PHILOSOPHY
My personal goal has been always to become a fashion designer. Being fascinated by textiles and their power of storytelling and expressing feelings lead me to follow this dream. I had moments of doubt that this was the right path as in my experience the mainstream fashion industry can be an antisocial and toxic environment. For me, a social and collaborative working environment where people are respectful and supportive and consider the environment is important in my work. I was fortunate that during my studies, I had the opportunity to be exposed to and learn from alternate ideas and systems outside of the traditional fashion industry. This is in keeping with my own personal values.
Working sustainably is a very important goal for me. The topic of sustainability is particularly important to me in my work, which is why I examine each step of my work critically in order to implement sustainable work in my practice. Sustainability comes together with social working conditions. It is not possible to offer social working conditions and work with dangerous chemicals at the same time. And it is not possible on the other side, to work with sustainable materials and exclude the working conditions.
Sourcing sustainable materials is one of the most important missions of a fashion designer. Being familiar with various sustainable design strategies helps me in my work. For my garments I am upcycling old t-shirts, blouses, table cloths or bed sheets. I am sourcing my materials from the Berlin based textile sorting company Textilhafen. This means that each garment was given a new life with natural colors. With every purchase, you are helping to save these garments from being tossed. All sourced textiles are made out of natural fibers like cotton or linen. The textile tags used for each garment are also made out of 100% cotton.
The dye materials like cochineal or logwood are being sourced from shops specialized in natural dyes. Most of the flowers I am using for dyeing I cultivate, harvest and dry by myself. Therefore, I understand the effort it takes to eventually harvest beautiful flowers. Other dye materials are also collected during walks. When collecting dye materials from nature, it is essential to consider the environment. As a natural dyer, it is crucial not to harm our surroundings. I always leave flowers for the bees and only take a few plants, ensuring that nature can recover easily.