the incorporation of Catholicism, images of Erzulie are now associated most often with images of Mary. However, Erzulie has incarnations which represent all of the traditional feminine roles. To justify its (Catholic-influenced) commitment to the monotheism, vodou has had to adopt specific images to represent these different roles. Erzulie Freda represents Love and is usually depicted by the Catholic image of Mater Dolorosa. Erzulie Danthor stands for Motherhood and Protection and is represented by the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. Often photographs of these images are incorporated in the drapo and surrounded by the elaborate geometric symbols, or veve, of vodou. All of the imagery is executed with the finest needlework, and beautiful control of color and texture through innovative combinations of beads and sequins. There are so many beads on an individual piece that a flag can weigh over five pounds.<br />
Haitian art didn’t really find its voice until the formation of the Centre d’Art in the 1950s. Under the direction of Dewitt Peters, an American ex-patriot, Haitian art in all its forms were encouraged and introduced to the world stage. This included vodou needlework.<br />
Needle workers and bead workers are excellent at adapting their skills to materials available. In Haiti, the availability of sequins and European glass beads allow artisans to add a dimension of color and texture not previously available for this type of work. Availability is limited and inconsistent, which seems to encourage a constant flow of creativity in order to make do with what is at hand without sacrificing quality or meaning.<br />
Artisans have adapted and applied their techniques to many objects both religious and secular, and in doing so have created a vibrant international market for these skills.<br />
Vodou-inspired beadwork can be seen on everything from the traditional drapo to chairs and boxes and even handbags. This art form has inspired designers from a variety of cultures to work with the artists of Haiti. Lawrence Peabody, Sherri Donghia, and many others have found inspiration in the needlework here. And as the world grows smaller, artists of this region are incorporating the new iconography of the international culture into their work. From Botticelli’s Venus rendered in the finest bugle beads to Disney’s Jasmine morphed into a vodou mermaid (La Sirene), artists such as Jean-Baptiste Jean-Joseph and Georges Valris continue this tradition and show the evolution of an art form and a culture.<br />
The tradition is very much alive.Circle of Threadtag:ethicalfashionforum.ning.com,2010-01-26:2622461:BlogPost:354782010-01-26T21:02:07.000ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazine
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/177" target="_blank"><br />
Spiral Wayuu weaving symbolizes the endless cycle of life<br />
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Fashionistas like Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren are just now discovering spiral-woven mochila bags and offering them in their boutiques. But the matriarchal Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela have been weaving them for generations – both for their bright, geometric beauty, and for the deep spiritual message they…
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/177" target="_blank"><br />
Spiral Wayuu weaving symbolizes the endless cycle of life<br />
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</a><p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1976361418?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
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Fashionistas like Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren are just now discovering spiral-woven mochila bags and offering them in their boutiques. But the matriarchal Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela have been weaving them for generations – both for their bright, geometric beauty, and for the deep spiritual message they convey.<br />
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The Wayuus see no borders; their territory is Colombia and Venezuela; their nationality, Wayuu. Much of their territory is rich in salt, coal, oil, and gas. But among the Wayuu, weaving is as important a resource as mineral wealth because it expresses their myths and oldest stories in its geometric designs.<br />
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In Colombia there are approximately 200,000 Wayuus and in Venezuela 300,000 -- the largest indigenous population in the country. A desert nomadic people, they take their water from La Rachería River in Colombia, El Limón River in Venezuela, and from artificial ponds that are filled during the rainy seasons. Because water is so valuable, the Wayuus move with the seasons. During dry spells in Colombia, they cross into Venezuela where many work and trade in Maracaibo. Once the rains come, they return to Colombia.<br />
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A traditional Wayuu settlement consists of five or six houses made up of caserias or rancherias. Each rancheria is named after a plant, animal or geographic range. In a territory that contains several rancherias, house-names come from the mother's last name, a nod to the matriarchal traditions of Wayuu culture.<br />
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Women are the foundation of Wayuu society. They are healers, or piache, able to talk to spirits via dreams, in order to attract the rains, eliminate bad spirits, and pass down their traditions to the next generation. These ideas are all expressed in their arts – most importantly in their weaving. For the Wayuu women, weaving--in a literal and a metaphorical sense--is the thread that unites families and clans. Chains of pattern are as communicative as words and sentences; and these words and sentences narrate ancestral dreams, legends, and myths. These are the stories of their daily lives and customs in the vast desert they inhabit. This is the information which forms and enriches their identity, and which keep them together.<br />
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Because of the Wayuu’s predominantly female perspective, girls are trained on all aspects of womanhood at a very young age. At the onset of the menstrual cycle, the girl is required to enter a period of seclusion. During this important rite of passage, the girl's head is shaved, she is fed a vegetarian diet known as Jaguapi, and is bathed frequently. At this gateway to adulthood, she is taught by her elders about sewing, lovemaking, motherhood, and the many secrets that bond them as a people.<br />
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For some Wayuu girls the dream is to leave their close-knit matrilineal communities and venture out to the cities, but many of their peers see another alternative--a bright economic future in the handmade mochila. These colorful crochet bags with their complicated geometric motifs are now sold by adventuresome specialty retailers, bringing some income into Wayuu communities.<br />
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Mochila bags take about a month to complete and they are intimately linked to Wayuu life and their philosophy. They represent a circular cosmology where there is no before and after, but only threads of life spun from one cycle and woven into the next. Mochilas are also practical in everyday life and are used to carry food, water, and even the woven hammocks known as chinchorros.<br />
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According to legend, Wayuu weaving tradition comes from Wale´kerü, the spider that taught them how to weave and create drawings, in which “. . . threads of many colors came out of their mouth…she used to weave all night and every day a new drawing spoke of their dreams.”<br />
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Wayuu designs have geometric and repetitive pattern, each one has a meaning directly linked to their worldview. The surrounding desert, animals, and natural elements all serve as major sources of inspiration for both design and color. Materials used for all woven or crocheted work include cotton, wool, pita fiber, straw and horse hair. The women use various methods such as weaving with looms and crochet.<br />
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The use of vibrant color is important in the Wayuu artisan tradition and folklore, as each hue represents an element or an emotion. This use of color is seen in all Wayuu woven material, including the wide mantas the women wear, which have bands of turquoise, gold, pink and white. Red is considered their strongest color that symbolizes all that is good; yellow represents the sun; blue is the ocean; orange embodies tranquility, while white is purity, and black conveys sadness.<br />
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For the Wayuus, life revolves around the chinchorro. It's in these large woven hammocks where they give birth, sleep, eat, have sex and die. Visitors are welcomed and receive the finest chinchorro available. The dead are buried in theirs and new couples start married life with one of their very own.<br />
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Life does not end with death for the Wayuus. Their belief system is based on a cycle that life continues through different transitions, making burials are one of the most important rituals that bring their community together. The dead are buried with their belongings, and after two years the body is exhumed, incinerated, and the ashes placed in ceramic at the clan’s cemetery. Thus, the cycle of life starts anew in which Wayuu traditions, values, and convictions come full-circle like the spirals in their intricate weavings.<br />
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<i>Visit Marcella Echavarria’s wonderful handmade business at <a href="http://www.surevolution.com">www.surevolution.com</a>.<br />
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Rebeca Schiller and Keith Recker contributed to and edited Circle of Thread.</i>Jewels of the Kalaharitag:ethicalfashionforum.ning.com,2010-01-12:2622461:BlogPost:344692010-01-12T16:45:04.000ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazine
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/167" target="_blank"><br />
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<b>The ancient Bushmen enter the international jewelry market<br />
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The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert are almost as old as humanity itself. Geneticists tell us that they are perhaps the oldest group still walking the earth. Sadly, like many ancient peoples, they are among the poorest and most disenfranchised in their southern African homeland.<br />
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Poverty notwithstanding, for…
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/167" target="_blank"><br />
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<b>The ancient Bushmen enter the international jewelry market<br />
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</a><p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1976361228?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
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The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert are almost as old as humanity itself. Geneticists tell us that they are perhaps the oldest group still walking the earth. Sadly, like many ancient peoples, they are among the poorest and most disenfranchised in their southern African homeland.<br />
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Poverty notwithstanding, for countless generations the Bushmen have made beautiful jewelry to adorn themselves and their loved ones. Largely isolated from the outside world until the last century, they created (and still create today) intricate pieces using wild seeds, sticks, bone, tortoiseshell, and most importantly of all, beads painstakingly hand made from shards of ostrich eggshell. With ingenuity and precision, the women turn some of the beads a rich brown by frying them or black by roasting them – in order to have three colors of beads with which to make patterns and designs.<br />
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Jewelry veteran Anna Haber, global director of marketing for emerald producer Gemfields, and talented London-based jeweler, Sabine Roemer recently collaborated with Bushmen women in Ghanzi, Botswana to create a unique 19-piece collection of jewelry comprised of necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The fashion-forward collection fuses the Bushmen’s traditional skills and natural materials with new materials including leather, silver, velvet and satin. By combining ancient designs with new inspiration, the collection captures the Bushmen’s long journey to link their rich cultural past with the modern world.<br />
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Haber’s Jewels of the Kalahari collaboration aims, however, at something beyond just beautiful jewelry. The end goals are to create awareness of the Bushmen’s plight through the storytelling traditions that are connected to their arts and crafts, and also to create a sustainable business for the tribe that will generate a consistent income and ongoing work. Jewelry making is an important source of income, particularly for the women, as well as vehicle for cultural continuity. Haber is currently searching for retailers who might make a commitment to working with the Bushmen so that their unique skills can find a broader home in the world.<br />
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Fashion and portrait photographer Boo George joined Haber and Roemer on their Kalahari adventure to document both the collection as well as the Bushmen’s imperiled way of life. In addition to the Bushmen’s strength, he captured a side of them that is so often forgotten – the exceptional humor, wisdom and beauty of the ladies. “The ladies have incredibly strong characters,” says Haber. “They are spirited, mischievous, so funny and joyful. Being around these unique women was such a life lesson for me. So many have HIV and have lost children. They receive little help or financial support from the men as many have turned to alcohol. It is the women that hold the communities together with their infectious personalities full of life, love, wisdom and humor. I believe that we, in the West, have a lot to learn from them.”<br />
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Haber and Roemer did indeed learn a few things. After some weeks of intense preparation, with Haber trying to nail down every detail of the designs they would bring to the Bushmen, master goldsmith Roemer commented, “Anna this is craft, it just happens. You cannot plan it.” This turned out to be truer even than Roemer imagined, and the pair had to adjust their working methods and sense of timing and deadlines to be in tune with their artisan-partners. “We spent a week working with a group of ten producers, all of whom were all women, and all but one had HIV. So they were very energetic in the mornings but after they had taken their medication in the afternoon they became understandably tired and distracted. The first day was the most challenging as Sabine and I came in with our Western ways of working, wanting to get everything done in a timely manner and efficiently. The ladies, though, have their own way of working that is more free and relaxed, so we soon adapted to their way. They start each morning with a prayer or a beautiful traditional song -- even we were singing the words after a few days. Afterwards, we would all sit and discuss ideas and the best way to create the designs, using the new materials combined with the traditional way they sew the shells. Some designs worked straight away and some were a process of trial and error.”<br />
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As the collection came together, photographer George recognized the exceptional beauty of a thirteen-year-old Bushman, Sekopaleina. Both of her parents died of HIV-related illnesses, and she is looked after by Mickie, one of the jewelry artisans. “She was so shy around us initially. But once Boo began to take pictures, the strength and force of her personality came out,” says Haber. “I am setting up a savings account for Sekopaleina to hopefully go towards higher education expenses in the future.”<br />
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Haber’s long-term commitment to the Bushmen now requires her to find retailers to bring attention to their situation with exhibitions of George’s photographs, and to help them earn income through sale of the jewelry collections. Some of London’s most forward-looking retailers like the Dover Street Market have sold pieces. But more is needed. Haber says she is fueled in her quest by the memory of the last day of working on the collection: “We are so proud of the collection and all enjoyed our time working together on this special project. The beautiful landscapes and unforgettable ladies – their hypnotic singing and dancing – will forever be imprinted in our minds. Through this collection, we hope that others will come to appreciate the work, as much as we do.”<br />
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<i>For more information, read Anna Haber’s blog at onefinethread.blogspot.com. To offer connections to interested retailers, please email her at haberanna@hotmail.com.<br />
To see a short film by Charlie Ryan of the Bushmen community where Jewels of the Kalahari are made, visit: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKNrU6PtqrY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKNrU6PtqrY</a><br />
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Haber wishes to acknowledge the kind support and funding of Neo and Semane Khama, from the Presidential family of Botswana, as well as the collaboration of San Arts and Crafts, a fair trade organization that works directly with the Bushmen in Botswana. They ensure that the Bushmen crafts are fairly traded, working under the principles that trade can make sustainable and significant contribution to poverty reduction.<br />
</i>Able Embroidererstag:ethicalfashionforum.ning.com,2010-01-10:2622461:BlogPost:342422010-01-10T22:00:00.000ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazine
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/166" target="_blank"><br />
<b>Does a work of art reveal the soul of its creator?</b><br />
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If so, the needlework of Kagoshima City’s Nui Project, an embroidery workshop for the mentally disabled, uncloaks souls whose workings are little understood.<br />
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Nui Project’s dazzling textiles and shirts, stitched by artists living with Down’s Syndrome, autism, and other mental and physical challenges, force viewers to…
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/166" target="_blank"><br />
<b>Does a work of art reveal the soul of its creator?</b><br />
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<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1976360676?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
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If so, the needlework of Kagoshima City’s Nui Project, an embroidery workshop for the mentally disabled, uncloaks souls whose workings are little understood.<br />
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Nui Project’s dazzling textiles and shirts, stitched by artists living with Down’s Syndrome, autism, and other mental and physical challenges, force viewers to re-examine their assumptions about the mentally handicapped – and make textiles lovers pause in outright admiration.<br />
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Nui Project’s parent organization, Shobu Gakuen, was established in 1973 as a rehabilitation facility for the mentally disabled. Kobo Shobu, its craft-based workshop, started in 1985 – and the Nui Project is Kobo Shobu’s embroidery atelier, surrounded by sister projects in woodwork, ceramics, dyeing, washi paper, and other disciplines. If the participant is capable of choosing between the various crafts, he or she chooses what medium to pursue; if not, family members decide for them.<br />
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Nui Project welcomes about 25 participants, most of whom live on campus. They are assisted in their embroidery work by four staff coordinators. Staff member Sayaka Enomoto tells HAND/EYE that the coordinators “just watch the artists working (or playing) with threads on a piece of shirt or cloth in their own way. We don't really teach them how to sew or how to stitch, but to those who can understand stitching techniques we sometimes give advice so that they have more options. The artists play with threads in many ways people don't usually think of as stitching. Through observing these individual proclivities, the staff learns what materials would be best for them, and prepares projects exactly right for each person.”<br />
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Anyone who has visited a successful artist’s studio has seen the combination of space, light, organization, and attentive assistants that are a modern creator’s dream. Under the auspices of Nui Project, mentally disabled people work under exactly these circumstances. The fluid originality of what the embroiderers make abundantly justifies the investment in them. The gently warped shape of a heavily embroidered shirt is as avant-garde as anything seen in the high fashion world. The relentless repetition of stitches creates fields of deeply original texture and pattern. Patterns emerge that are somehow familiar and tangible, yet at the same time seem on the verge of disappearing.<br />
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Writer and craft observer Scott Rothstein comments, “The members of the Nui Project are pushing the limits of fiber. These artists draw on shirts using thread and create sculptures...Vibrant and intuitive, this work demonstrates the possibilities of fiber in an unprecedented manner. What is distinct about art from the Nui Project is the artists’ direct and unencumbered response to their medium. There is a spontaneity seen in these works that is unique in contemporary fiber art. These pieces do not look labored, they seem as if they were created in an instant.”<br />
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Rothstein is right to spotlight the shirts in particular. Perhaps because we think we know what a shirt should look like, Nui Project’s shirts surprise and inspire with their variations on form and proportion, and the intensity of their perfect imperfection. Staff members, sure that the shirts are meant to be worn, step in sometimes with a sewing machine to mend a tear or correct a flaw that does not seem to be part of the artist’s design. But a deep respect for the voice of each maker keeps them cautious: “Nui Project staff think that it's very important to have the artists pursue their own style on individual works. Just by stitching with one needle, they put so much energy and meaning into their work, which comes from what they do, what they think of, and how they feel. Working in collaboration with the artists, the staff always takes care to get what they're trying to say and make sure that their work remains a means of their expression.”<br />
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Nui Project’s Design Office Chief Hatsune Doi comments, “Our mission is to share the amazing talent of those with developmental disabilities and to tell people the importance of having their own styles, their own identity. By questioning the very idea of disability, we want to show that our artists can impact the world of textiles or other fields of art. Even all of society.”<br />
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HAND/EYE hopes you will look at their work and be part of Nui Project’s impact on the world.<br />
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Nui Project conducts an on campus gallery show every three months, with profit shared with the artists. A larger exhibit takes place every two or three years, and one will happen soon in Kyoto. Attending a show or exhibition, or stumbling on a gallery in Japan who has a contract to sell the various crafts of Kobo Shobu, is the only way to purchase a Nui Project shirt. To learn more, visit shop.yoshikowada.com and purchase the book called Nui Project. You can also visit Scott Rothstein’s blog artfoundout.blogspot.com.</i>Greenish: The Green Fashion Challengetag:ethicalfashionforum.ning.com,2009-12-28:2622461:BlogPost:337002009-12-28T20:59:32.000ZHAND/EYE Magazinehttps://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/profile/HANDEYEMagazine
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/150" target="_blank"><br />
<b>Columnist Mike Albo looks at the current state of ecofashion.</b><br />
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When you hear the words “eco fashion” what image comes to mind? Cameron Diaz in an $11,975 dollar organic dress on the cover of Vogue? Some message on a canvas tote? Maybe nothing at all?<br />
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Unlike other facets of the Green movement-- organic food, beauty products, home supplies -- eco fashion hasn’t made a big a…
<a href="http://www.handeyemagazine.com/node/150" target="_blank"><br />
<b>Columnist Mike Albo looks at the current state of ecofashion.</b><br />
</a><p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1976361872?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
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When you hear the words “eco fashion” what image comes to mind? Cameron Diaz in an $11,975 dollar organic dress on the cover of Vogue? Some message on a canvas tote? Maybe nothing at all?<br />
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Unlike other facets of the Green movement-- organic food, beauty products, home supplies -- eco fashion hasn’t made a big a splash in the public consciousness. It’s not as talked about or obsessed over. It’s the Green movement’s reclusive aunt.<br />
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There isn’t much diligence or attention to what eco fashion even means. “I went to Rainbow the other day to get my friend a cheap gift,” says Cary Curran, an actress living in New York, “and they had green shirts with glittered letters that said ‘Green is the new black.’ I don’t even know if it was organic cotton.”<br />
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The insiders have had enough. “Walk down the street, in the city, 2 out of 10 women will have a canvas tote with some kind of green message on it, like the “I’m not a plastic bag’ thing,” says Molly Garretson who founded Project Earth Day, an annual fashion show and student design competition in its 4th year. “Yes the message is getting broader and spreading, but it’s getting kitschy.”<br />
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This all may be about to change. The United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of the Natural Fibres and Stella McCartney was listed as one of Times 100 most influential people for her work creating cruelty-free, high fashion clothing.<br />
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Meanwhile, out in the fashion trenches, many eco-conscious designers are starting to find their voices. Mociun and Bahar Shahpar make gorgeous sophisticated clothes for women who can afford to wear them. Popomomo’s simple, adorable dresses and shirting are artsy in a Zooey Deschanel kind of way. Mottainie’s slick, put-together men’s clothing would appeal to cool choosy youth who wear Y-3 or APC. And, in the bright, eye-popping, work of UK-based Junky Styling, Eco fashion may finally have its Vivienne Westwood—a design collective that is giving sustainable clothing a noticeably different, innovative look that looks more like a cultural movement than a simple trend.<br />
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Still, its not like the garment industry is uniformly enthusiastic. Like any corporate beast, (see meat industry, health care industry) it is slow to change, especially when it involves lower profits. Just a glance at the boom in cheaper textile production in China is an indication that there is still a ruthless bottom line that supercedes conscience.<br />
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“I feel like there is a movement toward Green practices, but for my clients it's still about cost,” says Lisa Wisely a manufacturer and producer in Brooklyn who handles merchandising for large productions and businesses. Wisely is always trying to introduce “green” practices to her clients, but it is still an uphill battle “Basically it costs $7.75 for an organic tshirt. A basic cotton average shirt, dyed with chemicals is five bucks. In terms of bulk production, $2.25 a tee shirt is a big difference.”<br />
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“It's a dilemma,” says a designer at a large clothing brand. “Especially in this economy when companies are so obsessed with making their bottom line to the point where they debate whether or not to omit ONE button to cut costs. I don't think organic / green initiatives will be priority.”<br />
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It’s possible eco fashion has a harder time creating awareness because is so difficult for consumers to identify what actually makes clothing “green.” It’s not easy to fathom. “There are a million different things going into textile production, when you’re weighing the creation of a product,” says designer Bahar Shahpar. “You have fiber, you have processing, dyeing, finishing, production, trade, labor, transportation, shipping, packaging.”<br />
Even within the organic industry, it’s hard to nail down what is truly organic. “Bamboo is being marketed as a natural fiber. But it’s bamboo dissolved in a strong caustic solution and extruded through a shower head type device,” says Johnathan Silberman, chair of Textile and Marketing at FIT.<br />
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Mainstream fashion hasn’t risen to the challenge in any kind of collective way. “Fashion doesn’t really want to be transparent,” Says Honey Berk, a manager at the Green Depot – a supplier of green home furnishing and products. “How much do they do that they don’t want you to know about? There’s no overall system demanding these brands really divulge their manufacturing practices. “<br />
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“You don’t know what chemicals are used to treat the fabric,” adds Paul Novack, a sustainable materials consultant for the Green Depot. “Moth proofing chemicals, flame retardant treatments. For clothing shipped overseas, the fabric is treated with mildicides so that they don’t get moldy on the trip over.”<br />
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At this point, the purchase of eco-clothing seems, to the pubic at large, more frivolous than political. Maybe its because clothing doesn’t enjoy the same visceral reaction – since you don’t swallow it or breathe it in. Rachel Sarnoff, a magazine writer, eco-activist and founder of ecostiletto.com, has the right idea – she created a short and eye opening YouTube video about all the chemicals it takes to produce cotton: “A third of a pound of chemicals is what it takes to just make one tshirt.” She also appeals to consumer’s health concerns: “60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our body.”<br />
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Maybe, in the end, eco fashion’s quiet time has allowed designers to perfect craft and experiment with technique. Shahpar’s Fall line, for example, includes plant-dyed fabrics, (using henna and elderberry, that have been speckled with iron ore from an old Italian mill with spellbinding results.<br />
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But quiet time is over. There is a need for a fashion-targeted Fast Food Nation or Silent Spring that exposes the toxic practices of the mainstream clothesmaking. The fashion industry needs to wake up. And get a long overdue spanking.