London’s Machine-A Picks Olivia Rubens for Latest Graduate Project
LONDON — Knitwear designer Olivia Rubens is the latest emerging talent to be supported by concept store Machine-A’s graduate project, which has spotlighted designers including Nuba, Johanna Parv, Grace Wales Bonner, Kiko Kostadinov, Goom Heo, Bianca Saunders, Camilla Damkjaer, Arnar Mar Jonsson and Eftychia in the past.
The two have teamed up on an exclusive capsule called Photosynthesize, releasing Friday.
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Inspired by the Japanese art form of repair Kintsugi, the 18th century and Rococo, the collection is made with vintage lace tablecloths, old ceramic kitchenware, empty shampoo and household cleaner bottles, as well as ethical alpaca, Tencel, organic wool, linen and cotton.
Standouts include a series of green garments that are coated with photosynthesis material by Post Carbon Lab, giving each the ability to live and breathe like plants, giving off oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide.
The collection aims to transform garments into “living organisms,” and to leave “a positive impact” on both the planet and the wearers.
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“Our overall goal for this project is to redefine the meaning of our relationships with our garments, and to empower people with individual agency in climate change solutions,” Rubens said.
“By caring for these photosynthesizing pieces like plants, and displaying them in homes like objects, we hope the nurturing nature of this relationship will strengthen bonds between people and their pieces, watching them transform and thrive over time, while sequestering carbon from the atmosphere,” she added.
Stavros Karelis, founder and buying director at Machine-A, applauded Rubens’ “scientific result of transforming garments to living organisms and how do we keep them alive in the environment we are in with our care is a project that elongates the life duration of a garment and offers us a better understanding of the fundamental circular relationship between the environment, us and our clothes.”
A womenswear graduate from London College of Fashion in 2020, Rubens showed digitally during Helsinki Fashion Week the same year. She later scored the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Award, the ITS Responsible Fashion Award, a cash prize of 10,000 euros granted by insurance company Allianz and a tutorship on responsible creativity backed by Fashion Revolution at the International Talent Support 2020 competition.
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