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The Designs of Indie Collective
by Webjockey Ember
Check out Gülbin Yavuz's Rifflist: INDEPENDENT SLICE; MUSIC TO WORK WITH
Made With Love: The Designs of Indie Collective
Riffin': One can draw comparisons between Indie Collective and the work of designer Yeohlee Teng; with your organic shapes, clean lines, architectural influences and incorporation of technology. How has your design aesthetic evolved throughout your career and what inspired your latest collection?
Gülbin Yavuz: From what I can tell we are alike and we are not alike at all. Organic shapes and clean lines and architectural influences attract many designers and each interprets them according to their own vision.
Over the years my design has become more minimal, as items have been pared down to their most basic functions, but for me there has to be more to a design. The item has to be original, subtle, very wearable and transformable. This is my way of being ecological. I want the wearer to have one piece that does many things, I want the wearer to "love" the item, thus wear it more, and therefore buy fewer other clothes.
A prime example is my "Magnetic Field" collection. It was a completely pared down collection of eight units, with which wearer can create many different looks, a whole wardrobe, kind of like a Lego. The whole collection fits into a Fed-Ex box, so you can mail it to your destination. No luggage! This is Indie Collective. This is something new.
Riffin': Tell us about your incorporation of and background working with technology, why you chose to embed magnets in your Spring 07 line, and some ideas you would love to try in the future.
Gülbin Yavuz: I have always been a very curious person. As a child I used to deconstruct everything, clocks, sewing machines, even a refrigerator. I just wanted to see how things worked. Always curious about new science and technology, I follow everything closely and always think, "How can I apply this to what I'm doing?"
I decided to make the entire collection work with magnets because I'm very attracted to the power of magnets and tired of ordinary closures. This was not the first time I worked with magnets I have also worked with electricity on a light skirt, called "travel light". I wired the whole thing myself.
In the future I would love to work with the element of water and also more light.
Riffin': What kind of music do you listen to while designing, and what is your relationship with the Defectikons in regards to your collections?
Gülbin Yavuz: I am crazy about Bright Eyes right now. To me he's the new Patti Smith. I listen to Coltrane almost daily. I love The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, and I own every record they made or just about, as well as fusion Miles, avant-garde jazz, all of Bill Laswell's projects, Herbie, Nirvana and Bugge Wesseltoft. I also like a lot of DJs, some hip-hop, some electronica.
Defectikons are very talented musicians, architects, DJs. We worked together in "Technorococo" and "Future Tense" collections. You can hear "Technorococo" at indiecollective.com and all their work at defectikons.com
Riffin': Indie Collective is "Sweatshop Free and Eco Friendly," which are laudable values, but often tougher and expensive to maintain in the cost-driven fashion industry. Why are these points important for you, and have you faced any challenges upholding these ideals?
Gülbin Yavuz: The most important thing right now is to take care of Mother Earth. Everything has to be done to prevent further damage. Can you imagine the amount of clothing manufactured, for example, in China! Why do we need so much? We are against this mindless manufacturing and mindless buying.
We at IC are dedicated to do whatever it takes: virtually no waste, no harmful chemicals, no abuse of humans or animals. IC is not a commercial company, and our business model is very holistic. Add to that, trying to make the item as useful as possible thus create less desire to buy more. Nothing is mass produced, thus it is constantly fresh.
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