How would you describe your style? Are there any artists / designers that you particularly look up to?
Our style is modern minimal and responsible rebellious. We make architecturally inspired, versatile silhouettes that work for today’s fast-moving lifestyle. Our brand revolves around salvage material and thoughtful process, making product that balances elegance with environmental integrity.
What do you feel makes your work unique and truly your own?
We have a unique relationship as best friend and business partners, each with different backgrounds and expertise. We both quit corporate industry jobs to work towards environmental change at something we believe is the future of design and production. Working with salvage materials is not easy, and our various experience in architecture, material development, detailing, and high design allows us to transform these materials through a complex process of research, testing, prototyping, and problem solving until we reach the perfect balance of construction and design.
We handcraft everything in our small studio, and know what it takes to make something long-lasting, strong and useful.
Every sheet of filter cloth that we get is unique, dyed to a particular color by the beer during its life in the big brewery. We sort material on a gradient from lightest coppery tones to a deep patina of dark grey. Beer Brindle means that the cloth has been dyed naturally by hops and barley during first life manufacturing.
What sort of things inspire you? Where do you look for inspiration?
We are constantly exploring Los Angeles, inspired by the incredible natural landscape that surrounds us, and also by the history, culture and industry of the city. In the mountains and beaches around LA, we camp, hike, rock climb and swim. We spend time at our local library. We take Rewilder field trips to places as varied as the Puente Hills Material Recovery Facility (to see how our trash is processed), the Gentle Barn (to commune with animals), and the Craft and Folk Art Museum (to learn weaving skills).
Our name is inspired by the rewilding of the wolves in Yellowstone National Park (wolves were reintroduced into the ecosystem in 1995 after being killed off 70 years earlier). The results were dramatic, starting a cascade of growth and change that brought back many animals, regenerated plant life, and even stabilized the riverbanks. This amazing transformation inspired us to take the name Rewilder and begin our own transformation, giving strong, valuable materials a second life.
When do you feel the most creative?
We work most creatively during those instrumental phases of development, when we find a new material to explore from design concept to physical experiment. Working with salvage materials takes many failures before finally finding the right design details, and we have piles of failed tests in sewing, cutting, and painting – each one teaching us something new. We also work creatively on limited edition pieces that allow us to test details at a small scale. The creative meetings for these projects have no boundaries, and often our wildest ideas will become seeds for other projects. We use our creativity to keep moving forward, designing toward an overall shift in the way things are designed and made.
What is your creative process like?
Everything at Rewilder is under one roof. We design, sew, paint, silkscreen, brainstorm and collaborate in our small Hollywood studio. We are simultaneously filling orders and drafting new patterns. Everything is hand crafted here, which allows us to have creative control over the entire process and end product.
What's the coolest artistic tip you've ever received?
Jenny: Try anything. We learn everything about our materials from the process of experimentation, and the inevitable failures that come from testing. Even when our ideas don’t work, we will discover something valuable and interesting from the process.
Lisa: Spend time with your materials. Working with one material over time makes you an expert, which gives you the ability to be truly creative.
and
Ask for honest critique. Our long term success comes from honestly understanding our strengths and weaknesses.
Where can we learn more about you?
Rewilder.com