Category Archives: SUSTAINABLE LIFE + DESIGN

SHOES + MONDAY

I love this story from Penelope Green:

A Veritable Vision in Five-Inch Heels New York Times, February 3, 2010   NEAR dusk on a recent winter Sunday, in a glossy and compact one-bedroom in Hell’s Kitchen, Michael Lisbona was drying the toe box of a Louis-style mule with a blow dryer. The upper part of the half-made shoe, which had been cut from black kid leather embossed with a delicate silver lace pattern, curled back like the petal of an exotic flower. Llorraine Neithardt, a full-time psychic and part-time shoe guru, clapped her hands and exclaimed: “Boy, does that beat mowing the lawn. Look how beautiful — like a little tortellini.”…

Read the article as it is wonderful way to start Monday morning…
*See the slideshow:Yana Paskova for the New York Times

I (HEART) FEBRUARY

I (Heart) February because:

Alabama Studio Style is arriving this week.

A new Workshop Schedule has been posted.

Everyone is planning their road trip for our Earth Day Open House @ The Factory.

DIY Kits are the new roses.

I will soon be able to drink my morning coffee on the back stoop.

I (heart) long walks where rocks shaped like hearts are found on the ground…

MONDAY MORNING

Something to think about on Monday morning – from the new issue of GOOD Magazine entitled “Slow:”

The GOOD (and ReadyMade) Guide to Slowing Down

Take your time:

The GOOD (and ReadyMade) Guide to Slowing Down originally appeared in GOOD Issue 18: The Slow Issue. Use the table of contents below to navigate through the guide. 

We are taught that we’ll be judged by what we achieve, but what does it mean to actually achieve?

Continue reading

WHY IS IT WORTH SO MUCH?

We have been getting many emails and questions about a post that appeared this week on Ecouterre.com entitled “Does the Art of Craft and Handmade Matter in Fashion?”

My answers seemed to spur yet more questions… and a few angry emails.

After mulling over these questions, I have to think about Gina and Linton Hopkins from Restaurant Eugene along with Holeman & Finch in Atlanta…

(Stay with me here: You might remember that we were asking these same questions a few years ago about the food we eat and have seen – at least in my community – a marked difference in how we choose food and how we incorporate the cost of that food into our budget.)

Angie Mosier reminds me over-and-over-again (& again this weekend @ Blackberry Farm) about a saying from Gina and Linton:

“It is not why something costs so much; it is why something is worth so much.”

I believe – and have seen firsthand – that the fashion industry will also come around and consumers will begin to ask more-and-more questions.

Yes indeed: Why is it worth so much?

**Photo of Holeman & Finch lifted from the Gourmet (RIP) article by John T. Edge and taken by Gina Hopkins.

PROSPERITY + ALABAMA CHANIN

The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum has announced their upcoming National Design Triennial series for spring 2010.

“Why Design Now?” will be on view from May 14 through January 9, 2011, and will explore the work of designers addressing human and environmental problems across many fields of design from architecture and product design to fashion, graphics, new media and landscape design. Organized by Cooper-Hewitt curators Ellen Lupton, Cara McCarty, Matilda McQuaid and Cynthia Smith, the Triennial will be global in reach for the first time, reflecting the connectedness of design practices and the need for international cooperation to solve the world’s problems.

We are incredibly humbled & proud to announce that Alabama Chanin will be featured alongside esteemed designers like Martin Margiela in a section entitled “Prosperity:”  

Progressive designers and entrepreneurs are building engines of prosperity that enable local communities to use their own resources to create their own wealth, as well as to participate in the global economy. Projects on view include a number of items that address basic necessities, such as a pearl millet thresher and a low-smoke stove developed for use in India; examples of slow design such as hand-made, limited-edition clothing by Alabama Chanin; and works made in collaboration with international designers and local craftspeople like the Witches’ Kitchen Collection, Design with a Conscience Series, manufactured by Artecnica.

Read the full press release here.

The exhibition opens on May 14th, 2010 and runs through January 11, 2011 and will include garments and fabrics from our Alabama Chanin collections.

Thanks to all of our supporters who have helped to make this possible.

Natalie and all of us @ Alabama Chanin