VESTI x Floreia : of the Organic and the Environment
The VESTI x FLOREIA collaboration is a beautiful partnership honoring the beauty of the natural form. FLOREIA’s use of Nucast - an upcycled paper based material turned into strong beads hearken to our call for the care of our nature. This is a perfect statement piece for every eco-loving ladies with endless conversations to inspire about the environment and traditional weaving while being quirky and kitschy.
Martha Rodriguez, CEO of VESTI, has this to say about the collaboration and Floreia’s creative director Kat Delantar-Mon :
‘Kat of FLOREIA and I got in touch through FAMPh - a collective of Filipino accessory brands and designers - from there, it was an easy collaboration with Kat’s cheerful and inspiring personality. she’s always motivated to push through even though we faced time constraints as she is based in New York during this time.
FLOREIA’s use of NUCAST - an upcycling method for paper materials is of curious interest for me so we made that the hero of our collaboration. The imperfections and irregularities in the shapes of the beads make the products feel more organic - more human to say the least.
We’ve created a line of everyday easy errand bags that aim to be your go-to for quick activities. We also used Pis Siyabit fabric from the Tausugs of Zamboanga to add pizzaz to the designs and to make it VESTI - a perfect partnership of the two brands.
We hope that this collaboration reminds us to be more in tune with the environment and make ways to care for it.’
VESTI Conversations had a quick rundown with Kat to discuss about the collaboration project.
What does collaboration with other creatives like VESTI mean to you?
It gives us opportunities to work along Filipino brands highlighting each other’s strength. It allowed us to go beyond our comforts of making sustainable accessories to expanding to sustainable and purposeful bags.
As the world faces a string of health, economic, and political concerns - what role does creativity, and creatives, play in this global shift?
New passions and perspective has given hope to people who have been wishing to do something out of their norm. It’s very enlightening seeing passions grow as businesses.
What is the inspiration behind the collaboration collection? How do you get inspired?
I got connected with Martha owner of VESTI through FamPh. I loved how she was able to take long weaving tradition technique into the modern Filipino lifestyle. With this in mind, we saw the need of focusing on the beauty of this natural material together with our Nucast, upcycled paper material innovation into timeless everyday pieces. Now that movement is limited, we hoped to have these bags as everyday staples that withstand trends.
Walk us through the process of creating this collection. Was it easy? fulfilling?
(chuckles) hmmm. Fulfilling, yes. In a sense it gave me a new found respect for our craftsmen. They can do everything but the patience it takes is a different level from our accessories. It takes at least one day to only assemble the bag. The weight, the function, the overall feel of the bag was designed intentionally together with VESTI.
What do you see or expect for the future of the industry?
A little bit tough but just hang on , the market is still there. I’m hoping it’s just timing. The important thing for us is to keep thriving to keep on providing livelihood for our artisans who have been supportive since day one.
The VESTI X Floreia limited collaboration collection is now available here
