Le Muse_ Be a Muse!

Lina Pliūraitė, indie handmade Fashion designer for Le Muse.

«Beauty can't be determined by a nice dress or new haircut. The sources of beauty cannot be easily traced for the beauty glimpses through each time at a different moment.

Every time a woman would dress in Le Muse, I would notice how differently it looked. It adapts to individual body and moves with that person in its own unique and beautiful way.

Each Muse has a name: SandMuse, LoveMuse, PassionMuse. And every Muse creates a different mood when you wear it.

Therefore, I encourage you to find your own Le Muse and become unique Muse in the world!»

The interview.

_Where do you live? 

I’m so happy that I was born and live in Lithuania, Vilnius. This is a small country, it’s warm and cozy to work here. Small distances mean spontaneity and do lot of things when the idea comes. 

Vilnius is the capital of the country. It’s a city, but still small and cozy. You live in the capital but you feel different from the really big cities. It seems that everything goes together: city and the nature, warm and cold, big and small buildings. 

_Inspired by?

Usually, my inspiration comes from simple everyday things:

Fabric. I buy fabrics which are so nice. I like how they falls and make nice curves. I see the fabric and it comes the idea what should be done from this fabric. 

My first asymmetric blouse (called Cozy muse) came in this way. I bought fabric and I didn’t wanted to cut it. It was so beautiful. So, I wear it like that for some time and after I got the idea how to catch these curves. The design of the blouse was done.

People. Sometimes the inspiration comes from charismatic people I meet. I see the person and it comes the idea how they should look like. If the idea is strong enough it comes to the reality.

There is lot of place for the experiment in my work. I have idea and I try to do it, but suddenly I see that something I wasn’t planing suits perfectly and it comes like the main point in the design. 

Maybe, the too long zipper become the main accent in coat design.

And when I create I have the main thought in my mind: all ideas is “under mine nose”. So I don’t look for them far. 

_What's the concept behind Le Muse?

Le Muse talks about real beauty which comes from inside the person. Each of us has is own bugs: the body is not perfect, the face can be different, the skin can be softer. 

But, at the end, we have the inside world. Which is beautiful, powerful and unique. That means a lot...

Le Muse clothes covers your body and gives you unique shape every time you move. The shape is changing and creates different silhouettes. It creates are desire to see what is the unique inside. What charisma you have.

Le Muse gives you freedom. You don’t have to think so much of how you look like and if your body is perfect. It gives you freedom to care more about your feelings, emotions and about other people instead of thinking about yourself.

_Recycle or Re-used? Vintage or eco-friendly material?

I don’t choose the particular type of fabric. I like to touch them and to choose it according sensation. 

It should give pleasure to the body. The fabric of the cloth should give cozy warm or soft cold or other sensations. The skin feels the fabric every moment so it should be like sweet touches. So I touch fabric and if it is like that, I choose it for the new dress.

_What is creativity inside you?


The creative process is everyday. You never know when the idea is coming. 
That's make the life interesting. 
Sometimes so small details merged together creates the powerful idea and you never know when and what. So everyday is a surprise. A surprise with a pleasure.

Creativity is the best feelings I ever had, when new idea is coming. It's like a miracle. 
So I’m addicted to this feeling and I want to feel it again and again. 
This is what is driving me and what I’m so happy. It gives very strong driver for life.

CRISTINA PIRES_ Creativity from All around the world

Cristina Pires is australian, canadian & portuguese indie-designer, currently based in Stockholm.

All work for Cristina Pires is designed, handmade & photographed by her. 

Follow also her blog!

_Who is Cristina Pires?

I studied Fashion in Brisbane, Australia.

I live in downtown Stockholm, which is an island actually, with my partner & have a home-studio that I work from. 

We both really like Södermalm & think it's the best place to live in Stockholm. 

However, when my partner finishes his PhD we will move back to Berlin & I'm really excited about it. Berlin is my most favorite city I've ever lived in.

_Inspired by?

Colors, nature, science, music, travel & all the places i've lived in, daydreaming, my friends/family & my 'sherries'.

My designs are pretty all over the place, I have very eclectic taste & my inspirations vary.  

Sometimes I get inspired by people I admire,  other times by places & themes. Most of all though, my inspiration comes from the materials I have in front of me & thinking "what should I  do with that?".

Everything I make is meant to be very wearable & also durable - I use cotton a lot, because it is easily washable & holds it's color & shape.

But also vintage cotton & silks are used or whatever I can find that is good quality.  

I would like to start using cotton blends & hemp materials in future. Most of the new cotton I use is organic.

I love to use bright colors, for example.

Optimism, positive thinking, having fun & being yourself.

_What is creativity inside you?

I believe that creativity is inside everyone & cannot be taught, just drawn out. 

I think a person's background & personality shows in their work.                          

Everyone is an artist, everyone is creative, we all leave an imprint on the world, whether we know it or not.


*credit
Photography: Daniel K. Johansson www.dkj.se

GAL STERN_ Dare to Wear

Classic Collection

Shoe Flower Collection

Wild Collection

Classic Collection

Urban Collection

Gal Stern lives in Israel.

This is a very vibrant country, and the design scene is blooming in the recent 8 years.

Gal is a textile designer, graduated at the Israel’s top fashion school, "Shenkar" high college.

Gal was always fascinated by printing and right upon her graduation she decided to open her own studio to dedicate her time in creating her own designs.

Her key products are hand printed tights, which are designed and produced through a special technique developed by Gal, in the labs of the Israeli under garment giant “Gibor Sabrina”.

She loves to experiment with new materials and, at the moment, she specialises in a unique combination of cotton and nylon.

She wants to create her unique collections of tights.

often she can be found in her studio experimenting on new colouring, printing techniques.

Nature, texture that surround her, colors… Everything inspires Gal.

Fresh, Intelligent, universal and crazy!

A new modern universal woman that wants to appear special in today’s world.

“My design view gushes from my fascination with shapes & the way they attach, transform & create a surface, I am also overwhelmed by colours. I am drawn by the combination of shapes & colors & how they mix together”.

CSEVENM_ If you wait patiently good things will come, so close your eyes and try to dream

Subtle, fragile and charming.  Beautiful garments, delicately crafted interiors and custom made projects.

Inspired by a passion for textiles and blending traditional craft with a modern aesthetic, Csevenm has developed a charming selection of hand made soft interiors and detailed fashion pieces to adorn your home and wardrobe.  

Interiors with a delicate mixture of white on white prints, randomly pieced together, to make patchwork blankets. 

Silk patch sheets with hand block printing, in soft silver and pearl white, and a variety of cotton and silk cushion cases available on request to compliment the bedding.

Pour les enfant, the little collection range consists of printed cushions in classic children’s colors and unique patchwork baby blankets with signature white on white prints. 

Each item is finished with a delightful hand stitched animal character.  

Csevenm's visually distinct collection of design essentials, including the limited edition clothing label ‘crâne’, is all developed through a process of manipulating old and new , while refining hand stitched intricacies into the fine details of design.

This is the interview with Charlin Morgan, Founder , Designer and Producer for Csevenm.

_Where do you live? Feeling and sensations living there.

Until a short while ago, I lived in one of the Home Counties, but recently moved back to London. 

I miss the countryside, when I would go for a morning walk before starting work in the studio.

On sunny days, I sit in the garden and sketch and finish all my hand stitching. 

The fresh air and the relaxed lifestyle created a great atmosphere for me.

Now I’m back in ‘London Town’ I remember how great it is here too. 
I’m in South London through and through, there is an amazing mixture of everything you could ever want.  In my mind South London is quite small and homely.

_Sources of inspiration?

Wow, I’m not sure I can answer that without being ultra vague. 

Everything and anything inspires me at any given point.  

I’m a great fan of scribbling things on random bits of paper, the back of a receipt, postcards, and torn pieces of packaging.  I find it easier to organize my thoughts into workbooks by collaging them together.

I have a great fascination with tradition, the history of the person, a song, a poem, a place or a thing and the observation of its evolution.  The details are what inspire me, I might love a song but it will be one line that draws me in.  I love flowers but the silhouette of a single petal will be the focus of my view.

_What do you want to communicate the world through your creations?

I would like to take people back to the intricacies of craft and skilled workmanship.  

I want my work to portray the time and care incorporated into my products, which will in turn compliment the true personality of each individual.  I hope to help people notice the interesting and the desirable, to discover the charm in items available outside of the dominant corporate retail industry and to connect, work and support the world’s designers and craftsmen as a community.

_Which materials do you prefer? Recycle or Re-used? Vintage or eco-friendly material? what's your choice?

I love fabrics, natural fibres are what I love the most, I could list some of my favourites but the truth is they all excite me.  

I like the history of garments and often take the time to deconstruct second hand pieces.  

The remains of these garments are generally re-used in my clothes and blankets.  I also work freelance in the fashion industry and collect as many remnants as I can, I figure waste not want not, It’s all useable.

_How the creative process is?

It is the manipulation that makes what I do.

I believe it is one of the most important factors in anything you do, because it is what makes your work personal, individual and essentially special.

Printing, twisting, washing, stitching, blending and distorting is how my work evolves the old.

The new can all be used, I’ve become a bit of a hoarder over the years, if I like it and I can get my hands on it I will keep it until I can find a use for it.

A single item usually sparks the whole chain of events.  I start with something very simple.  

It could be anything from a book to an item of clothing or even a scribble from a dream.  

Once I have found my starting point, I trawl through my old notes, as there is usually some ref. point that links me to my new concept.  

I‘ll have one image, which defines my color story and from here the project snowballs.  

I’m continually researching throughout the design process and changing and developing the designs accordingly.

_What is creativity inside you? 

Happiness.

AND WHAT ELSE IS THERE_ Creative Thailand

Interview with Ami and Vivien for AndWhatElseIsThere.

"Ami and I (Vivien) were new college graduates of Economics, which was not even close to the fashion design or photography scope, from Bangkok, Thailand. 

For us, it's hard to define Bangkok in one particular word or phrase as the city is a great mixture of cultural diversity among the result of growing globalisation. Technology moves along to a stance where Thai people still hold great intensity of faith and social values.

It all started two years ago. One day, we discussed to each other that we wanted to start something fun and inspirational as a small project for international audience to observe what young minds like us have to offer from this country. We noticed that there was no proper blog from Thailand that could relate at an international stage that creativity is booming in our hometown. 

We started a blog, collecting inspirational images and presenting independent fashion design from both our country and other places, and eventually selling our own vintage and custom-made clothes to our customers throughout the world. We view our blog and shop as a spiritual space where we can release our thoughts beyond our corporate lives in the financial industry, where creativity is obviously limited, through our personal photography of places in Thailand and ready-to-wear clothing. 

Pretty much, the path to productivity is mainly driven from an abstract mind to break through our boring salary routines. We align our inspiration in doing the clothes to the surroundings we are living in. Thailand is the place we know best, and we represent our lifestyle through clothing at affordable prices. We use various materials like cotton mixed with polyester for tailoring our geometric shape of modern pants. Chiffon, lace, and crepes are also our tasty extras.

Lucky us to have a circle of friends who do their own fashion lines like genuine leather bags, clothing, jewelries, t-shirts, and menswear, so we have a future idea to make our website a space to gather beautiful things from our city in which we are working on right now. 

So stay tuned for a little renovation!"

MMH CLOTHING_ Meet Me Here

Jonas de Varona, designer of MMH- Meet Me Here- Clothing.

Glass Architect online store was created with the idea to offer some of the prototypes, samples and one offs he makes, while exploring new ideas for Meet Me Here.

Everything in the Glass Architect shop is made from original patterns that are drafted, cut and sewn by Jonas on one of 5 industrial machines. 

"I live in Seattle, Washington. But more specifically in Georgetown.

It's about 3-4 miles south from the heart of downtown Seattle.

Georgetown is probably the most industrial area of the city. It has about 150 homes and it is completely surrounded by warehouses, industrial yards, the freeway, trains and two airports  I have likes and dislikes about this area.

I originally moved to Georgetown because I get a lot of inspiration from industrial objects and places.

Inspiration comes from everywhere, literally, from nature to music to people.

But my main source are industrial spaces and objects, that usually I revisit.

They have a spacious neutral energy - they don't feel designed.

They are made purely for function, I have an honesty about them, a kind of blankness that resonates with me.

When I'm creating something, I only think about the object and not who will use it. Thinking about the person tends to guide my creativity to too much.

I think this is called designing in the absolute.

I want to make things that satisfy me, genuine.

When I make something, I'm wanting to answer a question. From an aesthetic standpoint, I want to make things that don't feel designed, the functionality should be unnoticeable.

I used to mostly associate honesty with a cliché meaning of tradition or something established, a tried and true method or something.

Now ,I see honesty in things that feel fresh and undiscovered. I think the best place I can be as a creative person is using my instincts and intuition this makes you reach for what's at your core engaging your true nature.

To me, that can only happen if I'm making things that feel new to me.

This is one of the reasons I started using reused and surplus materials: 4 years ago, it  felt raw, undiscovered and post apocalyptic.

From the beginning i wanted to make the pieces I sell on my machines using patterns I've drafted. This is very satisfying and allows me to control quality, waste and quantity. It's also important for me to use local sources.

I don't have a favorite fabric.

It could be anything although color and texture always play a role.

I like to work with recycled materials, scrap or dead stock. It feels good to make something from waste, a sort of alchemy if you will.

If I could only use one material It would probably be leather.

A collection of memories, desires, and fears... a mask, the way I order the world, and of course a reflection of my soul."

ROCK AL DESIGNS_ One of a Kind Clothing

Welcome to Wearable Art Store!

Rock Al Designs is a clothing line, produced by the indie fashion designer Alyssa.

Here, everything is one of a kind.

Alyssa comes from Los Angeles, but now she lives in Europe.

Nature is her unique source of inspiration.

She loves to use only cotton, and her creative process never stops.

She wants to bring more beauty to our World!

This is her mission through her creations.

Alyssa says: "Creativity is my therapy. I love what I am doing!".