SARANAC LAKE Martha Jackson’s Journey to Sustainability: Stories told through mixed media works come out of walls, hangars, designers for a Circularity in Motion fashion show.
Her Sustainable Fashion Show will take place from 5-7 p.m., Sunday, May 29 at BluSeed Studios, 24 Cedar St. in Saranac Lake.
We’ll have fun, I think, she said.
It’s going to be more of an interactive show where, with sustainability in mind, I want to help show people what they can do with things they have in the back of their closet or if you save money, how much how much fun you can have, and how much style you can create with used items, because for me, it’s a way to be more sustainable for the future.
SIMPLE CONVERSIONS
Jackson collaborates with Tori Vasquez, owner of Main Street Exchange, a consignment store in Saranac Lake.
It’s a place to go like goodwill, only a step up to buy new things, buy used, Jackson said.
I want to do some kind of second-hand stuff style showing people how much fun you can have. I also do what I call simple conversions. In other words, let’s say you see pants and the legs are too wide or they’re too short or the dress is too long and looks old. What can you do in a very simple way to make them more stylish? You can trim the hem of the dress and give it a whole new look. You can do something different for the pants, to make them more fashionable or look brand new. So those are the things I’m going to show at the fashion show, and Tori too.
I’m going to take a lot of the stuff I have on display here at BluSeed, take it off the wall, and walk it around the trail. I have a wonderful group of volunteers who will help us.
GOLD & SON
Jackson grew up in Montreal and Ottawa and attended the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, where she studied silversmithing and textiles.
Then I decided to come here to the United States and moved to Providence, Rhode Island.
I found it to be like a mecca for fashion jewelry, she said.
I ended up staying in Providence and Rhode Island for about 35 years. I only recently moved here to Saranac. I moved here just before Covid. Originally, my husband had a job opportunity in the area. We liked the area, so we decided to move. It brings me closer to my family. I still feel like a new person in the area.
Fashion jewelry was Jackson’s career for many years, until she stepped out of it and started her own business, Restored by Design.
I’ve always wanted to do women’s clothing and kind of got into making collections with Rhode Island Fashion Week, she said.
I wanted to combine my textiles with my jewelry. I started designing things and opened his brand, Restored by Design.
Founded in 2010, Jackson really got into textiles two years later and moved from her studio to a retail studio.
So I had like a brick and mortar that I worked in as my studio as well, she said.
I did that for about five years in Providence, then moved to Newport, Rhode Island. and it was just hard enough to be creative, to have a store. I was giving lessons. It was quite a handful. I found it took away my creativity to do all these things.
Jackson has closed his store and has just worked in his studio.
I also worked with private clients and continued to make collections and do what I could, hoping that I would do a lot more online, she said.
I have to say that was also a tough challenge, but here I am today.
SUSTAINABLE FASHION
Her journey to slow fashion was born from researching businesses over many years.
I’ve seen a lot of businesses close, she says.
Originally, everything was done here in this country. To track prices and offer good prices to your customers, things were increasingly done overseas. So I saw a lot of factories shut down, a lot of talented people out of work because of that. I thought to myself, I want to keep the business here in America. You also see a lot of waste with companies throwing things away. It was something I really wanted to change.
IN SEARCH OF A COME UP
Jackson does a lot of shopping at thrift stores where she discovers incredible clothes.
I decided to make these materials that I use, she says.
So I use a lot of surplus materials, whether it’s vintage fabrics or factory surplus materials. These are the things I use to create. I felt like I was really doing something good for this planet by doing it, keeping things out of the dumps and really paying homage to the past because I would be reorienting it. So it meant a lot to me to do this kind of work. These days it becomes truly valuable that you do something for this planet. So that makes sense to me too. My work is helping to make that future a more sustainable future for us here by using all of this material.
ART TO WEAR
Jackson is not into producing high prints, but considers herself an artist creating unique pieces that can be seen at www.restoredbydesign.com.
A kind of art to wear, she says.
My style is a bit like a bohemian chic style with a very feminine and romantic flavor. I love lace. I would dig in places and find all kinds of beautiful laces which I think are just amazing treasures.
It’s good for Jackson to take clothes that people throw away or don’t need and reuse them, salvage them, give them new life and make them wearable again.
It’s a pretty cool thing for me, I think, she said.
I kind of made it part of my brand, part of my purpose, to be able to use these materials that would otherwise go to waste.
Jackson turns trash into treasure.
They feel good, I must say, she said.
I love the textile backing. I like mixing textures and patterns, especially more on the delicate side of things. I like sort of gluing things together if you want with lace in there.
Jackson has a textile arts studio and teaches classes at BluSeed Studios.
It’s a center for artists, she says.
It encourages artists to come here and get involved and inspire others. I have sewing machines here. Im teaching a bunch of classes this summer.