Ania Designs

Love silk, lace, pretty things...even more, loving to use those in order to help fight injustice in the world. If only a tiny bit at a time. (Photo courtesy Benjamin Images)

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Hand-made

I saw a good friend's wedding gown for the first time the other day (she married her husband a while before I met this couple). I heard the story of the adventure just to go purchase the gown in NYC. It was hand-made by a woman who moved to NY from Italy and opened her own boutique. I could have held it and looked at it for hours. Not that it was so intricate it would take that long just to see every detail, but that I could have gazed at it, appreciated each seam, each hem, each finishing technique the woman used to create the gown.
More and more I'm loving hand-made garments (or accessories), of any kind, really. I love it when I see a friend who's made a new shirt, or created a great piece of jewelry. I'm not saying I've never appreciated these things, that couldn't possibly be the case. I just love the creativity and where the thought must have come from for that creation. I think as I get older, it's just a deeper appreciation for life itself.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Textiles as Art

Maybe it's just me, but lately I have run into people who don't really get that textiles are art. Or, they believe textiles just aren't as artistic as, say, a painting or pottery.

Now, I understand first that not all people are artistic at the heart. I also understand that not all artists use the same media, this is obvious. When a painter sees a blank canvas, I'm pretty sure they have a vivid picture in their mind as to what belongs on it, and what message they long to convey. When a potter throws pot, they begin to shape and form sometimes before they even know what they're shaping it into. That's pretty sweet.

It's the same concept with me when I see an extraordinary bolt of fabric. Different lines, seams, patterns begin running through my mind until something clicks. Ask anybody who has been shopping with me if I touch, weigh, and sometimes even smell every piece of clothing or yard of fabric that I consider. Yes, it may be slightly funny at times, but it's where my art begins.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Fashion for Good

Rise Up is an organization that never ceases to amaze me. On the entrance to their website (http://www.riseupinternational.com/) it asks, "Can Fashion Fight Poverty?" They've proven that it sure can. Check out their cause, what they've been able to do, and their heart for those in need.

One of my struggles with starting my business was that I always viewed fashion and designing clothes as something that is vain, all about the way a person looked, and the status that it gave off. I had a hard time relating that to God and the fact that He could actually use it for the good. Guess what...it looks like He can. :)