Mah Roc Blog
Balat Travel Guide by Melike
Balat Travel Guide If you have been living in the same neighborhood for a long time; You want to be in control of every detail that happens in your living space and to know everyone. Because greeting your neighbors, the sweet smiles on the faces while passing in front of the shopkeepers will probably be a few details that make you feel that you are in your safe area. I have been living in Balat since my childhood and I want to look around me; I have been a principle since the time I remember myself. Although this neighborhood is divided into categories such as “changes, those who stay the same, newcomers, those we need to meet, people who are always from here” on a huge map in my mind; The excitement of the newcomer makes it easier to keep my familiarity alive in my association with the neighborhood as well as the presence of the old one. It was in this neighborhood that I met Máh-roc for the first time. I guess that's why I don't feel like we've been together and have known each other for a really long time, either when I knocked on the door of their workshop or when I met the team. We did a Balat tour with Máh-roc in the past weeks. I want to tell you about this trip; since certain focal points of Balat are highlighted in this guide, you can determine your route by taking the historical corpus behind you with reference to this directive and at the same time realizing the transformation that has taken place in the last fifteen years. Historical Çıfıt Çarşısı: The concrete aspects of the meanings such as “complex, irregular” that come to mind when the word Çıfıt is mentioned; You can find it on the street that divides into two. When you want to handle your daily work; When you want to stop by a herbalist, a small botanist, or a glass shop in the bazaar, this should be the first place you come to; that your path will surely pass through here. A few tips on the way: Sago Balat: We can recommend you to eat a few scoops of ice cream from the delicious ice cream portfolio of Sago Balat (@sagobalat), which is located on the current Leblebiciler Street in the bazaar, which includes organic products in its production and includes vegan options. Balat Merkez Candy Store: When you go a little further on the same street, you will be greeted by the colorful showcase of Balat Merkez Şekercisi (@balatmerkezsekercisi). For tasting, it is enough to look at the candies, each of which is their own production, with interested eyes; because in a few minutes you may find yourself alone with various candies that are pressed into your palms by the shopkeeper. Agora Tavern 1890: If your return coincides with the afternoon, if you are looking for a place to have a pleasant conversation with your friends or if you want to drink something and eat delicious appetizers accompanied by Müzeyyen Senar's voice, we can recommend Agora Tavern 1890 (@agorameyhanesi1890). Because exactly as Onur Şenli said; “This is Agora Tavern. Where one goodness defies all evil.” Auctions: If you come across active hours; You can also spend time at the auctions, which re-establish Balat's memory and recirculate it through various materials. You can buy all kinds of vintage items at affordable prices, or if you're a collector, you can find the new member of your collection somewhere. The first things that come to my mind are; Venue Antik Istanbul (@mekanantikistanbul), Fener Antique Auction (@fenerantikmezat), Folan Filan Auction (@falanfilanmezat). Bakery of the House, İnebolu Bakery: If you have coincided your Balat trip with breakfast hours; Of course, there are a few places we would recommend for mini breakfast sessions. We recommend you to taste the homemade pastries of Evin Unlu Mamülleri (@evinpastanesi), which you can find by following the smell of the breadcrumbs being baked, or the bagels baked in the stone oven of İnebolu Bakery, 7-8 minutes away on average. Things I couldn't skip: -Coffee Department: We recommend you to visit the Balat branch of Coffee Department (@coffeedepartment) for freshly brewed coffee with coffee beans from different parts of the world. -Historical Balat Pickle: With pickles and pickle juices made from all the vegetables and fruits you can think of at this stop; it is possible to give your palate all kinds of sour experiences.
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LONDON GUIDE
L 🎡 NDRA Travel Guide : Are you one of those who visit a place like a tourist or one of those who let it flow? For us, visiting a place means following our heart, letting it flow and being included in the spirit of that place. While we were abroad for the first time in a year and a half, we wrote about the places you should see in London to share our experiences. If you are a London lover, you can tag the must-see places in the comments 🙏🏻 - Portobello Road : The indispensable antique market on Saturdays. A great place to grab your coffee and walk around. - @tate , @royalacademyarts , @somersethouse , @national.history.museum : art first! -Neal's Yard: Cafes, tiny shops, places selling natural beauty products, this tiny place where dark blue and tile color is in the foreground is quite inspiring. -Brixton: the region of different cultures, fashion, cloth shops, art galleries, different tastes. -Marylebone: Concept design shops, boutiques, florists, bookstores, cool but effortless cafes. -Brick Lane and Shoreditch; vintage lovers here. -London's parks: This must be getting to nature without leaving the city. Hydepark, Regents Park, Kensington Park are just a few. - @oldspitalfieldsmarket : Local and small start-up brands, wherever you say in London, visit here. You can meet many brands and learn their stories at the markets organized by @urbanmakers_uk on Wednesdays and weekends . We also participated in the last weeks and it was very enjoyable! -Columbia Road Flower Market; Flower market on Sundays. In Hackney, the bohemian quarter of London. - @carnabylondon street : You have to see the Christmas time decorations.
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Open Letter to Fashion Design students
OPEN LETTER TO FASHION DESIGN STUDENTS AND CANDIDATES Studying fashion design, being a "fashion designer"... What is fashion? How do you become a "fashionist"? I am writing based on my experience. Most importantly, I'm being honest: The information you learned or will learn at school will not fully prepare you for the "real" fashion world. In order to study fashion design, the following process starts before school starts: When we say drawing courses that start before the end of high school, then prepared portfolios, interviews, consultants, applications, we actually start education before we start school. When we are far from business world and even real world problems, we dream, we think that we will become great designers, maybe even famous. We can go after dreams that we are not sure about when we enter university anyway. My story is not far from what I wrote. Even though I had the chance to experience the textile world at a very young age due to my family's job, it seems that life was not like at university at all. You ask why? Because there is so much we can never learn in a fashion design department, and I have taken it upon myself to make it clear. WHAT'S ON, WHAT'S NOT? Many courses that inspire fashion history, such as methodology, art, philosophy, and history, are in the fashion design curriculum of most schools. Although sewing lessons, handmade projects until the morning and end of the year fashion shows sound like fun, they actually mean serious competition, effort and of course excitement. Where is the problem, while you present your designs to the instructors and wait for approval, no one will sell you the collections you create, the harm these products can cause to the environment, the cost of the quality of the fabric you choose, the landfills, workers' rights, economic cycles, the "developing" and "undeveloped" and "undeveloped" ones we know from those textbooks. ” will not tell about the experiences of the countries, the working hours of the workers, how fast the world of fast fashion is, how the six-season collections that appeared in fashion shows were copied and therefore trying to keep up with the changing trends. While preparing for school projects, it will be one of her duties to follow big brands and fashion shows, to research with great curiosity about who has done what, and to try to stay up to date. A "sustainable" world won't come to mind because you may never be taught the importance of it - unless you're researching it personally. Although what I have written so far has not been very heartwarming, changing all this is an option, even a brand new field with a lot of things to do. HOW DOES? Experience, experience, experience: After education, the most important thing is experience. You may be against the world of fast fashion, but there is nothing like experience to learn in this field. In other words, try them too to speak up and defend something on purpose. You can think about how you will transform this area according to the experiences you will gain, and you can improve yourself. Experience the environmental pollution created by the fast fashion system in order to change it instead of just learning from numbers and texts. Every new conscious approach can bring a new transformation. Knowing that studying design is a field that sets you free, observe and experiment by taking steps in different directions. One step ahead: Although creativity may seem like the key to success as a fashion entrepreneur (at least from the outside), your ability to think ahead, find solutions and observe is actually the characteristics behind this creativity. In other words, the issue of creativity is essentially making smart designs. You can start from somewhere, without wasting the materials you have, without making too much waste, or even by transforming an already existing material into another design. While making a design, you can think about the pieces of fabric, accessories and other materials that go to the trash and find smart solutions accordingly. You can even think one step ahead and design clothes and accessories that last longer based on user experience. More conscious designers mean more conscious consumers. Face the facts: The first competition in the industry will start at school. It's up to you to turn it into a positive direction. Most likely, you will never think about the production part, as you only make the clothes you design for once. You can prepare yourself for the “real world” by researching how and under what conditions you can produce your designs and what the situation is in the real world. Learning about textile workers may help you understand how insignificant competition is before you jump into the industry. Matter of standards: Sewing, embroidery, size charts… Bodily freedom and diversity is not a subject in most school curricula. Single and standard size designs will be requested. All students will work to the same extent. Knowing that there are different sizes, colors, and diversity in the real world can give you a chance to think in another way. You can start breaking taboos on your own at school. After setting eco-friendly, zero-waste, conscious design and production goals, researching these issues, knowing that the fashion world is actually not far from the textile world, reading the labor behind every garment is the best graduation project you can do. Let your first goal be to get to know the world, not to be a world-famous designer.
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Judgment of the body! Angst no:19
"Right" proportions, 90-60-90 sizes, minimum height restrictions, ideal weight... Have you ever thought about how these definitions that sound familiar to our ears came to be? More precisely, have you ever thought about how the standard body sizes of clothes are determined and why you have to fit into a certain pattern? While these questions were plaguing my mind, I realized that there were actually more questions to ask deep down. Is there such a thing as the "right body"? How are these concepts changing? Does the fashion system allow body freedom or does it put us in certain patterns? So when did the patterns appear? We don't need to go too far back. It can be said that the fashion industry, especially after the 1980s, has made the body more visible by making women a social project on the way of being aesthetic and beautiful. Because, when the ever-changing trends started to be the ever-changing bodies, the body size system also started to change and develop. In other words, in order to keep up with fashion, not only our style, but also our body adapts to change along these trends. Therefore, the correct body size becomes a question mark for the producer as well as the consumer. History of measuring patterns: Throughout history, there have been clothes tailored to the body and the individual. Thanks to the tailor-made garments, no one had to fit into a special mold. Standardizing bodies began during the Great Depression, post-World War II. Mass production developed with the developing industrial techniques, and thus, in a not too distant date, the rule that it should fit into certain molds came. The advertisements and catalogs that emerged during this period sparked a consumer revolution. So unusual and fast. Standards: In the early 1940s, 59 different measurements were taken from 15,000 women during a study of the female body in hopes of establishing a standardized "labeling" system. But the most important discovery made by researchers Ruth O'Brien and William Shelton was psychological; The women did not want to share their measurements. The result is that standard sizes are created . In 1958, a long time later, O'Brien and Shelton's research was endorsed by the US and brands were advised to tailor their clothing accordingly. By 1983, O'Brien and Shelton's standards and, of course, their dreams were shattered. Because plus size women, tall and short people did not fit these criteria and many people were deprived of shopping. Judgment of the body: And the 2000s; rising voices, changing bodies. With the millennium, it has become difficult to fit into these molds. Brands had to change their point of view when those who were out of the molds, especially large sizes, could not find clothes that fit them. Thus, new trends turned to terms such as plus size , oversize , petit . So bodies started to rule the trends. Today, however, prejudices began to be destroyed gradually. Over the past few years, many brands have joined the new system. Universal Standard has catered to this market alongside Curvy Sense and Good American since its inception in 2015. It's not enough for now: Because the fashion world "What if it doesn't sell!" He still lives in fear. Although most brands take steps for different sizes, they do not produce enough products, or rather they do not produce products that catch the trends. She says it's difficult for them to produce and stock larger sizes because they require more fabric, more patterns, and more money. Technically, that's perfectly true, says Fiona Dieffenbacher, who heads the fashion design program at Parsons School of Design. “Most designers still don't want to think that their clothes are worn by plus-size women. ” explains the situation with the words. According to research, by 2027 H&M, Forever 21 Inc., Ralph Lauren, Mango, H&M, Hanesbrands Inc. and more aims to create a system that appeals to everyone. Although it may seem difficult in the short term for every body to be happy for the moment, if the trends continue in this direction in the fast fashion system, consumption may be dispersed for everyone and production in standard sizes may decrease. It can be a good step for correct consumption, not excessive consumption. roxan ANGST MAG / APOSTO NO:19
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Upcycling!
Up-cycling is no longer a distant phenomenon. Problems affecting the world and humanity such as climate crises, serious deterioration of the ecosystem, fires that last for days, and the shift of seasons are among the agenda topics and trends that have taken their place in the fashion world. We have started to become much more conscious, we are taking our steps by thinking and trying to be a part of a new cycle. We started in 2016 to participate in this cycle. We collect discarded fabrics for 4.5 years and turn them into new designs. Upcycling is exactly that, transforming an already existing material into something new, extending its lifespan, and repairing it. Not to chemically transform materials. Because , 4.63 kilos of every 100 kilos of waste is estimated as textile waste . It is thought that the annual production of ready-made clothing in the world is over 80 million tons. Only 15% of textile products are recycled annually and 85% is sent back to the landfill. Fabrics that cannot be disposed of, especially clothes, are on their way to 3rd World countries and are sold as second quality in the markets. In the fast fashion system, so many clothes are produced that they have to travel at the end of the season. If you want to get detailed information on the subject, you can read it in the Angst series of the Aposto bulletin. JOURNEY OF CLOTHING (I) In short, maintaining the life of fabrics is one of our sustainability efforts. We collect kilos of fabric during our travels. The largest amount of fabric we have collected so far was in the Black Sea this summer. As a result of our long researches, we saved 500 kilos of fabric waiting to be thrown away or even burned in a warehouse. After a month and a half, we were able to move them to our workshop. Almost all of the winter collection comes from the Black Sea.
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Love Letter No:10 Women, equality
“We are part of the Earth and connected to the Earth. Therefore, we have no hierarchy like a tree in a forest, a small bush also exist. We have the same rights to live and help each other ." Vandana Shiva Will humanity stop discriminating and be able to move forward? Does being a woman have anything to do with sustainability in fashion? Why is the issue of empowering women on the agenda? What is the issue to be created and where is the place of women in the fashion world? Women, gender, equality, changes over time, when did women enter the industry and why did they have to leave? When these seemingly different themes (gender, equality and time) come together, we can talk about sustainability. “Woman”, which is a trending subject in the fast fashion world, is not conveyed correctly. Will it save the solution to the problems created by today's speed with the words of empowerment to be provided to women, or will it be equality? In the fashion and textile world, inequality, especially women's inequality, is a reality. Today, we are far from talking about equality, while women are producing our clothes under difficult living conditions in one part of the world, while women are marketing them in another place and even women are turning into a product. Above all, for a more sustainable, equal future, gender equality is not only a basic human right, but also a necessity for a peaceful world. Under trends such as #womenempowerment, #supportwomen, #girlpower that grow almost equally with the word sustainability, the message actually intended to be given is deeper than you think. From Christian Dior's "We Should All Be Feminists" t-shirts to new collections launched to coincide with International Women's Day, to countless products sold, slogan t-shirts with messages of empowering women are now everywhere, but the reality is that women working for the fashion industry are everywhere. an invalid message is given for most of them. Unfortunately, it is not possible for gender-based inequality to fit into t-shirt slogans. No wonder erroneous information has created more confusion than ever before. The clothes we wear elsewhere in the world are made by other women who are no different from us. Having similar aspirations and dreams, such as living a good life, providing for his family, and most importantly, being safe at work. More than 60 million women work in the apparel industry, and more than 80% of them are millennial women aged 18-24 . In the transparency reports published by Fashion Revolution in 2018, only 40% of brands and the fashion industry provided information on capacity building projects focused on gender equality and women's empowerment in the supply chain, while only 13% published detailed supplier guidance on the problems faced by women workers. Of the 150 brands surveyed, only 37 reported signing up for the Women's Empowerment Principles, an initiative of the United Nations Gender Equality Agency, or publishing the company's overall strategy and goals to advance women's empowerment. https://www.fashionrevolution. org/metoo-how-can-fashion- empower-all-women/ It is true that in order to achieve equality, it is necessary to start with women because women are always in the background in many countries of the world. Since it has become a symbol of reproduction rather than production, it may take many years to break this, perhaps even until the growth of other generations. Psychological research suggests that the reality of women is characterized by commitment and relationships as opposed to autonomy and logic as in men. Women place much more emphasis on collaborative relationships rather than creating a separate economy for their work. At the same time, the fact that women are more sensitive and vulnerable to the environment is seen as an issue that can be turned into a positive one within the framework of inequality. The Gender Gap in Environmental Attitudes: The Case of Perceived Vulnerability to Risk Richard J. Bord and Robert E. O'Connor Speaking in an interview with Remake's production workers in Mexico, a woman says: “I think the main problem with the factory is that they see us as producing objects; not like women, not like mothers, not like sisters, not like daughters. They just see us as cheap labor. " Moreover, there is a lot of hard work, with garment workers working 60 hours or more per week in extremely dangerous conditions, violating the safety regulations of factory buildings, discrimination based on gender, age and pregnancy, for little or no pay. https://remake.world/films/ made-in-mexico-makers-speak-out-for-womens-rights/ Understanding that the issue in ethical fashion is the empowerment of a woman is one of the important points. Being a feminist today is much more than a trend, and while it's positive that it's become a mainstream idea, we need to question its reality. Many brands have slogans and themes of "female empowerment" , so they are not asked if any woman is powerless in the process of making these clothes. If we really want to be feminists and stand up for every woman's right to be safe, have equal incomes, and live her best life, we need to advocate this for every woman, even working men, from all over the world. The issue is one step further from supporting small-scale local brands and especially each other as brands with female entrepreneurship. Yours sincerely roxan
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Interview with Save Your Wardrobe
Interview with Roksan Sarfati, Founder and Creative Director of Màh-roc. “ If we don't start to address the negative impacts of the fashion industry soon, we're not going to have an industry in the future .” When Roksan came back to Turkey in 2016 after graduating from Fashion Design in Italy, she started working in the Fast Fashion textile industry. She was constantly traveling to different countries and had gradually more opportunities to get closer to the production processes and see from her own eyes the ways in which fast fashion garments were produced. Both the environment and negative impact of the apparel industry made her rethink the fashion industry business model. In fact, facing extremely fast production rhythms and witnessing enormous amounts of waste repetitively for months and years was extremely shocking for Roksan. “ The most shocking part was that if buyers don't like or want the collection, it was irrevocably thrown away. ” Fabrics were constantly wasted and discarded and at some point, she decided she wanted to do something about it. It was the driver that made her change her path towards conscious fashion. “ After working for seven years in the fast-fashion industry I was inspired to take action on production waste. For more than two years, I collected leftovers and unwanted garments from around the world, I gathered them in our Balat atelier in order to repurpose them and form an ethical fashion brand .” This is how her upcycling journey started, Máh-roc was founded with the mission of raising awareness in up-cycled fashion. Máh-roc was the result of her journey, her travels and her rich experiences. “ We inspire from our travels. Not just fabrics but also the environment we explore, the people we meet, music, art, traditions… Everything we see is a new idea for us .” Roksan is a native to the textile industry, growing up in a family textile business learning about materials and observing processes. Core to her family's ethos was respecting employees and observing ethical working conditions throughout their operations. These fundamental values have deeply resonated with her and translate into her sustainable design product processes at Máh-roc. Today with her team, she travels all around the world to collect unused and leftover fabrics to create up-cycled collections. Among her various travels, she recently spent 4 months in Sri Lanka where she made many encounters. As Sri Lanka is well known for its rich hand looming tradition; she spent her free time wandering and searching for production studios. “ I found an ethical factory where only women work, all fabrics were hand loomed without any electricity nor water; I got to know them, I bought their leftovers and we collaborated on a collection together .” This is how a new collection was born from her trip in Sri Lanka. “ Our most important roles are finding old fabrics and supporting local production. We are looking to find a zero waste design solution .” As a Women Entrepreneur in a country with limited economic freedom, Roksan faced many challenges during her journey. “ I am having difficulties as a female entrepreneur. textile and fashion production is a sector that has been dominated by men for years. Sometimes they try to make us forget how powerful women are. ” Turkey is one of the main actors in the world clothing industry, it is amongst the top 10 textile and clothing exporters in the world, and also the second largest supplier to the EU. The role of Turkey as an important player on the international market makes the local industry very competitive. Searching for the right materials at the right price is challenging as sustainable materials get more expensive everyday. Since the pandemic started, Turkish people are getting more aware of sustainable living and sustainable fashion. Due to travel restrictions, they are turning to local production alternatives and local brands. “ When I started in 2016, everyone was asking what upcycling was and they couldn't understand the purpose of it. Now they are starting to support it .” According to Roksan, the biggest issue in her country today is the lack of education and awareness around waste and other environmental and social issues. She aims at inspiring people and making them more conscious. “ We need to educate the overproduction and consumption arising from the lack of awareness. A very small number of people are aware of how much waste is coming out. ” She is now starting to be really involved in this matter, collaborating with universities in order to teach about sustainable design and organizing workshops. She aims at opening Máh-roc space to local and emerging designers like herself. “ We are planning to make a place where we can share our knowledge, experience and even materials. A place where we will not only enable sustainable designs but also a sustainable life .” Roksan's Tips to Consumers: Start with buying products that you truly love and with good quality, knowing they will have a longer life span. Educate yourself, make more conscious choices, ethical fashion will save your conscience and choosing potentially your money as well in the long run. Support local production and local business instead of fast fashion brands. Consider the next life of your clothes — explore new options such as second hand and vintage shopping or clothing swaps with friends.
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September Issue
Don't you feel confused? We are in September with lots of thoughts and emotions. In a real sense, September is a very important month for the fashion world. We are here with September Issue, which is the milestone of fashion that refreshes our eyes and souls and pioneers a brand new season, when we are tired of collections that have gained the title of "old" in six months! For most of us working in the fashion industry, September is the beginning of the new year rather than January. Because the seasons we consume fast have gained a brand new look with the vision of the designers, they were introduced with extraordinary shows to disturb the ordinariness of our lives and the products took their place in the stores ... This is a quote and in our opinion, a very depressing statement. We are leaving the summer behind, although we do not want to leave it, we decided to spend the next few weeks in the studio to make new changes in the need to return to our place. Our plans have been changing for a long time. Experiencing the slowdown, intervening trips are what we want to do as we have returned to Istanbul with a sense of grounding. We realized that we are not talking about ourselves as we wanted to share the plans for next few weeks. Our studio in Balat turns into a co-working space where we can share ideas and talk about sustainability. We are mostly at the beginning but will be able to visit soon. How did that happen? So the desire to be grounded ... By trying and by making mistakes. By giving a chance to the opportunities. We have met with more people. That was the purpose of traveling. It is not just collecting the unused fabrics. First we have to learn the story behind and the background of the materials. We have to explore the motifs and textures. We have to decide how sustainable the material is. Then we can think and bring it to life. This is slowing down. You need to give chance to everything And sometimes to let go. If we want a sustainable life, we cannot understand it without observing it. While we spend time in other cities, we look for ways to empower their economies. We plan to make productions there, but if it is not sustainable, we can give up the plans and then we return to Istanbul with all the materials and inspiration we have on our back. It's the simplest way to create new collections in Balat. Try to see sustainable fashion in this way. Up-cycling nor the use of recycled fabric doesn't mean that the result is sustainable. If you have never heard about the September Issue, you should watch the documentary. love
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So what is this transparency?
This week we are asking ourselves what transparency and ethical fashion really is, for understanding better. It's kinda strange that we find similar answers to our inquiry. Fashion transparency is all about the brands making their production processes clearly and sharing everything from design to final product. ''As the destructive effects of fast fashion created by production and consumption strategies become visible, it has led to the adoption of an ethical and ecological design approach that allows fashion to be redefined. Thus, ethical fashion has developed creative discourses such as 'Slow Fashion Movement' and has a structure that glorifies local crafts, fair trade, multifunctional design products, participatory design, the use of environmentally friendly materials and designs that are valued by recycling or up- cycling. '' The fact that an design approach comes to the fore is about questioning under which conditions the design was created, produced, ethical and consumed. Ethical fashion, which adopts sustainable, slow and social approaches as a principle, adopts a transparent, participatory and critical discourse as a communication method. So what is this transparency? In our opinion, to clearly articulate all processes. So what are we doing? We share all our processes of design to product. Everyone in our team has the right to give an idea in the design process from starting point to final decision. For us, transparency and ethics starts here. If one of us questions the feasibility of that design, we discuss the question marks there. So there is no ego. The advice from us is let go of your ego as much as possible in your life. If we advocate the opposite, then we get wrong about sustainability. :) See you next week! love
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Love Letter no:3, Collecting fabrics
the inspiration behind collecting fabrics and making bags; I spent my childhood exploring how to respect different and original stories. Coming from a family with identities of different countries made me ask myself the same inquiry on and on. Where is the home, where do we belong? I was thinking a lot, and of course what people think about it. One part of my family is half German, half Italian, the other part has Spanish origin. We grew up in a house where culture and traditions were mixed and more than two languages were spoken. Growing up with my twin sister, who was always with me, she constantly compared me with this question when we spent a period of our lives in different countries. Our family thought we could be stronger and more social if we lived in different countries. So what were we feeling? The answer to my question has always been the same; I found loyalty to a nation, race, very personal, individual and challenging. What does this have to do with fabrics and máh-roc? Unused and second-hand fabrics that I have collected from different countries over the years have been an expression of my thoughts. Fabrics are the identity of our designs and often the spirit of motifs. In creating our bags, we ask for social and political activism to refuse to surrender to what has been given to us, and instead encourage it to reach a new world through radical alliance without being tied anywhere. For us, each individual is unique and equal. Each bag we produce has a different texture, color, motif or pattern. If you are asking these questions to yourself, a little reminder; We may have forgotten who we are, nature, sharing and supporting each other months or maybe years ago. In this period when we cannot travel, we remind ourselves that everything is temporary in times of uncertainty. And the point is not about the uncertain times we are in. We have been in uncertainty for a long time. I hope this period has inspired change and transformations. love
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Love letter no:2
From Ordu, Turkey Thinking about sustainability, We had an inquiry in our mind lately. We are talking about a sustainable life, sustainable designs, even FASHION. So, isn't there a mistake somewhere when we explain "sustainability"? Last week we talked about slowing down. We have mentioned the period we live in pushed us to be slow. Our creative processes slowed down. We are experiencing that we can reflect the insignificance of the seasons to our processes. While the seasons are disappearing with climate changes, the world still goes to Pre Fall, Fall Winter, Resort, Summer Spring. In other words, while we cannot even live our seasons, the fashion world does not stop. In order not to spoil the perception, we continue to do two seasons and continue our Fall Winter collection from Ordu. This season, we are coming with another idea. What is truly sustainable? We were researching traditional techniques for weaving for a while... We were discussing how we do the weaving techniques as we want, what our colors should be, how we use graphics, what our processes will be, will it be enough for us to work with one person? While we were getting excited about these questions, we felt that we were getting lost in the dream of the search for sustainability. What already exists is very beautiful. We realized exactly that we have already found what we were looking for. The kolan (our new accessories) that Gülser Teyze weaved us are very beautiful as they are. We decided to keep up with her without disturbing the nature she has. This is a purpose in a sustainable life. Keeping up with it without disrupting what is happening. love
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Love letter from Ordu, Turkey
As a result of the uncertainty and fast lives we live in, maybe you are resisting the environment brought by today, you want to understand. You may be trying to skip the days we are in and be forced to keep up with the situation. As we pass through the same situation, we continue to travel slowly, stay where we are for a long time and observe the surroundings. We continue to travel, collect inspiration and materials. Our processes may have slowed down a lot, but weren't we escaping far from the fast life anyway? We have been in Ordu for a while. We spend time in the Black Sea. We meet aunts and uncles, we listen to their lives. We learn about ancient traditions. We collect fabrics and learn how to weave by hand. We experience nature and we slow down. While believing that every journey has a purpose, we try to let ourselves flow and bring whatever comes to us without much disruption. Isn't that exactly the purpose of up-cyling? Redesigning existing material. In short, you have the materials. Observe, learn, look around you. Who knows, maybe you'll find something hidden somewhere. That's why we decided to meet with you every Monday morning when we were looking at how we would describe what we observed while creating our collection. Hope to get through this period in the most efficient way. love
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