23/12/2021
ESSAY POST / ARTIST STATEMENT: No updates for a while? Pah! I focus my attention on my legendarily detailed correspondence doing right by my clients. Spending flipping ages perfecting items to a degree that is borderline diagnosable. Yet there's this thing I have to do in order that anybody bar around 10 people know that is happening. I am a grounded creature. I will occasionally look to the stars, but in this infinite expanse that is cyberspace, the appropriate vector is some cruel machination of our beloved, ever expansive, constantly redefining and iterating, lexicon. I'll save the hashtags for all you lovely Facebook people as Instagram doesn't want them! Well... tough! This one wants eyes! I have NO SHAME! Commence onslaught.
No bling was harmed in the making of this hoodie. No glitter was spilt (this is fused like superglue - but not superglue - cyanoacrylate free?) and it is not going to wind up going down drains. Although last time I heard, it was supposedly fine to pour inks and various other carcinogenic and environmentally (especially aquatic) destructive chemicals down drains (or better yet, just throw them into the rivers and oceans). Well, at least I don't do that. But not to downplay the hazards by comparing oneself only to others. I own this. Glitter is... pretty bad, okay? So how's about doing that with low impact in at least one way, and no impact in others?
Who truly has a good idea what chemistry and energy goes into the materials that brand clothes (and does it matter, unless it's bad?). Virtually all films in use here are PVC/phthalate free (as well as free from heavy metals - cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium, and fire retardant phenyls and phenyl ethers - PBBs/PBDEs, and formaldehyde, a carcinogen typically found in glues such as MDF - Medium Density FIbreboard, furniture etc). Supplied via CO2 neutral delivery and 100% recycled and/or biodegradable packaging. Garment ethically made (Source: AWDis, manufactured in Bangladesh, imported into England by AWDIS Limited, 35 Beaufort Court, London, distributed by Ralawise Ltd of Deeside CH5 2UA, shipped to BJUM, Brighton, BN1 3FS; WRAP & Sedex audits, which mandate wage, health & safety and employee welfare programming); Manufacturer's sustainability statement: https://justhoodsbyawdis.com/sustainability; PETA-Approved vegan (not tested on animals and contains no animal by-products). Transfer applied using a recycled PET adhesive liner eliminating single use plastic from this part of the production process - a first for the industry. A unique manufacturing process guarantees no loss of the glitter in the wash (and thus wastewater), unlike other methods involving a separate glue, sprinkling process and heat fuse, where the vast majority of glitter is wasted, scattered, or leaked from the garment over time, leaching into the environment. Film manufactured by Dae-Ha Co., Ltd of Daeha Building, Seoul, Korea. SGS test report (PDF): https://www.dropbox.com/s/f8g9j752le0tdd8/1538988341SGS-GLITTER_2018.pdf?dl=1
Total weight of waste product consisting of virgin materials (petrochemical or plastics) per print: 5g
Directed to landfill: 0g
Wastewater during printing: 0ml
Fossil Fuels Burnt (Electricity) during printing: 0cal
The manufacturer is looking into cellulose or other naturally derived glitters, although arguably the process to actually produce an industrial quantity of such glitters is more energy intensive then conserving standard glitters and ensuring they do not end up where they shouldn't. This remains a key area of industrial research. A key problem the industry recognises in this area is that glitters do not survive the heat fuse or washing process in the application of decorated garments. Meaning, those items will deteriorate to the degree customers will not accept them (customers do not appreciate garments made to a certain ecological and ethical standard, and compensating decorators for that, literally dissolving in the wash); and leading more good cotton, dyes, and other elements to go to landfill. It might be better to reduce environmental impact so far as possible while still creating (as any artist does, one way or another, whether or not they recognise their ecological impact - I'm looking at you, Non Fungible Tokens) a commercial work of value and that will survive virtually infinite use, and be cherished for generations. Is that possible? Yes. Yes it really is.
Should artists and designers have low or no ecological impact on the environment? By default compared to others species, never-mind a subset of homo-sapiens, absolutely, yes. But then in this case, we would all, at once, become nudists, forever. Cherish your garments. Re-use, repair, reclaim, and recycle what you can. Limit your commissioning and acquisition of commodity and commercial products to only what you can reasonably need, or what is otherwise impractical or impossible, to live a full and healthy life - and that is giving it a lot of leeway! And when you do that, make it special. Make it yours. Reject fast fashion. Reject the church of brands and seek your individual and blossom in your expression, not one co-opted on your behalf. Be you. But be part of the earth while doing it. That's where you came from, that is where you'll end up. That's where all of this truly is. To borrow from ki aikido for a minute, the One Place.
When making items like this (especially like this), my conscious is ON. I approach garment print design and decoration holistically; the true story and the entire chain from soil and sun and water, to thread to weave to fabric, every stitch along the way, every person and soul who has laid their hands on this thing we covet and assign a certain value. We cannot truly know this, but we can believe in it. Every single item of wondrous constitution, made of the very finest and most incredible of materials, of matter, of heart, strain, blood and guts, worms and seagulls, rain or shine, you honour and thank those elements. When you do that, it's no bloody wonder one is a tad concerned about the impact it has. I cannot truly address all of these challenges in any present state; quite possibility because I am always looking to the future in ways those challenges may be overcome. But I am committed to transforming the way cherished objects and accessories and signs are made from the bottom up, instead of them water-falling down. That is a good start. In the support of my studio, BJUM atelier will find champions, and captivating, transformative technology, to achieve the premise of commercial artforms with ecological sustainability and security. That, is within the limit of my powers. And that starts with the thought itself. It's the one thing we can all do.
-B
Client: Cliffe Bonfire
