What inspires me at the start of a season? YOU do!
I get asked this sometimes, and of course I love all the things you would expect a clothing and textile designer to love; color, print, pattern, texture, fabric and shoes!
It’s is endlessly energizing to play with new color combinations in prints, and to think about what kinds of designs will work for the next season. I love gathering new swatches at and sorting them into groups by color and mood. It’s very satisfying to finally, after months and months of searching, to find that perfectly textured fabric (like the Bhadra Jacket 72A-20!) But, with MarketPlace India, these conventional fashion, fabric, color and design answers all fall a little short. MarketPlace India has always been in the people business as much as we are the clothing business.
If you’ve been with us a while, you know we work with artisans, some seasoned experts and some newly trained, with every piece handmade and produced in small workshops. All of our pieces are hand embroidered by women artisans working from home. At the start of every season I am also thinking about the artisans—what colors will make sense for printers to execute within the constraints of their materials and techniques? What new embroidery can we develop at the embroidery workshop? And, what new kinds of upcycled chindi patchwork will look fresh and be possible to scale up for production. I’m also think of YOU, our customers, our muses. Thinking about you and the artisans together feels a bit like matchmaking! What kinds of styles will you, the customer, love that fit our production model?
So, in addition to color and prints, YOU inspire me at the start of each season! When I think about our community, I love to imagine how and where you are going to use your MarketPlace India pieces. Will you wear the Shona Top teaching reading to 5th graders? Will you wear the Shailly Kaftan giving a lecture in a college classroom? Maybe you’ll play ball with a grandchild, go to book club, or attend a get-out-the-vote meeting for a local candidate in the Paradeep Long Shirt. Sometimes I get lucky and see you in person, and that makes my day! I have certainly seen you at dog parks, live theatre, concerts and plant sales.
It’s so gratifying to see the clothing on the real people of our extended community and to read your reviews on social media. We would love to see more of you! What do you think? Are you up for sharing some photos of you wearing your MarketPlace India styles? Can you show us where you are and what you’re doing when you wear MarketPlace? Shots can be really casual, maybe they don’t even show your face! Maybe your cat climbed into your lap when you were wearing a MarketPlace Field Pant—click it for us! That’s inspiring!
I’ll end with a real life example! Nina, an Elementary School Literacy Specialist and MarketPlace customer, shared a photo of herself wearing the Isha Top (72C-29) captioned “What to wear when it’s going to be 80 degrees at school”
Thanks so much for inspiring us!!
—Adele Mattern | Creative Director
I enjoy reading these little articles about the artisans and how the work is done. I am so tempted to buy more than what I really need…and sometime do so just because the garments are so beautiful and so beautifully made.
I often get comments on what I am wearing and always say: “marketplace: handwork of India” ! and tell folks about the company.
I first saw the early catalogs when I was a mail carrier. I quickly became a customer. it has been sorta fun to “grow old” w/ Pushpika…we are about the same age, and have gotten gray together.