Synthetic Fibers are the Worst.

This week I focused mainly on the sustainability aspect of the company. It was an incredibly rewarding and inspiring process. First, I started by looking into the fabrics that Celtic Fusion Design uses, and then contrasting them to materials I saw in common fast fashion brands like Forever 21 and H&M which I compiled into a document (a better version of my findings are now posted in my blog titled “Textile Profiles”).

Conclusion: literally ANYTHING is better than synthetic fibers and dyes. I am incredibly interested in the farming of natural fibers, and will be continuing research on jute farming and the different methods of cotton farming + the controversies associated with it.

I then set out to condense the information into a form that is easily digestible for a customer, so I created a small pamphlet that we will be putting into each order that goes out. We plan on printing it off into a small double sided card (unfortunately the quality of the photos got a bit messed up while inserting these into the post):

After that, I created a webpage for Celtic Fusion’s website through squarespace that goes into further detail about natural fibers and the ethics of the company. While I was creating this, Regina came up with the idea to begin incorporating charity into her work. So, she made the decision to donate 3 euro of every item sold to Hometree, an organization run by a farm that we have been volunteering at. Now, with every purchase someone makes from Celtic Fusion, a native tree will be planted in Ireland in an effort to restore natural woodland to the country – something that has been nearly extinct for 300 years. We headed to the farm to talk to the founders and received a very positive reaction (and then proceeded to take a 2 hour, windy, wet, and incredibly muddy hike up and down the 60 acres that they purchased to begin their project). The link to the page on sustainability can be found here.

This next week, we are gearing up our creative juices for a photoshoot inspired for Biddy Early, a wise woman who lived in Co. Clare. in around 1850. We’ll be visiting her cottage, leaving her a gift of bread, reading up on her history, and styling a shoot to do some Samhain (Halloween) publicity.