Wearable Art Blog

Clutches by Bea Valdes

Bea Valdes, a young designer from the Philippines, is a bead aficionado who's quickly made her mark in the fashion world with her flashy beaded bags and emphasis on craft. Check out some of her amazing work here.

Maharlika Evening Bag with peacock feathers

Valdes, who was born into a family of jewelers, comes from Manila. She left there to study interior design in London, and returned to the Philippines to work in 1997.

Deciding to make her beadwork hobby her profession, Valdes launched her label in 2004 in the Philippines.

Oshima Clutch Bag made of leather and crystal beads

Valdes, who creates all of the designs, works with the artisans on new ideas and techniques. Each bag is made by Filipino artisans at Valdes' Manila studio and can take up to eight weeks to complete. Valdes has over 40 craftspeople working for her.

Mini Melusine Bag made of leather

An interesting angle is that Bea's mother manages the artisans and Bea's sister helps to run the business, aiming to get Valdes's work noticed by internatonal fashion magazines and sold at some big retailers, like Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue. 

Mercedes Bag made with labradorite, crystals, beads, sequins, feathers.

Besides the variety of appealing designs, I like that Valdes is more interested in the craft and design than churning out bags. She explains: "The nature of our work isn't geared towards thousands of pieces, but a few that are unique." Spoken like a true wearable artist! 

You can see more at Couture Lab.

 

 

Boticca

Since I've shown some lovely handmade items from artists featured on Boticca recently, I thought it was time to learn more about "the online boutique for unique jewelry and fashion accessories by top emerging designers from around the world."

So, I interviewed the co-founders of Boticca, Avid Larizadeh and Kiyan Foroughi. Avid, who grew up in Paris, and Kiyan, who was raised in Paris and Dubai, actually knew each other before they attended universities in the U.S. Each had a successful career prior to founding Boticca.

Malaga Necklace by Jolita Jewelry 

 

How did the two of you meet?

AVID: We actually met via our grandparents who had been friends for years without us realizing.

What led to your launching Boticca?

KIYAN: It was one of those inspiring moments, when while on a trip to Marrakesh, I encountered a jewelry designer called Miriam. As I talked with her, it quickly became clear that not only was Miriam's jewelry aesthetically beautiful, it also had a valuable meaning and story to it.

With more demand for her work, Miriam went from selling her work in the Atlas Mountains to women in her village, to coming to Marrakesh several times a week to sell her jewelry to tourists. Realizing how few people would get to discover Miriam and her work, we wanted to do something to change that to make it possible for people all over the world to be able to discover Miriam's jewelry and her story. This is how Boticca came to be.

Leather Bracelet by Elvira Sazesh

 

Where did the name 'Boticca' come from?

AVID:The word 'Botica' comes from the old Provencal French word for boutique. Thanks to cyber squatters, the 'botica' with 1 'c' was not available at the time, so 'Boticca' with 2 'c's was born! The meaning is still the same, though.

Even though artisan-produced fashion represents a small segment of the marketplace, more and more online stores are selling it. What do you make of this trend?

KIYAN: More and more, people are looking to invest in high-quality non-mass produced pieces, with an added meaning to them. They are seeking that personal connection with their purchase. This is especially true with jewelry and accessories. Even more so than with clothes. That Boticca allows the customer to build a personal connection with the designer, and to learn their story, is what really resonates with the customer. It is this one-off, personal experience with a piece of jewelry or a handmade leather bag for instance, that people look for when shopping.

Woven Apart Tote by Poupee Couture 

 

What makes Boticca different?

AVID: Unlike many online marketplaces, Boticca is curated. This means that designers are required to submit an application which is then reviewed by our style-hunting team to determine whether the designer and their work would be a good fit on Boticca. To date, Boticca is the only site of its kind specializing solely in accessories.

What does Boticca look for in designers and/or their work?

KIYAN: There are so many criteria and obviously, we look at every designer and their work on an individual basis. The main thing we look for when we review a designer, besides quality, is the unique story behind them and their work. For our style-hunting team, it is also nice to see when a designer has clearly looked at the site to get an idea of the tone and feel, understood the concept, as well as taken a look at the work of other designers when we review their application.

 
Earrings by Shingo Matsushita

 

What Boticca items are most popular right now?

AVID: Shingo Matsushita's knitted jewelry with earrings and necklaces made from the same silk used in Kimonos (above) is proving popular. Also, the chain mail jewelry by Iranian designer JamDesign (below), inspired by Persian mosiac art and ancient body armour, are a true artform, taking the designer sometimes days to create.

How do you see the market for work by emerging desingers evolving?

KIYAN: More people definitely seem to be looking for something with meaning, which they often cannot find on the high-street or from a bigger brand. So, in this way, I think the market is definitely growing and can only get bigger.

What advice might you offer to aspiring fashion artisans?

KIYAN: To believe in themselves and keep doing what they're doing.

Millefoglie Necklace by Madame Framboise

What's coming up for Boticca?

AVID: We try to meet our designers needs and provide for them whenever we can as well as improving the experience for our customers, which means lots of new and exciting features are coming to the site.

Thanks to Avid and Kiyan for doing this interview!

It's great to see a curated site like Boticca focus on designers doing handmade work. I like Boticca's approach of profiling artists and their personal stories so that we can fully appreciate the people behind the work.

You can see more at Boticca.com.

  

 

Eco-Friendly Textiles by Nuno

We've all been reading about eco-friendly and the need to protect the environment. Last week, I heard an inspiring talk by Japanese textile designer Reiko Sudo at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts that made the idea resonate in a way that it hadn't before.

Sudo began Nuno in 1984 to make Japan's "lost art" more accessible to textile lovers in an eco-friendly way. Today, Sudo has 10 people working for her designing and creating fabrics and finished products, like the scarf below.

Nuno combines technology with artistry: "Threads with incompatible shrink ratios are...  tossed into a hot dryer to yield sculptural textures. Metallic films are bonded to conventional threads, then melted to create transparent filigrees. Computer-programmed looms dance to digitally-enhanced African tribal patterns. Chemically-reprocessed Okinawan banana fibre-coated cottons complement laboriously hand-finished synthetics."

Sudo was good enough to bring a bunch of sample textiles created by Nuno for the crowd to oogle (the next several photos are a few of the samples).

The red sample, my favorite, is made with strips of nylon tape stitched into all-over patterns. Doesn't this look like wall art?

 

Sudo came to textile design almost by accident. She wanted to become a kimono artist but didn't pass the entrance exam. Instead, she began to study textile design and became hooked on working with all kinds of materials, including plastic. Her studies became the foundation on which Nuno is based.

What also struck me is that Sudo applies the Buddhist belief of living lightly in the world to Nuno's products. This means reusing scraps.

You can see in the pattern below how Nuno reuses small scraps and combines them with embroidery. Nuno also recycles polyester and nylon into new products in an effort to reduce waste.

The white and black fabric below is made from Kibisio, a rough silk by-product from the hard outer shell of the cocoon. When Sudo discovered that factories typically throw away silk cocoons because they are hard to work with, she figured out a way to create beautifully patterned and textured textiles out of the cocoons to make use of the "waste."

 In 2002, Sudo introduced Nuno Works, which offers handmade products, like clothing, socks, pillows and the scarves and bag shown here. You can even pick your own fabric and have Nuno adapt one of their patterns for you.

The colorful bag below features Entasis-form classical Greek columns on densely woven canvas sail cloth.

Here's Reiko Sudo herself.

What a great example Nuno is setting for the fashion world and consumers alike. You can see more at Nuno Works.

 

 

Handbags by Sabrina Tach

Sabrina Tach, a handbag designer from Uruguay, already has her own fashion label at age 27. She also happens to be the daughter of a children's clothing designer and retailer who served as her inspiration.

Here are some of Tach's beautiful, locally-sourced handbags from Latin America that recently caught my eye.

 

 

What I like about her bags is the quality of the leather, the rich colors, and the ethnic focus. As Tach explains: "The lack of good fabrics and supplies can be a big problem for designers here in Uruguay. However, leather and wool are our specialties."

The Inca Backpack below is a limited edition piece made from leather and handwoven fabric from Ecuadorean blankets that she got on her travels. Click on the photo and you can see what a great job she does incorporating these local elements into her designs. 

The richly colored Tajos Coral Suede Bag below is made from a soft suede with an adjustable cross-body strap.

Tach selects the leathers for each of her pieces herself and then starts the design process. I like that she sources most of her materials locally and that the bags are handmade by local leather crafters.

The multicolor bag below is made from Uruguayan leather .

Here's a photo of Tach getting a model ready for a photoshoot. She even designs the 'costumes' for these sessions!

There's also a nice interview with Sabrina Tach on Bottica, where you can find out more about her work and the quaint city of Montevideo, Uruguay where she's from.

These bags stand on their own and, combined with their heritage, are quite appealing.  You can see more at Boticca and Etsy.

 

 

 

Hand Painted Fashion by Iro Design

Craftboston last weekend featured one of my favorite eco friendly producers of handmade work: Iro Design, founded by Peggy Russell. American Craft Magazine also recently highlighted Iro, which is celebrating its 20th birthday this year.

Iro creates one-of-a-kind bold textiles using a process akin to painting by watercolor. Russell and her team lay silk cloth out on a heavy cotton denim drop cloth on long tables in their studio in Boston's artsy South End neighborhood.

They then mix and hand paint dyes onto the silk. Some designs are drawn first while others are created on the spot, using a sponge brush. Black lines are drawn on top to finish off the designs.

The pieces worn by the model are from Iro's gorgeous Resort Collection, their latest. Don't you just love the bold, playful patterns?

 

 Photos: Connie Johnson of Miami Beach photographed by Liam Crotty of Kennebunk Beach ME and Miami Beach FL.

The cotton dropcloth, which takes on the patterns and colors of the painted silks, is recycled and crafted into bags and housewares. Aren't the Canvas Cinch Sack shoulder bag (below) and Sling Sack canvas bag (below that) just adorable?

Russell's inspiration for Iro was her desire to create art to wear and to have fun doing it. I love the layering of colors and light hearted patterns in all of these pieces.

 

Wearing Iro could be a great way for some of us to break out of the humdrum patterns of the work week. You can see more of this terrific work at Iro Design and Gallery Five.