essence of expression 04: lydia bolton
essence of expression 04: lydia bolton
Lydia Bolton is a slow fashion designer and sustainability creator with a focus on upcycling. Her work fuses deadstock fabrics and thrifted pieces, creating new, vibrant garments that showcase the possibilities of forgotten materials.
“That’s my main mission. To help show people there’s value in what we’ve already produced.”
“I always have to have my desk right by the door, because then I’m welcoming in opportunities. The opportunities are coming straight into me. You don’t want your back to the door because then you’ve got your back on opportunities.”
Lydia Bolton is a slow fashion designer and sustainability creator with a focus on upcycling. Her work fuses deadstock fabrics and thrifted pieces, creating new, vibrant garments that showcase the possibilities of forgotten materials.
“That’s my main mission. To help show people there’s value in what we’ve already produced.”
“I always have to have my desk right by the door, because then I’m welcoming in opportunities. The opportunities are coming straight into me. You don’t want your back to the door because then you’ve got your back on opportunities.”
Lydia Bolton is a slow fashion designer and sustainability creator with a focus on upcycling. Her work fuses deadstock fabrics and thrifted pieces, creating new, vibrant garments that showcase the possibilities of forgotten materials.
“That’s my main mission. To help show people there’s value in what we’ve already produced.”
Lydia's Hackney Wick studio is an explosion of tones and colours - her personality equally as vibrant.
Lydia’s stamp is all over her space: transparent tubs of stray fabric patches covering an entire wall, colourful threads dotted around the studio - even her chair is patch-worked. In fact, after hearing her describe her eponymous brand, it’s clear patch-working is built into the very fabric of it.
“It’s colourful, it’s a bit sporty. It’s not too much of any one thing, it’s a real mix of all different things, and I feel like that’s quite like my personality.”
Brought up in an eco-conscious household, Lydia's approach to upcycling demonstrates a unique, almost spiritual connection with the materials she uses.
“For me I always start with the textile, and then let the textile inform what I’m creating. So, if the textiles knit, then I’m working in that way, or if it’s more like colourful fabrics and cottons, I’m seeing if I can patch-work them together in an interesting way."
“I just see what I find, and see what the fabric tells me should be made.”
It seems there is a certain innateness to the path Lydia is on. Probing for her to take us back to some spark that ignited her passion leads her to explain simply: “Being creative has always been part of my personality.”
“My mum’s very eco, so I’ve been brought up in quite an eco household. She reuses everything.”
“And then just learning about how much waste there is in fashion, it’s scary.”
“I heard this quote: ‘As a designer, you’ve got a responsibility for what you create.’ And I was like ‘[shocked] I do.’ I choose what goes out there, I’m part of that industry, so I can put out better things.”
Lydia is a person who is not just satisfied with altering her own lifestyle, but wants to empower other people to alter theirs as well.
“A big part of the brand is skill sharing, and teaching other people how to do stuff.”
She has a genuine commitment to spreading responsible fashion techniques, notable in an industry where greenwashing is becoming increasingly prevalent.
“[My mum] really champions individual action, and how, even if it feels like a small thing, how that collectively adds up.
Lydia has allowed her passion for textiles and fashion design, and her spirited, bubbly nature to coalesce into a brand that’s such a perfect reflection of her that she can’t say where the brand ends and she begins.
“What is me as a person outside of work? We’re the same thing.”
She has looked at a fashion industry that’s wasteful in its production and consumption, and decided to carve out her own corner, where she puts her love of second hand fashion, eco consciousness and an affinity for a practical kind of creativity to use, and empowers others to do the same.
“It’s clearly my style and that’s just because it’s me doing it. I have a signature.”
Author, Euan Harness
Lydia's Hackney Wick studio is an explosion of tones and colours - her personality equally as vibrant.
Lydia’s stamp is all over her space: transparent tubs of stray fabric patches covering an entire wall, colourful threads dotted around the studio - even her chair is patch-worked. In fact, after hearing her describe her eponymous brand, it’s clear patch-working is built into the very fabric of it.
“It’s colourful, it’s a bit sporty. It’s not too much of any one thing, it’s a real mix of all different things, and I feel like that’s quite like my personality.”
Brought up in an eco-conscious household, Lydia's approach to upcycling demonstrates a unique, almost spiritual connection with the materials she uses.
Lydia is a person who is not just satisfied with altering her own lifestyle, but wants to empower other people to alter theirs as well.
“A big part of the brand is skill sharing, and teaching other people how to do stuff.”
She has a genuine commitment to spreading responsible fashion techniques, notable in an industry where greenwashing is becoming increasingly prevalent.
“[My mum] really champions individual action, and how, even if it feels like a small thing, how that collectively adds up.
Lydia has allowed her passion for textiles and fashion design, and her spirited, bubbly nature to coalesce into a brand that’s such a perfect reflection of her that she can’t say where the brand ends and she begins.
“What is me as a person outside of work? We’re the same thing.”
She has looked at a fashion industry that’s wasteful in its production and consumption, and decided to carve out her own corner, where she puts her love of second hand fashion, eco consciousness and an affinity for a practical kind of creativity to use, and empowers others to do the same.
“It’s clearly my style and that’s just because it’s me doing it. I have a signature.”
Author, Euan Harness
