Team Dyeing Party

After years of working with truly amazing local passionate ethical activists and artists, all experts in their respective fields, Lara decided to invite people who have worked with her and believed in her since her beginnings – to celebrate the start of a new year and the exciting projects it holds for all.

We were a total of seven, a perfect small party. The chatting immediately kicked off once most had arrived, everyone finally putting faces behind the names so often heard before. Even Lara’s mum managed to make it – her number one supporter since the beginning.

Botanical products such as Eucalyptus, Rose, Acacia, Avocado and thier amazing properties and colours were discussed. The placing of the leaves, peals, seeds, pods and petals onto the silk started and one could see each member's imagination stir, as they found the best elements to create the desired prints and patterns.

For pattern maker Pam, this is no novelty: after years of working with Lara, she has come to observe many of the traditional dyeing techniques. After an extremely successful career in costume creation for the Dance Company NSW (now known as Sydney Dance) and for the Queensland ballet, she now contributes her skills and knowledge towards helping Lara create and cut the best patterns for her designs. Her constant chatting and laughter are a perfect background to the now busy studio.

The individual patterns and styles are immediately visible when looking around the table, and everyone remarks how impatient they are to see the final results. The rolling of the material around the wood, aluminium or copper rods gets people working in pairs, the generations mingling…

After everyone’s creations are thrown in a pot of hot water on the stove, we all regroup around a small home-made buffet, discussing our respective careers and childhoods. It is in these moments one realizes how incredible it is that a small group of people, of all different backgrounds, careers, skills and generations can come together out of love of ethical creation, and can each work independently to help create a natural symbiosis between nature and fashion… just like a Lara Stone creation.

 

 by Chloé Décobert