1. Bio
Designer, artist and founder of EMME Studio, a slow fashion clothing and accessories brand based in New York. Puyallup on her father’s side, she descends from a long line of fishermen from the Coast Salish Territory and her projects for EMME Studio often reflect this legacy. Having graduated in Art from South Eugene High School, she combines her work as a designer with a strong commitment to the promotion of social and environmental justice. She serves on the Board of Directors and is spokesperson and speaker for the Slow Factory Foundation, a non-profit organisation that promotes climate justice and social equity through training programmes, regenerative design and the study of material innovation. She also serves as a Community Organiser within the Brooklyn-based Indigenous Kinship Collective, a collective of indigenous, mixed-race, non-binary women who come together to honour and celebrate native identity through art, activism, and educational pathways. She recently co-founded the new atelier, gallery, showroom and community space Relative Arts NYC. Located in the East Village, the space celebrates sustainable and subversive art and fashion.
2. The power of dream
If we have the courage to let it speak, the power of a dream is that force that, no matter how much it costs us, continues to move us forward in standing up for what we feel is deeply right and important. My dream, and the powerful force that sustained and sustains it, comes from three sources: the desire for success for my production, the urgency to give a voice to a fairer historical narrative and the need to declare that it is now imperative to dismantle a system based on “increasing numerical growth” and instead aim for a perspective based on “growing the value” and the sustainability of the way we live and produce. We need a healthier global narrative, because it is from there that we draw the things in which we invest all our energy every day. In my case, I dreamed and was committed to seeing my work and art succeed, but parallel to my personal career path there has always been the need to fight for fair storytelling and greater social justice. Today my dream is that the awareness that we need a truly sustainable approach to life and production will be broadened: the “eco-friendly” glossy sheen that ends with marketing is not enough, it is not enough that the materials are “eco”: the history, working conditions, treatment and salary of those who produce the material must be fair and sustainable, the way we obtain it from the Earth and industry must be sustainable, the entire life cycle that it will have must be sustainable. The dream that I now bear witness to through my brand, and what I strive for in the various social activities in which I am involved, is this: the need to achieve slow, fair production for every living being and for the planet we inhabit.
3. My journey into real beauty
As far as I am concerned, beauty, inspiration, can come from an infinite number of things: a mountain, a rock, a piece of music, a song, everything can be an inspiration, a spring that can trigger that push that brings us closer to feeling beauty. But, broadening the perspective, I believe that the journey to true beauty finds fulfilment when the actions we take lead to positive change. Aesthetic or social. Above all social, I would say. Small actions and daily choices that put the sense of justice at the centre: there is no greater beauty. It is the redemption of human beings against the logic of oppression, which applies to everyone, always, and even more so if you are part of a minority whose voice has been taken away for a long time. Giving back voice, space and dignity to what is different is the greatest beauty we can strive for. Let me give you a small but very practical example: minorities account for 4% of the global expression of humanity and yet they guard and represent 80% of the diversity of this planet. Do you understand how much wealth, how much uniqueness, how many diverse ways of expression? This is lifeblood for everyone and when these stories find the space and the way to express themselves, the entire global community comes out enriched. This magic is the most beautiful thing we can encounter: for humans, but also for the other animal and plant species. Restoring dignity and a voice to diversity, this is the richest and most wonderful journey we can embark on in beauty.
4. What I’ve learned and won’t let go
We must learn to slow down, do less, do better, and seek gratification and value at all times. We have to fight to get away from the current system that asks us to do more and more, faster and faster and gives us less and less in return. Less money, less free time, less time to take care of others, as we wait for a better time that never comes. We must stop the escalation of growth at all costs, and of homologation, which sees the Earth and its peoples as resources to be exploited. There is an urgent need to change perspective and fight for a social model that replaces the term exploitation with the term develop, because continuous growth is a completely unsustainable practice, even mentally. We must be kind to ourselves, take back the luxury of being helpful to others and the pleasure of sharing. In the name of compulsive consumption, we have progressively sacrificed our freedom, our humanity and our planet. We are so caught up in this frantic struggle to keep up, that we no longer have time to watch what happens in our neighbour’s life, sometimes even our own. My dream for women – and for all other minorities – is that they will have the courage to create a system and fight in the small actions of every day, to survive that sick logic and trigger a new trend. We must recognise, celebrate and honour diversity, from there flows all the energy we need to tap into the best side of existence.
