Art Show Exhibit

Had so much fun displaying a piece at the N.O.N. Gallery Design Art Showcase.  The garment isn't 100% finished...but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to display next to some very talented artists and an eager audience.  The showcase was intended to display different genres of art and each design process from start to finish of production.  I tried my best to give a glimpse into what goes into each garment design process...inspiration, rough sketches, patternmaking, fabric design, pattern placement, construction, and finishing...to name a few of the key components - the last image is how Ayo Scott displayed all the different pieces at the Gallery; couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

inspiration: religious iconography - this print is found hidden in the fabric

 

inspiration: religious iconography - this print is found hidden in the fabric

Fabric manipulation: creating a perforated vegan leather for the panels

Fabric manipulation: creating a perforated vegan leather for the panels

pattern/print placement: figuring out what part of the textile to feature within the pattern pieces

embroidered details

embroidered details for accent

"final" product!

On display at the N.O.N. Gallery - loved how Ayo Scott curated the entire event!

Truly Domestic...

Admiring our peers...

An Oakland-based label, Voices of Industry, is one of the rare few to use fiber farmed and spun in the US, then handwoven into true cotton shirts

This company puts us to shame, but really there aint no shame in our game...we're doing our best to stay as socially responsible as possible through our production processes, and we're very proud of our efforts!  Anyway, we discovered a great article about, Voices of Industry, by CoolHunting about products "made in the USA," they make a very good point, this disclaimer "can be misleading: Even if the labor is domestic, fabrics might have been dyed, woven or cut in foreign countries and there's also the question of where materials such as threads or zippers are sourced."  97.5% of apparel sold in the United States is made internationally. 

With all of the controversy over international production (especially with the garment factory collapse and wage discrepancies in Asia), we're proud to be producing domestically on the labor side of things.  As well as focusing efforts in socially responsible fabric sourcing (staying organic, vegan leathers and suedes etc) as well as creating custom prints and having those produced domestically as well!
Stay tuned, our new fabrics come in Wednesday and we're STOKED and ready to post!

Voices of Industry designs.

So Excited, and We Just Can't Hide It...

Ok, I was going to wait until the end of the week to do an official unveiling, but I'm just TOO EXCITED...we are prepping for fashion week, which is our main focus, but we also have a few other things in the works for development/training/future business goals...and we're not gonna try to hide it, they're huge for anyone in or around the fashion industry...

We GLADLY welcome Optitex Software into our hearts, hands, and workplace...if you don't know it, it's one of the leading softwares for pattern-making in apparel design, and we're BLESSED to have it...no more of this archaic paper wasting during the drafting stage!!!  Seriously, the amount of time (and sanity) we are going to save by using this software is indescribable...expect MANY more posts with me shouting my love for this software program from a mountain top.

And what would a new software program be without an amazing device to perform said software upon?!??!  We also welcome the Dell Inspiron 23 into our open arms (picture us running towards eachother, slow-mo, baywatch style...ok maybe not baywatch...)!  I himmed and Hawed for WEEKS trying to decide what unit would best serve the design lab; seriously, I drove my friends, family, and husband INSANE over this purchase (same with the software, over a MONTH of deciding what would best suit our needs, and then price negotiations...)...needless to say, spreadsheets were created, sleep was lost, BUT at the end of the day (or month) we have an amazing set-up, and I feel like I made the most educated decision possible.
We are MOVING ON UP and excited to do so!!!

Oh and one more thing...if you're a granola bar eater, go out and purchase these "Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt" Kashi Bars...they are life-changing...I am aware this is in no way related to this post, but as far as excitement about new things goes, this is high up there on the list...no joke!

Working Walls

We can't be the only ones working over here...we gotta make our surroundings pick up a little slack ;)
In order to get inspired and not want to kill ourselves in the workplace, we find it useful to make our space visually stimulating and appealing; specifically when we're in development phases for Fashion Week...
We put this wall up while we underwent some other renovations, and then stumbled across this great article on "How Working Walls Unlock Creative Insight" and we figured we had to share.  We love ours and we're even taking tips to improve upon our work area and idea process from the article.
Anyway, check out our renovations below and get inspired!

the Design Lab before...so boring!

progress... 

...et VOILA!

 

 

Now put that wall to work and get sketching!

Fellow Designer, Christian Siriano and his Working Wall

Interior Design Working Wall