Sustainable Art: Wild And Kind

What inspired you to start Wild and Kind?

Like many social enterprises, Wild & Kind was born from a desire to create social change. In our case it was recognising the lack of safe spaces for people with marginalised gender identities that was really the catalyst behind everything. We began running free craft to meet and socialise, and we built the printing side of the organisation around this with an aim of making these events sustainable.

How do you ensure sustainability in everything you create?

We’ve always wanted to be as sustainable as we can be, right from the very start, and it’s something that we will keep working on as our company grows. We only use a handful of suppliers, offering only 100% organic or recycled garments, which in reality has held us back over the years in terms of the products we can offer. Growth has been slow in the early years because of this, but we’ve always valued people over where we would like to be, being an ethical, sustainable company is an evolving challenge, but we just try to question everything that we do and the impact that we have on the people involved and the environment.

We love how community-driven you are, as being community-driven is very close to our heart also. Why do you believe community is so important?

For us, community is everything. In fact the lack of physical spaces for folk to meet in Glasgow events to offer a safe space for people to feel a part of a community, but unfortunately the pandemic hit a matter of weeks after opening. Humans are social beings, and even before the pandemic we are seeing more and more people isolated and lonely for a variety of reasons. We hope that once we can re-open safely that we can begin building research on how communitydriven spaces can impact the mental wellbeing of our community members and actively develop a model that can be rolled out further.

We adore your transparency in your business, why do you believe this is so important?

It’s just being honest, isn’t it. I think people really resonate with honesty and value being told the truth. One of the reasons we set up as an assetlocked Community Interest Company was so that people knew that although our goal is to our social aims and it protects the company from corruption further down the line. I’m always happy to talk with anyone about where we’re at have nothing to hide. If anything, we hope that others mimic this way of operating.

I also love how dedicated you are to helping creatives of all scales grow – why is this so close to your heart?

I was once a start-up, testing the waters in the creative industry. I started making and selling from art school. There are SO many things that I learned from making mistakes, and while that’s a great experience in itself, I’d really love to help anyone who is struggling to navigate the ins and outs of making a living from their craft. Wild & Kind also really only exists because of my own opportunities that I have had, and the access to resources that has helped me generate income that others haven’t and I want to make sure that we can give as many folks a leg up as we can! I believe that redistribution of wealth is key in creating a more equal society, and my way of contributing has been building Wild & Kind.

Your blog is such a wonderful read, where do you get your inspiration for it from?

Our blog is written by the wonderful Kaye Symington. Kaye is the co-founder of a marketing company called ‘Paved with Gold’ and she has been helping us tell the stories of little tagline was ‘Promote - Support - Empower’ so shouting about the people that we get to work with is really something that we’re always thinking about.

Is there anything right now you want to continue the voice on?

One thing I’m interested in hearing more opinion on is actually the concept of kindness itself. It’s in our name, and we value true, radical kindness deep in our hearts. But with the internet the way it is, we’re seeing how the manipulation of what it means to be kind can have an impact on people’s mental wellness. Wherever there is a movement, there are people primed and ready to exploit it.

This issue is all about time, if you could live in another time period which one would you choose and why? (including a time period in the future)

This is a tricky one. I’m a ‘90s gal for sure in terms of style and music, but I think looking forward to the future we can at least be hopeful for a more equal society, although things seem to be looking more like an episode of black mirror with every passing day.

Where can out readers find you and your work?

We’re most active on Instagram and if you’d like to see more about what we do as a company our main site.

Interview by Kirsty Taylor