“When I was five, I sewed my Barbie clothes and when I was 12 I made my first three-piece woollen suit. My mum and my grandma sewed. I’ve always had this feeling for textile. I know it.”
Brown studied a degree in consumer and applied sciences and later travelled to Japan, where she learnt shibori – a Japanese tie-dying method. Back home, she worked as the chief dyer for the costumes on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
“I am designing here, using New Zealand wool and working close to the market. I’m not interested in manufacturing in China – environmentally it’s just another nail in the coffin.
“Everything is interconnected, when you look around at the biodiversity, we are just a part of this world. It’s obvious that if you want to be connected to this earth, you don’t want to shit in your backyard. Why would you?
(picture from Essenze studio; here)
From her Auckland studio, Brown employs a full time dyer, a pattern-cutter and a team of contract machinists. She could presumably get a whole lot more ping in her profit margin if she dropped a few principles.
“The Antarctic is melting so much faster than scientists thought. We are killing species and we are killing ourselves. So that’s why I’m motivated. If you look at resources, how designers make things is really important.”
The integrity of MBCC is in sustainable design with a focus on merino wool (up to 70% of MBCC brand is made from merino wool sourced in NZ), organic cottons and natural fibres. Collected by Te Papa, Miranda Brown is recognized for her creative innovation of New Zealand wool
(text info from Greenlist here)
Miranda's website show beautiful photographs of her work, and the dyeing process that I wasn't able to showcase on my blog well enough, have a look here. So inspiring and wonderful to see that green is indeed as strong and appealing as ever!
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That suit above reminds me a bit of the 30s/40s. Interesting.
