Press: San Francisco Chronicle, April 2005
Just in time for Earth Day - Sylvia Rubin
Web site founder Karen Clothier (a namephreak!), a former software entrepreneur, says she hopes her venture successfully intertwines "beautiful art with social consciousness.'' The clothing is either handmade or crafted from organic or recycled fabrics; wooden candlesticks are made from trees cut from sustainable forests, and many of the products are fairly traded by members of a cooperative.
A few fashion standouts include Deborah Lindquist's recycled cashmere sweater with a huge embroidered cross, Orfeo Quagliata's bold and colorful glass jewelry and tumblers made of recycled glass. (Quagliata, who now lives in Mexico City, grew up in San Francisco; his father was the glass artist Narcissus Quagliata; Orfeo studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts). His glass work has been featured in Metropolitan Home's 2004 Top 100.
There are recycled aluminum-tab cosmetic bags, and a series of woven totes are made of recycled phone directories and recycled newspapers (we knew there was more to yesterday's news than fish wrap). Cute, colorful handbags by Conserve look like colorful collages; they're made by placing layers of different colored plastic bags on top of one another and fusing them together. The bags are handmade in cooperatives in India.
Prices range from $32 for purses made of recycled plastic bags, to $140 for recycled cashmere sweaters with whimsical embroidery, to $380 for hand- blown glass dishes.
The site is www.hipandzen.com, and on the home page are lines from Rumi, the 13th century mystic poet.
Well, now don't we all feel good about ourselves today?
But not so blissed out that we're gonna cut up that credit card, n'est-ce pas?