New on THE KINDCRAFT
Interview: MoMA's Paola Antonelli
The Museum of Modern Art's Paola Antonelli talks with us about fashion, design, and technology — Check out her thoughtful takes on the value of traditional craft in contemporary design and embracing “repair culture”.
Interview: Fashion Revolution's Orsola de Castro and Suki Dusanj–Lenz
Fashion Revolution co-founder Orsola de Castro and Suki Dusanj–Lenz (India’s country coordinator) on what’s been accomplished in 5 years since the Rana Plaza disaster — and the work each thinks still needs to be done.
THE KINDCRAFT Featured by WGSN, Dots, Lines & Destinations
Curious about how THE KINDCRAFT got started? You'll love these two interviews!
- WGSN just profiled our creative director, Lauren K Lancy for their ongoing Sustainability Series;
- Journalist Seth Miller interviews Lauren for travel podcast Dots, Lines & Destinations and gets her to reveal that, behind the scenes, there's a surprising number of hotel fires and monkey attacks that go into the making of THE KINDCRAFT.
Events — North America
Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
The Costume Institute's spring 2018 exhibition examines fashion's ongoing engagement with the practices and traditions of Catholicism. The exhibition features papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican. Bonus Link: Check out this video of precious artifacts being unboxed for the exhibit on Vogue's website
(Through October 8, 2018)
Events — Europe
'Fashioned from Nature'
This new exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has us checking prices on flights on London. 'Fashioned from Nature' spans 400 years of fashion, ranging from natural history specimens to the latest innovations in fabrics and dyeing. Curator Edwina Ehrman says her aim is to encourage visitors to consider the sources of fashion and its materials, but the collection is a visual delight.
(Through January 27, 2019)
Fashion Revolution's Free Online Course
FutureLearn and University of Exeter have teamed up with Fashion Revolution, creating a course intended to help lift the lid on the global fashion industry:
"We will share with you a variety of simple techniques to find the answer yourself, and to use your findings to press the fashion industry to value people, the environment, creativity and profit in equal measure. It will encourage us to question what we, as active global citizens, can do to enable change."
(Starts June 25th, Takes 3 weeks)
Product Spotlight
Back In Stock — Japanese Indigo Notebooks
We just received a new batch of Indigo-Dyed Japanese Washi Paper Notebooks and Journals. There's an amazing process behind making each piece of paper. You'll love writing or drawing in something so beautiful to look at and which has a handfeel unlike mass-produced papers.
Style
Meet the Fair Trade Producers Behind the Slow Fashion Movement
WFTO Asia rounded-up some of their favorite "slow fashion" producers (including our faves Ruby Ghuznavi and Aranya Crafts).
Life Is Easier With a Capsule Wardrobe
Neatnik's Nicole Anzia shares this close(t) encounter with sartorial minimalism in the Washington Post:
"Imagine having a closet that isn’t packed with clothes you don’t like, that don’t fit or that you rarely wear — and in its place, a sparsely populated closet filled with clothes that you love, that is easy to keep organized and that simplifies getting dressed in the morning. "
Recommended Video
Milan Design Week "Softwear" Panel: Li Edelkoort, Ivy Ross, and Martin Raymond
Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs spoke with trend forecaster Li Edelkoort, Google Hardware's head of design Ivy Ross, and co-founder of the Future Laboratory Martin Raymond about how technology can be tactile and better integrate with people's lives.
Culture
The Chinese Workers Who Assemble Designer Bags in Tuscany
The New Yorker's D.T. Max tells a surprising story of cultural intertwinement and mutual influence.
London Fashion Brand Sparks Outrage For Labeling ‘Hmong-Inspired’ Designs as ‘Tribal’
A bittersweet moment for the Hmong community: London designer Jet Shenkman used Hmong fabrics to make a dress for a guest of the Royal Wedding. It garnered global attention for its color and style... and for the fact that Shenkman didn't properly attribute the Hmong contribution to the design, only referencing it as "tribal". It was clearly a missed opportunity to show respect for — and to shine a light upon—the people whose traditions enabled this dress and, in fact, Shenkman later updated the product description to give the Hmong their due credit.
Africa Doesn’t Need “Vogue Africa”, but Vogue Does...
Author Ciku Kimeria responds to supermodel Naomi Campbell's call for the leading global fashion magazine to start an Africa edition:
"One thing that people on all sides of the debate seem to agree on though is that fashion in Africa is a vibrant, diverse space that does not get enough recognition for how it has influenced global trends."
Bonus Link: This article about the global rise of Nigerian Fashion amplifies her point nicely.
Design
All The Colors...
- If you work with color, then the recently published 'An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour' is going to be a rabbit hole you'll enjoy falling into. Cataloging the 2,500+ item Forbes Pigment Collection at The Harvard Art Museums, the volume also explores intersections between chromatics, history, art, and chemistry.
- Cooper Hewitt has two exhibitions that we can't wait to check out while we're in NYC: “SATURATED: The Allure and Science of Color” examines how designers understand color — and use it to influence the way we interpret the world. On June 9th, "COLOR DECODED: The Textiles of Richard Landis" will be presented in conjunction with "Saturated" to showcase Cooper Hewitt’s acquisition of six of Landis’s most important weavings.
- A simple and beautiful website listing the names and compositions of 250 traditional Japanese colors. Tip: Click on the color name and watch the theme change color.
Craft Werk: Meet the Maestros of the Fashion Industry
The Guardian's Scarlett Conlon takes a look at designers who are reinvigorating the relationship between fashion and craft:
“Subculture has always been an important reference point, and we see craft as a form of anti-consumerism – it’s our own statement against disposable fashion.”
And the 2018 LOEWE Craft Prize Award goes to....
Ceramist Jennifer Lee won the 2018 LOEWE Craft Prize, at The Design Museum, London earlier this week — and the award was presented by none other than Helen Mirren, whose remarks ring true to us: “I’ve always found that craft carries our human history… and an engagement with a human hand is a very profound experience in a world of so much violence and destruction. It is very beautiful to see creativity.”
(Bonus Read: The Guardian has this short Q&A with LOEWE Creative Director, Jonathan Anderson.
Traditional Arts
The Ancient Art of Jaipur Block Printing, and What It Means to India
Deborah Needleman's fantastic Material Culture series continues with her T Magazine feature about Indian block printing. Of course, we've got our own "Links for Further Reading" (including our profiles of Bagru, Anokhi's Museum of Indian Block Printing, and Maiwa — all featured in Deborah's article). And for people who actually read all the way to the end of these things, I'll let you in on a secret: We're about to launch our first Bagru block printed products... :-)
Ceramic Art Wins a Brighter Spotlight In the L.A. Scene
"Clay's increased appeal, according to CalArts’ [Thomas] Lawson, comes in part from a need to restore the element of touch to their lives. 'Students who spend most of their time in front of screens are seeking out more hands-on experiences,' he says."
The Road to Empower Women Without Faces
A lovely piece by Moowon's Mona Kim about Mayan women preserving the ancient art of backstrap loom weaving.
Sustainability
Will Shoppers Ever Really Care About Sustainability?
Alden Wicker asks the question that we (and so many of our colleagues) ask themselves regularly: What will it take for consumers to put their money where their mouth is?
Textile Dyeing.... With Bacteria?
The new BioShades project asks "Could dyeing with bacteria be an alternative to chemical dyes?" So cool!
Wrapping Up / Looking Ahead
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