Ashley Cecil + Thread + Modesto & Knotz
Earth Day is [Everyday]
People Working Together to make the Planet Better for All
Collaboration story told by Nisha B.
- January 2017- Met with Ashley Cecil at her studio in TheShop to discuss the concept, fabric, and colors for the Earth Day Bowties. Her suggestion was that we create two different patterns for the bowties that would include - a botanical pattern of plants found in Pennsylvania, and a pattern of African Penguins, the beloved residents of the National Aviary which are also an endangered species.
- February 2017- Ashley then created the illustration and delivered the files to Modesto Studios, while I stopped by Thread International to pick up our foundation fabrics. Their VP Bill Besselman welcomed us with open arms!! He literally gave us the unique opportunity to pick whatever, and however much we wanted to use for the collab- even tossing in some of Thread's black canvas and newly received raw indigo denim (we got the first cut of it!)
- March 2017 (early) - I then stopped by to have a design chat with Brad, who had already been scaling and working on Ashley's Illustrations for the ties. By this time we were still in testing but had all agreed on color and concept of the Plant Botanicals that appear on the Soda Green fabric and did further testing of colors that would pop- off the Heather Gray piece that would hold the African Penguins
- March 2017 (middle) - tweaked the African Penguin's bowtie colors one last time. Ashley was drawn to brighter and bolder while I was leaning a tad deeper and darker. Brad at Modesto did a fantastic job mixing something together that we both agreed was perfect
- March 2017 (also mid)- Brad stopped by Everyday Cafe, our new coffee shop in Homewood to deliver the final fabric and it was better, far better than one could've imagined. We immediately took it back to the studio where one of our seamstresses, Shayla spent a few Saturday hours with me starting the collection. This was particularly nice because Shayla was training and it gave her a chance to work with such cool fabric. We both mentioned how awesome and easily workable Thread's Ground to Good textiles were and were pleased with the overall outcome. Monday our in-shop seamstress Nicole added the final touches to the bowties.
- March (late) - Our Photographer Alex Corrie took the photos and got them prepared for the launch.
