Sophie is a French fashion designer based in Amsterdam.

She studied Fashion design and  pattern making at Emsod Fashion and Art school in France and she recently founded a very special up cycled denim fashion brand called Silent Wave Indigo.

Her work and aesthetics always involve very detailed craftsmanship and the manipulation of fabrics.

She loves to embellish or transform textiles to make them into something that people stare at and say « What? How? Beautiful. » '

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How did you become a sustainable designer? 

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Silent Wave Indigo was born from what felt to me like « a rescue mission » . I found out that a denim shop had to keep a huge pile of jeans that were not sellable and that were just destined to stay there with no purpose,

that’s when I realized that I wanted to be the one giving them a purpose and give them the chance to be worn with pride! So I took them home and got started! 

I’ve always had a crush on denim: its roughness, history and iconic identity and most of my creations involve that material. 

My inspiration comes from feelings of fleeting moments and the unspoken. I don’t want to sell just another thing to wear: I want to sell a feeling and i want to inspire people. I believe something handmade and beautifully crafted can give you that.

 

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Why do you think upcycling is important?

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Consumers are not aware of what goes on, beyond buying one more item in a trendy shop. I believe that upcycling is a good way to slowdown this mass production in the fashion world. Fashion is an art and true fashion requires inspiration like any other form of art, but with this fast paced life and endless quest for something new, there is no time for inspiration. 

People tend to take everything for granted, weather it’s fashion, technology or even this planet. 

I’ve always hated waste of any kind, weather it’s food or tiny scraps of fabric. I believe that there is potential to create beauty in all those littles things and there is no better feeling than to bring to life such a creation. 

 

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How do you create your designs? Where do you get the materials from?

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My creative process begins with inspiration: I start sketching what I see, the vibe the attitude, everything. 

Then I make a pattern, take apart used jeans and start to puzzle with the possibilities. And there are many! 

Maybe some things I had in mind are not working and I have to find solutions to make the flow of my design natural and logical. Or maybe I have an idea in the moment and work towards that. It’s a work in progress, and when I create something for the first time I can’t say that it’s exactly how I imagined it from the start. It’s not. It’s better because piece by piece, I’m inspired and am spontaneously building this piece.

Most of the time I start putting the details on the item, and I finish with the embroideries made by hand. I draw the illustrations myself, kind how you would do a stencil for a tattoo and then one by one I include them in my design. 

My main material is denim that I get from used jeans. I get them either from a shop who has wasted goods or second hand from people who don’t want them anymore. For the metallic details, I get my materials from small local hardware shop, i like to get metal wire and turning it into golden chains myself.

I love transforming everything by hand! 

 

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How can quarantine be a good moment for becoming more conscious and sustainable? 

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With a lot of people on lockdowns and limited to their own neighborhood to run errands, I think the quarantine will help the small businesses and hopefully make people realize that being more conscious or sustainable doesn’t take that much of an effort or a big commitment. Small steps!

I also think that a crisis like this will make people aware of the butterfly effect. Of how one person can have a huge impact on a whole community and how their actions have consequences. It teaches us how to be conscious about everything : how you wash  your hands, how close you stand to people, how to live on lockdown and how the world will be a better place thanks to a common effort if we all work in the same direction. 

All of us are now aware of our own impact on the people and on this world. 

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https://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentWaveIndigo?ref=shop_sugg