Sustainability Starts Local

Bachleda manages her own business, while she works as the gallery director at the Knoxville Community Darkroom. Bachleda hosts workshops and organizes events for vendor markets or music festivals.

“One of the workshops I teach at the Knoxville Community Darkroom is a form of sun printing called cyanotype,” Bachleda said.

Bachleda has created printed pieces using the cyanotype method and wants to create a collection using it that will drop in spring 2023.

“I coat the fabric with a light-sensitive emulsion and expose botanical specimens or negatives in the sun. Once they’re developed, the image is a permanent cyan blue although I can tone the fabrics with different natural dyes to change the color,” Bachleda said.

Rainbow Spice Vintage features unique upcycled designs created by a local Knoxville artist, Sharyn Bachleda.

At four years old, Bachleda attended her first art class. She learned how to hand sew when she was eight years old in order to make clothing for her dolls. Bachleda then began altering thrifted clothing items for her and her friends and soon started adding patchwork.

Bachleda’s fashion inspiration came from 2000’s pop stars and Bratz dolls who were known for their “passion for fashion” through their adventurous outfits. In school, Bachleda had to wear a uniform, but she expressed herself through her sock, jewelry, belt and hair accessories choices.

Bachleda graduated early from high school and studied art at Pellissippi State University. Bachleda then transferred to Watkins College of Art Design & Film in Nashville where she received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. While in college she focused on everything from film, photography, painting, printmaking, installation art and sculpture.

Bachleda hoped to become a professional artist and teacher after college, and never expected to fall into the fashion world. After graduating, Bachleda worked as a fashion photographer for a vintage shop. She ran the shop’s social media where she styled and photographed outfits.

Styling for someone else’s brand made Bachleda realize that she could start her own business.

“My first pop-up markets were in Nashville in 2016 but I didn’t start building my community here until 2020. Oddly enough, at the height of the pandemic, I found a new community that started with the Retrospect parking lot pop-up markets and slowly met more people hosting outdoor markets,” Bachleda said.

Bachleda has found a community of fellow artists and business owners in Knoxville.

“Something beautiful that a lot of the fellow vendors I’ve connected with here have in common is community over competition. This is a mindset I bring into curating my own markets,” Bachleda said.

“Often when people ask me where I find my garments and materials, I have the running joke that at this point they just find me. I started out thrifting, going to garage sales and more recently started getting into estate sales. It’s important to me to reuse as much as possible through my upcycling and vintage curating. I get to give secondhand pieces new life,” Bachleda said.

Bachleda’s art is often inspired by the second-hand clothing she finds.

“I love dying fabrics that are stained and bringing them back to life. I also have a lot of fun painting on fabric and doing simple patchwork. Oftentimes the patchwork starts as a way to mend a garment or cover a stain or hole but sometimes I just have fun creating and combining patterns,” Bachleda said.

Rainbow Spice Vintage is not only a creative outlet for Bachleda but also a way for her to make a difference in her community.

“I love to educate people about the detriments of the fast fashion industry and urge people to use what is already here. It’s important from a sustainability standpoint and also because I believe in supporting people, not corporations,” Bachleda said.

Rainbow Vintage Spice is now sold at Mood Ring Vintage in Knoxville, and Sharyn Bachleda is a prime example of how to turn your passion into something bigger than yourself.