Care is the antithesis to consumption

Visible mending can be done more efficiently... if you have the right machinery. This was actually my initial business idea, a few years ago.. to commercialise visible mending and get the prices down by using machine embroidery, screen printing, patchwork by machine etc.. Developing that as a concept was too time consuming and expensive.

Interestingly enough, being prevented from jumping straight into how to make mending more commercial and "efficient" has let me spend a lot more time focusing on the more personal, slow pased act of mending and our connection to the garments. Making the process too efficient makes it impersonal and defeats a lot of the purpose. I would still love to design "mending collections" that can be somewhat replicated onto other garments for a season or so, or like, that mends could be almost like numbered prints? You know? But there's something about the uniqueness, the relations between us, each other and the material and natural world, that we have lost and need to bring back into our lives.

That is one of the things I find frustrating with many discussions about the future of business and a circular economy and all that. It all still centers money and the economy as the main goal rather than seeing human thriving as the core goal and money just as a tool to achieve it.

I think it's important to take ideas like visible mending and see how it can be made more efficient and scaled up because THAT WOULD decrease our consumption, and it could be a good way to transition to something even more sustainable. There are too many people who can not imagine that we can focus on people, connection, fulfilment and happiness. Too many assume we'll get as a side effect of growing the economy... So to get them on board, sure, we can do the commercial stuff. We don't have time not to. It can be the "gateway drug", a stepping stone to getting some wheels turning.

But what we need, what we truly need, is the time and freedom to care for ourselves, our loved ones and the natural world. We are constantly in service, to earn money, but we don't have the freedom to practice -care- because care is the antithesis to consumption and commodification.