Conversations on Creativity Workshop
Martina Dietrich is a sustainable fashion designer that specializes in one of a kind garments, re-creations and zero waste accessories. We met a few months ago when she was hosting a pop-up at The Canvas. Instead of our usual workshop format, this time I will be conducting an informal interview and conversation.
During this interview style conversation with one of a kind designer Martina Dietrich, we discuss how she got started in the fashion industry and how she evolved out of the traditional industry standards into creating one of a kind pieces on her own terms. She will explain the role sustainability plays in her work and demonstrate how she creates upcycled handbags and hats from plastic shopping bags. We will also be discussing creativity and where her inspirations come from.
We had a few really great questions from the audience which led to a discussion about meeting in person in the near future! Would you be interested in a virtual or in person meet up? Let me know in the comments below :)
Mentioned in this workshop:
Martina's story of how she got interested in fashion and how she got started with Martina Dietrich Couture
What kind One-Of-A-Kind fashion is and how this business model works
How sustainability became part of Martina's work and examples of how she incorporates upcycling into her designs.
How to crochet plastic bags into upcycled hats and bags
What role creativity plays and where she gets her inspirations from.
Martina Dietrich has been working in fashion for over 20 years. She was born in Germany, and lived and worked in Italy for 10 years before coming to NYC. After experiencing the industry standard of large volume production, she was inspired to go in the opposite direction and make one original piece at a time. Her passion has always been for dresses and is fascinated how one piece can make a strong statement. Martina Dietrich Couture was created about 15 years ago, as a collection of sustainable, zero waste one of a kind dresses for any occasion that are ageless, timeless and versatile. Awareness of sustainability was a key point of importance from the start. Constantly creating new pieces with the whole process from idea, fabric research, pattern making and stitching it together the question has always been – what CAN I do with all the scraps left over? Reducing waste in the industry has always circulated in her consciousness of fashion, as tons of leftovers get thrown away year AFTER year. Buying fabric for only one dress makes a big difference, but this was not sustainable enough for Martina. She became more resourceful and started transforming her collected scraps into one of a kind accessories such as zero waste neck pieces, collected plastic shopping bags into crochet bags AND hats, upcycled vintage denim trousers into dresses and redesigning cashmere sweaters into new garments. “Sustainability is the Future”
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