Community, Kindness and Healing

Happy New Year to You All ! Community, Kindness and Healing- these are my three essential areas of focus in 2022. I couldn't pick a better person than Agustin @anewcross to write about at the start of this year. I've featured his stunning slow brand several times on my Plumes and Feathers instagram page, but how grateful I am to share his work using Fique Fibre with an international audience passionate about textiles in the latest issue of @selvedgemagazine. "It is no secret that slow stitching is a meditative activity, and in this context it is also one of regeneration. In a country marked by intense conflict and war trauma with deep collective scars, sewing helps repair. Many of A New Cross’s artisans or their families have been victims of violence, expropriation of land, forced displacement or new forms of colonialism; they all have wounds to heal. Every fiber becomes a life, lines of lives, maybe crossing paths for a while; some continuous, others broken, loose or barely there. Gaps are part of memory too. Rivero’s artisans have free rein to thread their own line story onto his clothes, because “repair is an exercise that is done from the inside and reflects on the outside. Every fiber contributes to the construction of a strong thread and every thread helps to forge a resilient fabric,” he says. Through intimate and complex collections such as “Everything I Did Not Weave”. Rivero is giving a voice to all the artisan hands involved in everyone of the designs he creates. Essentially, his textiles are a form of expression and empowerment for craftspeople and vulnerable communities in Colombia. In turn, those who appreciate his endeavour will feel empowered and honoured to wear soulful clothes imbued with memory and identity. A New Cross’s aesthetic is minimal, unisex and trans-seasonal, fusing materials, culture and geography to celebrate the richness and diversity of its country. Respectful, sustainable and slow by definition, his garments are proudly labelled “Handcrafted in Colombia” whilst opening new horizons for generations to come." Stitch by stitch, strand by strand, lines and lines of lives slowly coming together to shape a beautiful restorative landscape, strengths, scars and all.