Creating wearable treasures from sustainable materials
Maja Stabel Blending illustration and embroidery, textile art and sustainable fashion, Maja Stabel has always forged her own creative path. Now she wants to bring her work to a global audience. “New treasures”. That’s Maja Stabel’s vision for the clothes she designs and upcycles. “What I am interested in is clothes as pieces of art, like new unique treasures,” she tells Localfolk. “Anything can become a treasure – from an old blanket to a curtain”. Maja makes textile pieces, illustrations, and zero-waste clothing from sustainable and second-hand materials, from her family home on a farm near Trondheim. Her work challenges the boundaries of fashion, design, and creative practice. And, although she characterises herself as a designer and textile artist, she’s uncomfortable with these conventional artistic identities. “Designer, illustrator, artist – I want to get rid of all these labels!”, she says. “I’ve spent a long time thinking about how all the aspects of my practice fit together. Now, I’m letting go of everything and just doing what I love. I believe we should all do that, because that’s when treasures are made.” Maja’s fluid creative approach – combining illustration and watercolour with sustainable fashion and embroidery – is testament to her varied career. One of the first students to study Sustainable Fashion Design at KEA in Copenhagen, she was commissioned after graduation by the designer, David Andersen, to produce a fashion line focusing on zero-waste techniques. “This zero-waste thing was very new at the time”, she explains, “and I was trying to figure out how to make it work. The challenge of trying to use every part of the fabric has helped my creative process ever since!”
Images / Elisabeth Anstensen Words / Charlie Jarvis
Localfolk Feature
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