New on THE KINDCRAFT
Dutch Design Week
We're pleased to welcome a new contributor! Amsterdam-based visual designer and stylist Liat Gorodenzik recently attended Dutch Design Week for THE KINDCRAFT. She highlights seven creatively inspiring and noteworthy exhibitions with a focus on sustainability and craft.
Have a story you'd like to contribute? Submit it here using our online form.
Events — Europe + MENA
V&A · Fashioned from Nature
We can't wait to see the 'Fashioned from Nature' exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It opens in April of 2018, but you can (and should) book tickets now!
Product Spotlight
Treeline Pillow
We love this 100% linen, hand-dyed pillow cover made by Slowstitch Studio. The pattern was created using a “shibori” resist technique where the cloth is stitched by hand and compressed before being dyed with Indigo and mangosteen. Each piece is unique and has small variations in the pattern due the nature of this process. Ships from the USA — just in time for holiday giving (hint, hint).
Recommended Newsletter
The Quartz Obsession
As you might expect from the people who publish THE KINDCRAFT BRIEF, we're big fans of thoughtful, well-curated newsletters. Quartz's daily "Obsession" is a good one, indeed: They pick a topic that relates in some way to the global economy and then do a reeeally deep dive down the rabbit hole about it (hence the name). Here's a recent issue to get you started—The Quartz Obsession take on Pantone and the whole "color of the year" phenomenon.
Culture
How DR Congo lost control of the fabric of its culture and economy
"The Chinese entry was subtle, despite the large volumes of cloth that came to the Congo. At first they only supplied the bales of plain cotton fabric. Then printed fabric began to arrive, the quality seeming to improve with every run until they were able to mimic the Congolese designs. Soon, it required a meticulous eye to notice the difference. 'We started changing our patterns and hiding them away from the Chinese,. At one point we changed the sticker the Chinese had been mimicking so that we could check in the shops to see who was selling which one.'"
We've personally witnessed the same phenomenon in Southeast Asia and, frankly, it's heartbreaking.
Pottery Is the New Pilates, and Macramé Takes Away the Crazy
Penelope Green of The New York Times on the emerging trend of busy urbanites who choose to decompress over a pottery wheel at the end of a long day. Features BKLYNCLAY, a 24 hour pottery studio that opened two blocks from our old Brooklyn apartment shortly after we lifted anchor and floated away to the other side of the world.... [SIGH]
Video: Making Beauty: Mori Junko
"‘Beauty is in oddness... because it’s odd, it catches your eye and you start imagining the story by yourself. That’s art itself, the process of artistic thinking"
Taking inspiration from nature, Japanese artist Junko Mori uses her imagination to turn metal into organic sculptural forms. She employs traditional Japanese metalworking techniques — including hand-forging steel with thousands of individually cut nails crafted together. (via the British Museum)
Design
A Vietnamese Designer Tweaks Traditional Fabric Production
Wow! The New York Times just featured our friends at Kilomet109 in a wonderful profile written by Mike Ives (whose coverage of Southeast Asia for the paper is consistently excellent). While you're at it, check out their collection in our online shop and our own profile of Kilomet109 designer Thảo Vũ. 📰🌟👏
Artisans Produce Up To 60 Percent Of Our Apparel — So Why Don't We Talk About Them More?
The recent Artisan Leadership Summit at the U.N. generated lots of news, including the announcement of a new supply-chain standard for homeworkers and small-workshop artisans by U.S.-based non-profit, Nest. Whitney Bauck's coverage for Fashionista (linked above) had plenty of interesting bits, including this on how media reflections of consumer values can affect the artisan sphere:
"I'm not just saying this to pay lip service — I think the handwork economy is still one of the greatest, most untold stories," said director of "The True Cost" Andrew Morgan. He outlined his belief that mainstream media reflects the wider population's values more often than it leads them, and claimed that as consumers continue to make their interest in artisan stories clear, the media will respond."
VOGUE's Emily Ferra also had a great take on the event, including this interesting quote from The New York Times 's fashion director and chief critic Vanessa Friedman (which might explain why we've been seeing a noticeable uptick in artisan/sustainability coverage from the paper):
"I don’t think we’ve forgotten the value of small artisans; I think we’ve devalued them. Globalization of the fashion industry swamped the smaller manufacturer and the individual. We traded the value of the singular and the hard-to-get for the incredible allure of joining a massive community that was represented by a brand name, like H&M or Chloé. That’s a shifting of identity that needs to be readdressed.” 👏👏👏
WGSN Trend Predictions and Pantone Color of the Year 2018: Ultra Violet
If you're a designer, you've probably already heard that Purple (specifically "Ultra Violet") is Pantone's Color of the Year for 2018. This post on WGSN's blog gives an inside look at how professional trend forecasters attempt to anticipate which shades will resonate with both designers and the buying public.
Sustainability + Labor
Renewed. Remade. Eileen Fisher Makes Strides Towards Circularity With ‘Tiny Factory’ Project.
A longform look at Eileen Fisher's efforts to build "circularity" (i.e., using resources as long as possible, extracting maximum value from them, and then recycling and regenerating materials at the end of the cycle) into its production and retail chains (via The Business of Fashion).
Clothing companies are trashing unsold merchandise instead of donating it
The Outline's Gaby Del Valle looks at the common retail practice of shredding—not sharing—their unwanted leftovers (for all you auditory learners, it's also discussed on this recent episone of The Outline's World Dispatch Podcast).
Stella McCartney Urges Overhaul of "Incredibly Wasteful" Fashion Industry
Backing a new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, designer Stella McCartney is calling for the fashion industry to rethink textile production methods to radically reduce the amount of waste it produces.
Wrapping Up / Looking Ahead
Hello 2018!
It's been an amazing year of growth for THE KINDCRAFT and we're already gearing up for exciting new stories, projects, and products in the new year.
If you enjoy THE KINDCRAFT BRIEF, please let us know:
- Join the community of wonderful people who enable our coverage via our Patreon community;
- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter;
- Buy something from our online shop;
- Send us a note to let us know what you think (seriously—we're floating for days when someone takes time to let us know they like what we do...).
❤️ We're wishing you all warmth, happiness, health, and peace this holiday season.