The story of stuff- where it comes from and where it goes

Fishing for plastic

My close friend Caro Sparrow in Manchester has referred me to her friend who has approached a uni fashion project in a unique and appealing manner using new technologies. 

This inspires me to go plastic fishing in the highly polluted rivers of Bandung and make beautiful trash couture out of my catch. In this country disposing of waste in rivers is common and acceptable; it gets washed away and out of sight (some of it does anyway). That plastic is non-biodegradable is not common knowledge at all. And when you think the smoke from the side walk is form incense, it's actually probably someone burning rubbish (including plastic and rubber); the other common way of disposal.

From ecouterre article:

"Sculpted from recycled and reappropriated plastics, including shower curtains, Bowler’s “Fusion” collection marries the poles-apart aesthetic of the traditional Japanese straw coat and the classic British macintosh. The Royal College of Artgraduate’s process is completely stitch-free, a combination of industrial techniques such as heat-forming and ultrasonic welding. (The latter method involves high-frequency ultrasonic acoustic vibrations to bind materials together.)

At the core of Fusion’s high-tech engineering is Bowler’s belief that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable. “Fusion is designed to make plastic fantastic for longer,” she says. “[And] to create a garment that the owner will be reluctant to throw away.”

Bowler believes that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable.

In keeping with Bowler’s mantra of reduce and reuse, even the rubber molds she had made are designed to be used again. The result is a series of space-age slickers in burnished metallic hues like gold, bronze, and titanium.
Fusion will be on display at the Royal College of Art’s Upper Gulbenkian Gallery, as part ofLondon Design Week, from September 23 to October 7.

Press

Slightly belated entry due having to entertain some guests- my boyfriend's family came to visit us here in Indonesia and we went to Bali/Lombok&Gili Islands for a week! Internet-abstinence did me good but there's a backlog now I am still catching up on almost a week later.

Sunset at Gili Meno, Lombok
paradise desert island 

It was also during this week off that Anja Anglindo was featured in the national Indonesian newspaper "Kompas". The journalist interviewed me at the STDI ethical fashion event. The article is a well-rounded piece (apart from not mentioning STDI which isn't quite fair) including a definition of ethical fashion (I had given him a translation in Indonesian). So I hope it has raised some awareness in a country where the knowledge  of the environmental and social impact of fashion is practically non-existent.
A big *Makasih* goes to Phae form Parental Advisory for his enthusiasm and translating my presentation; it was so challenging doing it in bahasa (my language skills seemed to decrease with increasing exhaustion)!

Anglindo in Kompas newspaper

Here's the article although it's a really bad shot of me, ugh! Was seriously tempted to pixelate my visage. Will add some more pics as soon as I find my camera cable, promise. Have some inspiring detail shots and some pics form my visit to Threads of Life in Bali.

Batik workshop at STDI : Hand-batik ("canting")
 It's much more difficult than it looks! 

Shops are back online :)

Visit Anglindo online boutique:

www.studioanglindo.bigcartel.com

Hold your horses! ... online shop issues...

Unfortunately due to living in SE-Asia and my bank account being in Europe, there have been some compliations which have lead to my online shops being FROZEN! Until I an defrost them, please just send me your orders via e-mail and the money can be transferred via bank transfer for now.

Other than that, I am very excited to be going to Bali on Saturday where I will be visiting producters of organic&naturally dyed cotton. Did I already mention, I'm VERY excited...! Anja Anglindo will be posting about this...

Also excting: presentation about ethical fashion at STDI Bandung... probably the first one ever here!