I was meaning to write about a company/website called Honest by quite a while ago, but I believe that at the time I had discovered it, there weren't any pieces on it that I liked. Honest by was started by Belgian designer Bruno Pieters, built foremost on a platform of transparency. Meaning a full cost breakdown and carbon footprint is given for each product, as well as a description of the production process, i.e. where each material came from and how it was manufactured, down to how many minutes each step took. Subsequently, this transparency allows Honest by to remain committed and held accountable to the use of environmentally friendly materials, which, naturally, does not include leather, fur, shell, or horn. All silk and wool used are organic or recycled, and many vegan pieces are available. 20% of the profits even goes to the designer's chosen charity.
Needless to say, I'm glad I bookmarked the site even though I didn't like anything on it at the time. For, while Bruno does have his own Honest by collection available on the site, the point of it is to work with other designers to allow them the benefit of the research resources Honest by has for looking into the origins of materials, the space to share their design process, and the support to create pieces that don't go against their designing sensibilities and do as little harm to the environment as possible. When I revisited the page this morning, I was happy to see that Canadian-born and Paris-based designer Nicolas Andreas Taralis had collaborated with Honest by a year ago, and the resulting collection is still available on the site. In addition to using organic materials, Nicolas' pieces are produced in Europe, almost from start to finish (a couple of the raw materials originate elsewhere). This silk piece by Nicolas jumped out at me as it reminds me of a particular shirt that Brisco County Jr. wore once. Funny thing is I immediately thought 'Too bad it doesn't come in black'. When I realized it does come in black (cotton) (see below) but that I didn't like it as much, I realized it was time to work on my thesis...
