Meet the Maker ⋒
Sometimes we have the good fortune of meeting makers in person at various events and that was the case with Nisha. We saw her gorgeous woodblock print scarves beautifully folded and hung at her booth and we were in love. Today it is our great pleasure to feature Nisha Mirani of @shopsundaymonday whose scarves and home goods will delight and brighten your day.
Pronouns: She/her/hers.
Visual description: Nisha is an Indian American woman with black curly hair to her shoulders and brown eyes.
What inspires your work?
With SUNDAY/MONDAY, I hope to honor and support the preservation of indigenous Indian craft traditions while also creating space for innovation and growth. India has such a diversity of religions, languages, architecture, and landscapes, but we are exposed to a small part of the culture here in the US. While many textiles sold here are made in India, the people selling them often do not reflect the people making them.
SUNDAY/MONDAY allows me to stay connected with my roots and constantly learn more about my heritage. Even though I was born here, I was lucky to visit often growing up. Going back to India each year as an adult feels like coming home in a way. I feel light, joyful, and inspired there and want our textiles to reflect that spirit. With that said, I keep in mind the complexities of colonialism, identity, privilege, and immigration while navigating the business and sharing the story of our textiles.
Besides that, our work is inspired by: color, architecture, organic forms found in nature, my husband’s Japanese heritage, and artists including Isamu Noguchi and Hilma Af Klint.
What is your favorite piece in your collection and why?
My favorite piece in the collection is currently our Ripple scarf in fuchsia. Red and pink together is such a playful color combination and the scarf is easy to pair with a black jumpsuit or white button down. Also, our scarves and bandanas are all hand block printed on a soft silk cotton blend, so you don’t get overheated or itchy wearing them.
Image descriptions: [Ten photos of Nisha and models wearing the brightly colored woodblock print scarves as well as photos of the home goods]
Community Question ⋒
Do we accept tips or start a Patreon? Do we just ask people to donate toward a particular cause each month instead? We are really wrestling with these questions, so we thought we would share a bit more and ask for your input.
Brooke @yokeandbore and I @little_kotos_closet are co-moderating for now while Bea @thebeaologist steps away from social media for the foreseeable future. We are two East Asian light skinned, cis-gender, able bodied, thin privileged women. At the same time the work we do in this space is a labor of love and takes a lot of time and energy. On the one hand we want to just ask people to donate to a particular non-profit at the end of each month rather than join a Patreon or offer tips. On the other hand we’ve been discussing how nuanced it is as Asian women... the conditioning we have grown up with to defer, to do free labor, and stay quiet. So we are stuck.
If we did accept tips or start a Patreon we would split all proceeds three ways evenly between the three co-moderators because Bea has done so much for the many months she co-moderated with us and our understanding is she’ll be back eventually.
Whether or not we accept tips or start a Patreon, we are thinking that we would still like to highlight a monthly organization to support and might even see if makers might donate items from time to time for a fundraiser for particular non-profits.
We are really interested in honest feedback from our community. With that said we are also going to be closely monitoring comments and ask that comments be respectful and thoughtful.
Image description: [An art piece by @bleubyrdie of a think light skinned woman with dark brown hair wearing a lead print dress sitting on the ground leaning on one arm, legs partially stretched out to one side. The words in greenish brown “community question” have been added on top of the image.]
Time for another Style Crush post and today we’re very excited to share the vintage and secondhand stylings of Sally @callmeflowerchild who finds all her best pieces at local thrift stores.
Pronouns: she/her/hers.
Visual description: Sally is a 5'1, mid size, brown Latina woman with mid length hair.
Here’s how she describes her style:
I would describe my style as fluid. I love girly things, but I also love minimalist, neutral basics. Right now, I’m in this weird transition where I’m trying to dress bit more “grown up” if you want to call it that while style trying to be fun and not stuffy.
Her style icons are friends of hers that give her inspiration through Instagram and YouTube: @jazminvegaz @thatcurlytop @itsmireyag and I also really like Dearly Bethany and Gemary on youtube.
Here are some of her styling and shipping challenges that she shared about with us openly:
My biggest struggle is finding pants that fit my relatively small/flat butt. I always have extra fabric left over and tend to have to go a size up in pants for the waist which can get frustrating. Another struggle is making my closet work in and out of the office. Our office has a business casual attire rule that can be really relaxed at times and sometimes really enforced. So, finding a balance for me who sometimes likes to be fun, can be hard and limiting.
And last but not least, Sally shares a few styling tips for people trying to find new ways to creatively express their style: When you’re trying to step out of your comfort one and try new silhouettes or trends, the best place to go is the thrift store. It makes it easy to buy pieces that you can play with, without breaking the bank. If the trendy pieces worked out in your favor, then you can efficiently decide if it worth investing in those pieces.
Image descriptions: [Ten photos of Sally wearing different outfits with bright colors, prints, and cute heeled shoes at various outdoor locations. In her photos she’s smiling.]
Innovator Interview ⋒
Get ready for some life inspiration from our Innovator Interview this week featuring Masego of @coconut_cracked and co-founder of @cnscs_ . Masego has been an outspoken sustainable style icon of ours for quite a while now and we particularly love how she prioritizes second hand looks and styling.
Pronouns: she/her/hers.
Visual description of Masego: Masego is a Black South African and Japanese cis woman with a dark brown fro and brown skin. She loves looking at all the sea creatures in rock pools and thrifting at charity shops.
Here is a snippet of the interview below. See the full interview in our stories and website.
How did you get into slow/ethical/sustainable fashion? I've worn pre-loved clothes most of my life because it's my mother's preferred way of shopping, if not local designers. Consciously I got into slow fashion in 2015. I used to want to be a fashion editor/stylist, after learning about the state of the fashion industry and particularly the fast fashion industry, I thought I didn't want to be involved in the industry at all. I watched the True Cost and found out there were brands out there implementing sustainable and ethical practices, so I started to focus on trying to find more brands and people speaking about ethical and sustainable ways of having relationships with our clothes.
Who is your style icon? I look at different people around me and on Instagram for inspiration, but my mom is definitely my biggest inspiration.
Image descriptions: [The first image is a photo of Masego rocking a beautiful magenta printed dress with drapey sleeves and natural Afro. Border collage art by @bleubyrdie of shapes and leaves in earth tones. The next nine photos are of Masego wearing amazing second hand looks in various outdoor locations.]
A year ago today we started this account intentionally on the first day of Black History Month! Our first month celebrated Black makers, creatives, and innovators in sustainable, ethical, and slow fashion. It has been an honor and joy to create content for this community this past year. The Buy From BUPOC team ( @yokeandbore , @thebeaologist and @little_kotos_closet ) look forward to a slow and steady pace of continued collaboration with creatives and the content that you have come to expect from us and— we want your input.
What would you like to see from this account this next year?
Image description: [A painting by @bleubyrdie of a Black person with chin length natural hair wearing a green shirt, rests their head and arms on top of earthy colored geometric shapes. We have added the words “community question” to the graphic in a rust colored font.]
Meet the Maker ⋒
For our Meet the Maker post today, we have the joy of featuring an up and coming creative whose pieces sell out every time she releases a new collection. It’s our honor to share more about the life and creative work of Salina Fu of @fu_ceramics! For the full interview go to our stories and website feature linked in our profile.
Pronouns: She/her/hers
Visual description: Salina is a Chinese American cis woman with long dark brown hair and brown eyes. She loves to mix patterns and incorporate color in her outfits.
What inspires your work?
My work with Fu Ceramics is inspired by all the things that fascinate me about my culture. Chinese culture is abundantly full of beliefs, customs, and superstitions. There are traditions and ideas that I didn't care to understand too deeply as a child. I think in part, it had to do with wanting to assimilate with white culture and not wanting to be different. As I've gotten older, I find myself more curious about my heritage and Fu Ceramics is an extension of my identity exploration.
Image descriptions: [The first photo is of Salina sitting in a bright green garden wearing a colorful puffy coat. She is wearing glasses and is smiling at the camera. The border is a photo of her Lo Lo Tong necklaces. The other photos are of her various Lo Lo Tong necklaces, a vase she made, and a photo of her painting the ceramic necklaces in different glazes.]
