Zane Alafranji
As a designer, I like working with materials that have a story behind them, things that have already lived a life before they get to me. My work is at the crossroads of fashion, craft, and social awareness. I’m especially interested in how the clothes and accessories we buy are linked to bigger systems of work and consumption that most people don’t think about. At the University of San Francisco, I’m finishing up my thesis project, which is all about upcycling and rebuilding textiles. Outside of school, I have experience in clothing retail and craft making which has shaped how I think about both the making and the meaning behind the things we wear. I believe that design can be a form of storytelling, and I try to make work that asks people to slow down and consider where things come from and who made them.
Worn Again
The goal of my thesis project is to create three unique bags out of three vintage leather jackets through upcycling and reconstruction by hand. Each jacket carries its own story with different areas of wear, fading and texture, therefore, I am trying to preserve the jacket’s history and reinterpret it as part of something new. Leather evokes concepts of quality and durability, there are also many complexities associated with leather that involve the price one pays for an item that appears to be expensive as well as the costs associated with manufacturing and who really pays the price for other products that might be viewed as similar or expensive.
The primary focus of this project is to identify and expose the people behind the production of the leather goods industry and the effects of this work on sweatshop working conditions. Garment workers are often hidden from consumers and are virtually unrecognized after they have completed their work and produced items that the consumer has purchased. Through the process of up-cycling leather from previous productions instead of producing new leather, I will create bags that will reveal the workers, as well as their conditions. I will use the design and presentation of these bags to draw attention to the human cost associated with leather’s appeal as a luxury material. Each bag will represent an object and an argument, an object for you to carry, and an argument for you to contemplate the meaning of ownership of an item created by someone else’s efforts.