The Covid-19 Pandemic

Here in rural West Cork, there's a stretch in the days and signs of renewal in nature. Ordinarily, we'd be looking forward to venturing out from hibernation as the Summer Season gains a pace and our local markets pick up. However, as a global community, we're facing something we've never seen with the outbreak of Covid-19. None of us know what's ahead, but we've all been informed of what we should and shouldn't be doing regarding our civic responsibility to protect those that are most vulnerable to serious illness. Most of us are based at home now, limiting excursions to only the essential and paying extra attention to hand washing and household hygiene.

Luckily, my studio is at home, so I'm already working from home and don't need to go out in public places. As I write, the market at Skibbereen is now only open for food producers and I'm certainly going to miss the chats. Generally, I'm happy in my own company, but I know that having no social interaction at all will have an impact and I'm keeping in contact with family and friends, particularly those who live alone and are already isolated.

I’m sure this is a message you've heard, but I’ll say it anyway: if your income and security have not been impacted, I encourage you to continue supporting small businesses which will probably mean ordering online. Many of my friends are self-employed makers and are looking at other ways of keeping going, so if you no longer have the chance to buy from them in person, please do find out if they're able to deliver to you or arrange collection. To be candid, this is affecting me, too, so if you've been considering choosing a piece or having something made to measure, do let me know and we'll see what we can work out.

It's getting tougher for us all and the uncertainty of not knowing how long we'll be living this way can feel overwhelming. Personally, I'm very impressed with the Irish government's handling of the crisis and it's leadership. I can't help but reflect on our healthcare workers, whose professionalism we're entirely depending on, and hope once we're though this, at last get the recompense they are due. Ultimately, I'm optimistic and it is my hope that with a worldwide communal effort, we can slow and manage the impact of COVID-19, for everyone's sake and especially for those out there whose health and livelihoods are at risk.

Tamsin ✂️

Wardrobe Crisis - Christopher Raeburn, Remade, Reduced, Recycled | Ethical Listening

I can't get enough of Clare Press and her hugely, likeable idiosyncratic approach to the issue of sustainable fashion. Self confessed fashion magazine junkie, she's been writing about fashion for twenty years and is the author of the book Wardrobe Crisis; How We Went From Sunday Best to Fast Fashion. Based in Australia, her podcast Wardrobe Crisis, introduces us to designers, activists and all manner of folk with a sustainable philosophy whom we may not otherwise come across.

She manages to tackle the issues in her book and through her podcast, with steely assertiveness and a lightness of touch making the prospect of actually doing something about it seem quite achievable. Clare Press has described how she has feet in both fashion camps and serves each with equal passion; she adores the world of fashion for all it's frippery and show, but has also become a respected advocate of Sustainable Fashion as well as an activist.  Indeed, Australian Vogue are so impressed with how she flits between the two worlds that they created a role especially for her, Sustainability Editor-at-Large.

This podcast features English fashion designer Christopher Raeburn, tracing his time in art college when he first began de-constructing army surplus supplies to re-make into something contemporary and wearable, to his free repair service enabling people to prolong the life of their Christopher Raeburn clothing, to his community workshops in his London studios giving people the opportunity to get creative themselves, plus his use of organic cotton and PET recycled plastics.

Christopher talks about how people question what they can do as an individual, but for him 'that's the entire point. It's about what we can do ourself, but also as a collective'. And I love, as Clare Press points out, how he tells his stories and talks about the future of the planet in his own reasonable, sensible and ultimately relatable way.

Tamsin  ✂️

Talking Slow Fashion | Meeting Students at Kinsale Community School

When I got the email asking if I'd be interested in giving a talk to a class of students at Kinsale Community School, my instinct was, oh, I don't think I'd want to do that. Then I thought, as it's something I feel strongly around, know a little about and am trying to adopt sustainable practices in my designing and making, that maybe I should find out a bit more before hastily declining. Ms Hayes explained that her Year 2 CSPE class (that's Civic, Social and Political Education, I had to google it) had been learning about the impact of fast fashion and she was hoping to bring someone local in to talk to them.

In February, I stepped out of my comfort zone and had an amazing time with this class of informed and curious young people. The talk ranged from why clothes have become so cheap today, how the quality of clothes was better in the past, assembly line manufacturing vs making a complete garment and a bit about my own story. At the end of the talk, they had lots of great questions prepared before the bell rang and they dashed to get home. And I returned home, too, feeling unexpectedly elated and optimistic.

DesignedBy Runway Show At Belfast Design Week

Next week, we'll be showing eight new looks of sustainably designed clothing for all seasons at Belfast Design Week alongside Northern Irish designers in the DesignedBy runway show.  The show is at The MAC on Tuesday 8th November at 8pm and tickets are available via the Belfast Design Week website.