A: Yeah, it was honest. It was really honest, and I think I got caught up in the
because that seemed to make sense.
fact that TESSELLATIONS was not intentional. I felt bad for it. I have this problem
My intent moving forward is pulling a writer and a industrial designer
with guilt. I never wanted or thought I was going to end up in fashion. I know
in. I’ve been really big about collaboration, and I think collaborating
people who have worked all their lives through college and now out of college in
with an artist who paints my pieces - you can only go so far with that.
fashion, who are now, like, killing themselves to break in. I feel like I almost got
I want a writer who can give a short story sci-fi narrative to explain
a shortcut, because I never applied for anything, I never asked for anything. I
the context of the world where people are wearing clothes that carry
just started getting emails once I put my work up online, and it snowballed from
nature and water, and what happened and why. Then, an industrial
there. TESSELLATIONS was so accidental, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone,
designer who would draw up the machines that are supposedly
I was just trying to satisfy myself creatively. From my job, I wasn’t getting that
making these pieces. I think that kind of builds its own little world. I’m
sort of creative satisfaction, and this was a good outlet, and that was it. I felt like
excited about it.
FUSIONS had to be intentional, and thought about, and controlled, and I couldn’t experiment because that was too risky. I think at this point I’m accepting that
Q: A few of your pieces feature painted-on details. Do you work in
I’m not a fashion designer in the classical sense, but why can’t I rewrite what it
collaboration with a painter?
means to be a designer? I feel like designer is the right word for what I’m doing,
A: TESSELLATIONS had a friend of mine, Addis Goldman, who does
but maybe fashion isn’t the word. It’s somewhere else in there. I’m navigating
abstract expressionist art and he’s amazing, and he has a studio in
that space.
Red Hook. We met through a mutual friend, and at some point I asked if he would be interested in collaborating with me. He kind of threw
Q: Are you currently working on your Summer/Spring 2018 line?
some things together really quickly, and then I built some things really
A: I don’t want to think about the fashion schedule anymore, because that
quickly, so it wasn’t a really invested effort.
became my new deadline schedule. I’m just going to work, and when it’s ready
FUSIONS was all collaborative with a different painter, Giovanni Dulay,
it’s ready, and that’s when it’s going to come out. But, I am working on new stuff
who I met through my current job, and that was different because it
now.
was me asking for things. Like - ‘Oh, I want it to be this, can you make it look like this?’ I got really stuck on marble, and getting a marble
Q: Where are you pulling inspiration from for that?
pattern. I think this is what I finally identified as being the core of my
A: It was like a week after my NYFW show wrapped, and I was like ‘I finally have
issue with FUSIONS, is that it’s fake. My whole mission has been
free time, I can hang out with my friends, and just not do any work after my job,’
taking these materials you can’t work with in fashion, and making them
and so a friend of mine and I went and jumped around to galleries in Chelsea. We
so that you can. Taking something and making it look like something
got to one, and there was a piece that was just sand in a plexiglass box. I really
else so that it looks like you made it work doesn’t count. That’s like
liked that, and I took a photo of it. We spent the day out just walking around in the city, and I’m brooding on this. The gears are already going, and I’m like ‘I work with plexiglass, and I like this effect. Could I now embed materials between two layers of plexiglass, and make them supported in that way? From my new job, I know that there are adhesives that still allow for it to be transparent.’ My friend was like, ‘Look, you just need to write it all down, don’t worry about it, don’t start anything. Just write it all down.’ So I’m writing it all down in my phone, and then we went our separate ways for the day, and I get all the way home, and I go ‘I have to go back, I have to buy some plexiglass right now.’ So I ran back to the city, bought some plexiglass, came home, and I go ‘So what do I want to do?’ and a friend of mine’s birthday was coming up, and she’s kind of like, a flower child and loves nature. I was like ‘Well, maybe I can press flowers, and embed those between two layers of plexiglass.’ The first test didn’t work out because the material was cheap, and the adhesive melted, but I think it looks pretty dang cool. I just bought the new material which should work better. Sand is something I want to throw in. I’m interested in salt. I’m going to make something with water in it - that just has to happen. This creative process has been super quick. FUSIONS, I struggled with, because it was so personal. It was really conceptual, and dealing with a lot of emotional things. It was a little too raw, and then it didn’t get realized right. This one feels more optimistic in a way, and playful. I’m already calling it PRESERVATIONS,