ГООK¡ - Weekly Digest #5

September 21, 2022

Hello! This is the midweek edition of ГООK¡ by Ersel Örge — one piece resurfaced from the unlimited archive as timeless uplift for heart, mind, and spirit. You can always catch up on previous issues right here. Enjoy weekly inspirational articles.

Fashion

Collina Strada's Hillary Taymour expanded her brand's sustainable narrative to deliver a collection layered in lightness. Inspired by milkweed and its life support for an ecosystem of caterpillars, moths and butterflies, Taymour plunged into an airborne world — providing a collection layered in lightness and optimism, all with a hint of the macabre.

The two brands collaborated on a shoe to give pep to your step–with a lower carbon footprint.

Sky High Farm Workwear's Balenciaga partnership centres around donated denim jackets and shirts in white and washed-out black, respectively, and they'll be available exclusively at Dover Street Market's American and London stores and respective websites.

Balenciaga & Sky High Farm Workwear drop collaborative shirts & jackets for charity, embroidered with co-branded logos & available at Dover Street Market.

True sustainability requires deliberate and persistent attention to the entire life cycle of a product and even (at times) a sceptical eye toward that product's existence in the first place.

Breaking down sustainable fashion’s most used (and often misused) lingo.

Art

Schlumberger was one of the 20th century’s first designers (along with Bulgari and Cartier) to depart from the rigours of the emerald, sapphire and ruby dictates of the Belle Époque and early Art Deco era to combine semi-precious gemstones in unusual combinations. In-house designers of Tiffany & Co. include Elsa Perretti, Paloma Picasso and Jean Schlumberger, the latter of whose designs still get top billing at jewellery auctions.

Christie's Auction of Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger pieces include his Bird On a Rock brooches and enamel paillonné bracelets.

IN SILENCE Felix Dolah is an artist based in Mainz, Germany who works with charcoal, creating dream like ghostly drawings that play with simple figures and negative space in minimalist way. The...

Design

Five thousand years ago, the Egyptians developed a method to turn the nettle into fibres that could be woven into a durable, comfortable fabric that resists heat and humidity well. They used the same fabric to wrap their mummies, and those threads lasted 5 millennia. Vollebak’s Off Grid shirt works rather well in heat and humidity, and just by virtue of its fabric, has these unique wrinkles on the shirt that contribute to its character. As a fibre, ramie is incredibly resistant to bacteria and mildew, and unlike other fibres, grows stronger with time

If you ever looked at a nettle (those plants that give you a nasty sting) and thought - hey, this could make a great fabric for clothing people, chances are you're either Egyptian, or you're someone at Vollebak. The London-based alternative clothing brand is known for working with kinds of materials that you'd never find

 ECONYL®, produced by Aquafil, is versatile nylon that can be infinitely recycled and regenerated, making it a smarter solution that’s better for the planet than nylon made from oil. It’s made using 100% waste that would otherwise pollute the Earth – and performs the same as new nylon. 

Students are the next torchbearers of innovative, sustainable design, and ECONYL® + Parsons School of Design are championing them.

Photography

The singular photographer takes us through shooting Kanye as Jesus, being mentored by Warhol, and what it takes to make a legendary image.

The singular photographer on what it takes to make a legendary image.

In honor of W’s 50th Anniversary, Kate Moss, Marc Jacobs, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and more share their favorite moments from the magazine.

Textiles

In 1995, the textile industry produced 7.6 kilograms of fibre per person on the planet. By 2018, this had nearly doubled to 13.8 kilograms per person — during which time the world’s population also increased, from 5.7 billion to 7.6 billion people. More than 60 million tonnes of clothing is now bought every year, a figure that is expected to rise still further, to around 100 million tonnes, by 2030. Today, fashion brands produce almost twice the amount of clothing that they did in 2000, most of it made in China and other middle-income countries such as Turkey, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Worldwide, 300 million people are employed by the industry.

The textiles industry urgently needs input from researchers to help it to embrace the circular economy.

Featured BOOK

Make to Know

A deep dive into the minds of the most imaginative people on the planet that lays bare the revelatory nature of the creative journey. Make to Know presents a way of thinking that democratizes creativity and uncovers a process that leads to knowing both one’s work and oneself. It is relevant to anyone interested in why creativity matters. Further details are here.

Featured PODCAST

In episode 276, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Dion Terrelonge, a chartered psychologist, to the show. A researcher and stylist, Dion’s work explores the connection between clothes and human expression.

“We live so much of our lives in clothing and we experience the highest points and the lowest points of ou…

Listen to this episode from Conscious Chatter on Spotify. In episode 276, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Dion Terrelonge, a chartered psychologist, to the show. A researcher and stylist, Dion’s work explores the connection between clothes and human expression. “We live so much of our lives in clothing and we experience the highest points and the lowest points of ou...

In episode 277, Kestrel welcomes Jesus Herrera — a model, clothing designer, vintage curator, and poet — to the show. Also known by their moniker Donatella because of their Instagram handle @donatellaversanchez, Jesus is the co-founder of the vintage Jesus online store and Les Jesus fashion brand.

Webinars

This class explores Eva Hesse’s use of unconventional materials to consider questions around artistic processes and museum conservation practice.

Sign up for the NYTM newsletter to become part of the textile community and receive a $15 discount.

This roundtable, hosted by the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association,

convenes scholars who have conducted extensive archival research on topics

in twentieth-century tapestry, whether on individual tapestry artists,

tapestry studios, or tapestry exhibition venues. Our conversation will

focus on the primary source material, such as letters, sketches, and

samples, that animates each scholar’s research. We will explore what this

material reveals about the tapestry medium and how it might inform future

research.