(Mary Paul) Coming up on State of the Arts, screen printing for mental health, wearable glass, and a sustainable sewing collaborative.

These stories next on State of the Arts.

♪ WHIRLING MUSIC ♪ Images and expressions printed on fabric.

Ideas in glass.

Hand-sewn garments.

This week we explore the world of wearable art.

I'm Mary Paul.

Thank you for joining us.

We begin with a look at Two Crow Collective, a small batch clothing brand that blends punk culture and tattoo-inspired streetwear with storytelling.

Its founder is using t-shirts to share chronic and mental health stories.

♪ ROCK MUSIC (Jame) I think that what we do is a testament to authenticity, transparency, and a little bit of dark humor.

Forgive Me Not's one of my favorite designs I've ever done.

This one was for me.

And so this is kind of like a true testament to like, don't forget about us with chronic illness like, we do still want to be invited.

♪ ROCK MUSIC My name's Jame.

I'm the owner of Two Crow Collective.

We make t-shirts for chronic illness, mental health challenges, and disabilities.

While we also love just storytelling and helping people express themselves through what we create.

I consider myself to be a jack of all trades.

And it took me a very, very long time to fall into the art form of screen printing.

I always loved art growing up.

I drew a lot, I loved creating with Lego.

I loved just making things.

It wasn't until middle school when I met Dave Anderson, my middle school art teacher, who really cemented some core art philosophy in me.

And that's just trying new things.

My name's David Anderson and I've been teaching for 30 years now.

I remember Jame as a student, as someone who came into the art room quite often outside of the class time.

He wanted to go around my room and pull out drawers and see what was inside.

Getting students to try new things is really important at this age.

There's a lot of reservation and hesitation for a middle school boy to take chances.

I grew up with a sister who's 12 years older then me.

She was a goth.

She listened to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson and Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and Incubus and all these cool grunge bands.

And that was my influence at home.

And I became an alternative kid at a preppy private school.

I was more of a musician, more than anything.

I thought I was going to end up being a professional musician full time.

And I did for a little bit.

Art wasn't really my main focus at that point in my life.

But I still was very inspired to do art and learn more about what bands need.

And it wasn't until college that I found screen printing through our on-campus record label.

And I screen printed my first t-shirt ever.

I have CPTSD, which is complex PTSD.

I lived in a household that was not perfect.

My dad was an alcoholic.

My family didn't deal with that very well.

For my Crohn's disease, I had a quarter of my colon removed in 2010.

It was my first semester of college.

The cool thing about the band that I was in is everyone knew.

Everyone was super cool.

they said, if you need to stop, we'll stop.

And being able to build a community basically around that has been amazing.

My business originally was called Dirty Bourbon Clothing.

We actually were a printing company first, I was just printing shirts for bands.

I worked a nine to five at a desk and I would come home and from six to eleven, I would print shirts every single night.

I got extremely burnt out and then COVID hit.

From there, the printing side, I stopped printing for other people and I started printing for myself.

I started making my own art.

Instead of doing designs specific to chronic illness.

I do designs based on symptoms because somebody with cancer can connect to somebody like me with Crohn's.

So I like to make those connections and draw people together instead of separating people into their label of their disease.

Eventually, when I realized that the market I was hitting and the community I was building was for chronic and mental health folks, I had to take a step back.

And dealing with alcoholism in my own life and dealing with addiction myself, I had to realize that like addiction is a disease too.

And if my friends who were addicts or alcoholics wouldn't wear my shirt because it said bourbon on it, that needed to change.

So we spent a lot of time trying to come up with a new name.

Two Crowe is important to me.

My grandmother used to always say and write 2D2.

She believed that good and bad things always came in twos.

People see one crow and it's supposed to be a bad omen.

But I think like when you see two together, honestly, like I see my grandparents in those crows a little bit.

And I just thought that was a very good representation of the balance between the good and the bad.

♪ ROCK MUSIC We can put purpose behind our pain.

And that's what I've done every day since changing the name.

The idea of Two Crow started out there and it started with my story and seeing that other people connected with it.

And then I realized if other people connect with me, other people can connect with other people.

So the I'm Okay collection is an annual little event.

We put it on in the spring each year.

And every year we make a new flower that says I'm Okay.

And they're typically wilting in some regard as a means to say it's okay to not be okay or it's okay to be okay.

The PBS's Punk design for me is a little out there.

It's not something I typically do as Two Crow Collective.

I got upset when I read the article that PBS was getting defunded because it felt like a part of my childhood was just kind of being ripped away.

I had an image in my head of the PBS logo with a mohawk and piercings.

And I posted it on a whim and then it went viral instantly.

When I look at his work today, I think it's great and amazing that he is pushing that envelope further and doing it through t-shirt designs and doing it in a really a way where there's this sort of punk rock dynamic of tattoo culture and skateboard culture.

The biggest message that I want to send to folks with chronic illness or mental health challenges is that you're not alone and that we're all going through something.

Everybody's going through something and you're not alone in that.

♪ SOMBER MUSIC From a young age, Candace Walker viewed fashion as a means to express her creative visions.

Today, as the founder of ELAINA B., she continues this journey.

We meet Candace in her home studio and see her collection at Fashion Week in Columbus, Ohio, getting a glimpse of her passion for fashion firsthand.

(Candace) My passion for fashion goes all the way back to elementary school.

I would carry around a composition notebook and I would use that as my sketchbook and I would have these ideas to have these challenges like, "I'm going to make a collection based on the alphabet."

So one time I literally did that, like I drew the alphabet out, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and then I drew a figure behind each letter and see, "Can I turn this A into a dress?

Can I turn this B into like some outfit?"

So I would just do stuff like that or I would be like, "Let me see how many different kinds of pants I can make."

And I would just draw, draw, draw, draw, draw.

I stuck with it.

I knew that that's really what I wanted to do.

Thankfully, I had a supportive mother.

She really saw that interest in me and she has some artistic capabilities herself.

So she really nurtured that in me.

In college, I did internships at-because, you know, Columbus has a lot of fashion companies, a lot of headquarters here.

So I don't know if I'll mention the ones I worked for, but I did work for a long time in the-on the corporate side of things.

I was a technical designer for 14 plus years.

So the technical designer is basically the point person between the designer, the merchant, and the factory.

And so it was my job to take the designer's creative vision and like their styles that they would create and then turn that into tech packs and patterns and basically an instruction manual to the factory of how to make it.

♪ ELECTRONIC MUSIC That gave me a lot of insight into being very detail oriented and also thinking of things more so from like a fit perspective and a pattern perspective.

The whole creative process is extremely rewarding because you're tapping into something.

That's how I feel when I'm making things is like, do I feel like this is right?

Do I feel like this shape is right?

Do I feel like this fabric is right?

Do I feel like this color is right?

If it's not, I'm taking it all back apart and redo.

Like-like, just like a sculptor or whoever works pottery, like sometimes they're molding it on the wheel and its not the shape is not how they want it to, how they envision it in their mind, you know?

And then they will like scrap it and do a whole new lump and redo it.

And after the end, it's like after you feel the satisfaction that yes, it's perfect.

This is exactly what I wanted.

That is the reward.

♪ LOFI MUSIC I don't know how to explain it.

I call it downloads.

Like I'll just sometimes I'll even be just like sitting here and a lot of times I'm not I use this chair to sew in, but a lot of times I'm sitting on the floor and I'll literally just be like, with my music.

Lord, I need some ideas because I believe you can be real, you can be honest.

Like I'm not like like super serious.

Like I just am honest.

I need ideas.

I need revelation.

I need ideas.

Like and then sometimes like in the middle of me praying, like I'll just see like a image in my mind of like a quick flash of like a detail or a quick flash of a silhouette or a quick flash of a dress.

And a lot of times when I'm sitting there on the floor like that, I have a sketchbook with me because I need to hurry up and like draw down.

So I don't forget.

So a lot of times like in my sketchbooks, I have like partial pieces of things I just like saw and then I make it.

Usually I always have an annual garden and the colors that I pulled were all from like flowers and greenery and all of that.

Some of these dresses took me months because I knew it was missing something and needed something, you know, and it's like until you find that and then it's like-like an internal sense of satisfaction.

I use this analogy.

It's like I gave birth.

Like I it was in me and it was like growing and I'm nurturing it and I'm thinking on it and I'm pondering on it and I'm hmm.

I'm sketching it and I erase it.

I don't like that, you know.

But finally when it's right and it comes forth, yes, that's my baby.

[LAUGHING] Glass artist Alexandra Fresch has embraced all aspects of her medium.

She's drawn to the transparency and reflective properties of glass and wants to take it off the shelf, transforming her durable glass creations into wearable art with a life all its own.

♪ QUICK PIANO (Alexandra) A lot of times people think of glass art, they think of either stained glass or they think of glass blowing like the molten lava.

What I always tell people is I'm a glass artist but I think of each technique in glass as its own medium.

So I might just do glass but I do fused glass and kiln work.

I do the Pat de Verre in the mold making.

I do torch work.

I do glass blowing.

All these processes are a different technique even though they're still using the same medium of glass.

And what's wonderful is because glass is such a versatile medium, once you learn one technique you can start combining it with the others to really make amazing and intricate pieces.

♪ QUICK PIANO I was really lucky that in my high school we actually had glass classes.

So I'm from originally Norwalk, Ohio and in 2006 I took a fibers and glass class and I fell in love with it.

So my work is influenced a lot by what would be thought of as a child, you know, the theater and costumes that you would see on stage that aren't part of our everyday life, especially the Victorian era of these like opulent accessories really influenced my work.

And so I started adding those elements of highly decorated glass into my work, first mimicking lace and embroidery and then now with all of these florals and pieces I've been making.

And then I found for the first time a glass fashion show.

Laura Donefer, who's an amazing glass artist, organizes a glass fashion show every four years at our Glass Art Society conferences and I did the first one and I was hooked.

So now a lot of my glass focuses on being wearable.

So it's sort of taking art off the wall, off the pedestal and being able to adorn it and wear it out in public.

♪ WHIMSICAL MUSIC When every piece was handmade, you know, everything had amazing detailing, it had a embroidery, it had lace, everything was handmade.

Now everything is such mass produced that we don't have these highly detailed ornamental objects unless you're wearing something that's Hoca Tur.

And even though we love that, a lot of times it's not really accessible to everyone.

So what I like is bringing these, you know, highly decorated detailed pieces into the everyday that hopefully anyone can interact with and whether they want to put it in their house or they want to wear it.

It's something that they can use to have something handmade and unique that they can enjoy.

♪ WHIMSICAL MUSIC When I'm doing my really lacy glass, like you can see this fan back here or you could see on some of the pieces that are behind me like those big wings.

What I do is I actually, I, say I draw with the glass.

So I have my rods of glass and I first cut them down to a little bit more manageable of a size right now.

They're about four feet long, which is longer than I need.

So I just score it and I can snap them down.

We'll just do one of the seashell, but then eventually I'll build off of it and make a bunch.

First thing I'm going to do is get that connected.

And then what's really amazing is I actually use the flame to really shape and melt the glass and I move.

And even though the rod might not be glowing bright yellow, it's hot enough that I can actually move it, turn it and start manipulating it.

So you can see as I'm heating, I'm just bending that rod.

And I need to make sure it's a really good connection So what I'm going to do is I go in here very close to it and as I melt it, the glass sort of flows from one side into the other.

You can actually see it slowly sink down.

Really nice and tight and make sure the glass flows from one piece into the next.

My mother always said I needed to have more patience.

So I feel like every time I do this, I'm laughing because I hear her in the back of my head and I'm like, "Yep, I chose this."

So now I do tedious things where I have to have patience.

♪ LOFI MUSIC People are like, "It's glass.

It's fragile."

The one thing I tell people is glass is way more sturdy than you think.

I mean, most of us wear glasses to be able to see every day, right?

And I know I drop that.

I drop my phone all the time and it's still intact.

We use glass so much in our daily lives, but when we think of art glass, we don't think of it being wearable.

Pieces like my hat, that's also why I started putting the wearable work onto a fabric hat because sometimes people are afraid to wear a full glass hat.

But wearing a piece like this kind of takes away that fear.

And they just put it on like a headband fascinator like you normally would.

I hope that when people see my art that they, they have sort of this like fascination of like child-like excitement.

You know, just like when you see those beautiful pieces on stage, the costume, it sort of takes your breath away because it's so intricate and detailed.

You know, we don't see that in our normal day of when I wear here when I'm working, which is jeans and a t-shirt right.

And I hope people get excited when they see it.

And maybe it sparks a little bit of creativity in them to express themselves more.

And maybe they want to wear a piece like this and dress up their-their own look because I feel like when you wear something really fun that you like or maybe something exciting that not everyone sees, yes, you might stand out in the crowd, but you're standing out in a fun way that then people, you excite other people and it starts a conversation.

All those amazing pieces used to just be for royalty, just be for the aristocrats.

Now, hopefully it's for everyone.

♪ INSPIRING MUSIC Now, sustainability with style.

Sew Valley located in Cincinnati West End neighborhood, hones in on fashion, sustainability, and locally made goods.

The nonprofit, a member of the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network, encompasses a garment factory, studio spaces, workshops, and more.

Already on pins and needles?

Let's step inside the space to get to know some of the minds behind this multi-layered organization.

♪ VIBRANT MUSIC (Shailah) Sew Valley was founded in 2017 by Rosie Kovacs and myself I have, let's see, probably 15 years in the fashion industry.

I worked for a large fashion corporation for nine years and relocated here to Cincinnati, my hometown in 2015 and organically linked up with my co-founding partner Rosie.

And she and I were both creative entrepreneurs and realized there were no resources for small entrepreneurs trying to build their apparel product and their creative brand here in Cincinnati.

And so we were lucky enough to receive a seed grant from the Hale Foundation and we were able to start Sew Valley and we've been busy ever since.

Sew Valley is a nonprofit, sustainably focused garment factory, sample room, and incubator space for apparel brands and individuals interested in the stone trades.

Our mission is to help apparel entrepreneurs and brands manufacture locally, sustainably, ethically, and efficiently.

And we have a long-term vision of creating a local garment manufacturing industry that empowers people to realize job stability, security, and career paths.

(Aubrey) I thought my only option graduating was to move, especially once I decided I wanted to be in a sustainable realm or a smaller business realm within the fashion industry.

So Sew Valley's goal is to really help people like myself stay in the city.

Sew Valley is unique in that there's not a lot of factories within Cincinnati.

Generally speaking, there are not a lot of manufacturers within the United States in the apparel realm.

We're our own little sewn garment district.

Upstairs we have National Flag.

They've been sewing flags for 150 years and across the street.

We've got Orange Chair and they do upholstery and things like that.

So it's a great little community for us to pull from and bounce ideas off of and just, you know, we're able to help each other along in various ways.

We have three pillars.

So we've got our education, we've got our membership spaces, and then we've got our services.

Education kind of covers a lot of realms.

We've offered a really wide variety.

We've had basket weaving and a lot of natural dye classes.

We offer everything from development through production.

So what that means is we offer design help, pattern making, sampling, prototyping.

We have fittings with our clients all the way to production.

And then we are a small batch facility.

We consider a small batch 10 to 100 units per style.

And I would say for the overall industry, that is extremely low.

Unless you have significant startup funds, it's really hard to start an apparel brand because most manufacturers' minimums are in the thousands.

So we exist to kind of help incubate you, start you off, and help you grow.

I love our machines.

We have the button holder.

That's my favorite.

Honestly, the amount of straight stitches that we have, so just a regular lock stitch machine, they all vary.

They all act differently.

We've named all of our machines, so we know who's being bratty.

We have heavy duty equipment, clicker presses that kind of helps die cut materials, and other specialty industrial sewing machines.

For heavy duty steaming stations, the list just keeps growing.

An industrial machine can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.

Our membership spaces are affordable space where they can use any of our machinery 24-7.

We also rent out our machines, so we help a lot of little niche needs of just people in the community that need a space, whether it be for the machines or be for the actual physical space.

I'm a tenant here at Sew Valley.

I rent this space to do my sewing projects.

I went to USC's engineering school, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.

I like to find something and then alter it into a vision that I might see for it.

When I first came here, I ordered fabric from JOANN Fabrics, which you can order in custom colors.

But then when I came here, I started becoming more aware of fabric waste and all the waste in the fashion industry.

So rather than buying new fabric that's custom printed, I've been trying to find used clothing and used fabric.

The apparel manufacturing industry, although it's great, it does have a dark side.

10% of the global gas emissions are from the apparel manufacturing industry.

Pretty much since the 90s, the majority of apparel manufacturing has been offshored and has pretty much been a race to the bottom for horrible manufacturing practices.

Garment workers being treated and, so horribly and paid pennies on the dollar, as well as the environmental impacts that come from that.

So we're here to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk and prove that that doesn't have to be the way.

Apparel manufacturing can be done right here in our backyards and it can be a sustainable and rewarding career path for anyone looking to expand their skills.

So I think sustainability really starts with people.

And if you can't make a product and pay people what they need to be paid to maintain their lives, then that's not sustainable.

Sew Valley was founded with an ethos of creating sustainable brands, and that doesn't just mean sustainable over time, where they're growing small and smart.

It also means sustainable regarding the fibers they're using, who's creating their garments, and really everything within the process.

So what Sew Valley stands for, first and foremost, is providing a living wage to the very skilled workers who are able to sew.

In the realm of Sew Valley, it makes it even more satisfying that we get to kind of take control of how design leads sometimes, so we can kind of nudge the client in the right direction sustainably, and show them what it's like to be sustainable and think about what their materials are doing after their product is finished, how their leftover materials can be reused and remade into something else.

Taking into account our sustainability goals and our efforts, we are a part of the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This will be our third year being a part of the Textile Exchange Network.

The Rust Belt Fibershed is our local fibershed, which is a national organization in support of naturally sourced and grown fibers and promoting soil-to-soil lifecycle of garments.

And we are new members of their value chain directory.

It's another great ally to have and in support of what we're all collectively trying to do here in the Midwest and specifically in the Rust Belt area.

The only skill level you need to come in and rent a space is to know how to make a payment every month.

To appreciate everything else, to appreciate what the professionals here at Sew Valley do, I think you need to have made a lot of mistakes on your own, to appreciate how smoothly they can make it go.

It's really amazing what our team is able to accomplish.

For such a small team, they really can do anything.

So I feel just privileged to be able to work with everyone here and feel that it's my job to promote it and turn this place into a place that lasts for a long time.

And speaking of sustainable fashion, you don't have to look any further than your own closet to create a new look.

You like my scarf?

It used to be a shirt.

Thanks for joining us this week on State of the Arts.

I'm Mary Paul.

We'll see you again soon.

♪ ENGAGING MUSIC