On Collective Making

For the latest TOAST Renewed By collection, Bethany Williams has used remnant fabrics and archive pieces to create a selection of one-of-a-kind garments. Writer and sustainability consultant Aja Barber met Bethany at her studio to discuss the collaboration.

I arrive slightly late to Bethany Williams’ studio in Deptford, reassuring myself that this only gives her more time to work on the collection. Here in south-east London, we have a rich and beautiful slow fashion community.

Bethany greets me warmly. As she tells me a story, tears of laughter gather in the corners of my eyes. I recall how I first met this deeply thoughtful individual at another TOAST event at Somerset House. She immediately felt like an old friend.

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Bethany, thanks for being with me. To start, what does responsibility mean to you as a designer?

I think responsibility is looking after yourself, the people you work with, and the environment. It's a multi-faceted approach.

How did you begin the process of designing your TOAST Renewed By collection?

One of the starting points for me was travelling to Wales and spending time going through the donated garments and materials available. I love working with waste as a creative parameter. It forms a unique framework to design within, and means the collection begins with what already exists. I was able to develop it in response to the materials we found, allowing their colours, textures, and histories to influence the designs.

From there, I started with a concept and a written body of text. I’ve been making work that's more about my emotional inner world. This hasn’t always been part of the dialogue, and so it's quite a personal project for me. I’ve been translating the light that we carry internally – it could be just an ember or it could be burning brightly, but it's ours to rediscover.

What and who are your biggest inspirations – for this project, and in your life?

This project is partially about lineage, particularly my mum and my grandparents because I grew up with them. Family is a really integral part of this.

I spent time looking back through family images of my great-grandma and grandad, and I used references from my great-grandma's clothing across the collection; things that she wore in the 1920s and 30s. My family are my biggest supporters and inspiration.

Can you tell me a little more about your family background? I know there's craft and fashion in there.

Making has always been around me. My mum worked as a designer and pattern cutter in a factory in Liverpool before moving to the Isle of Man, where she set up a soft furnishing business. My grandad was also very artistic, but he was colourblind, so all of his work is black and white.

When did sustainability and the social side of the fashion industry become a part of your process?

It has always informed my practice. My mum is an avid recycler, so she brought us up like that. I studied critical fine art practice in Brighton alongside volunteering with a charity. While developing my final project, I started working with upcycling.

I appreciate when something is upcycled but from a distance, it doesn't look upcycled. It just looks beautiful and luxurious. Then when you get up close, you realise it is, and you can see the craft.

I love it when I’m wearing something upcycled and somebody asks me about it. That’s the beauty of sustainability – you can have great conversations with people who haven’t been exposed to it and share a different perspective.

Absolutely. It was 2012 when I graduated, and some people didn't get it yet. It's interesting how time changes and you start to see progression in the industry.

I know what you mean. I’ve been talking about sustainability on the internet since around 2012, so I understand what it's like trying to guide people in a direction that is necessary, but not always popular.

That's so true.

Is there a particular element of this collection that you’re most proud of?

When I was making collections before, I wasn’t painting myself; I worked with my illustrator friend Melissa. This is the first project that I've done the artwork for, so I’m really proud of that. It was a bit scary, but Melissa has supported me through it and offered really helpful feedback.

I’m sure it’s hard to choose favourites, but is there one piece you’re especially excited to share with the world?

There is a silk piece in the collection that’s a real favourite. I love how we have taken the original prints and hidden them within the garment. It’s also really exciting to have my own artwork printed onto my designed garments for the first time. Then there’s the bag, which I think is pretty special. I worked with John and Winnie, who foraged and wove the willow by hand.

How important was collaboration in the process of making this collection?

Many people have been involved, from my early meetings with TOAST Creative Director, Laura Shippey, to the Circle team who sorted the waste materials and donated TOAST pieces.

I worked with Alex at Making For Change, an award-winning vocational fashion and textiles training and production programme. I draped the shapes and he stitched them into position, while my colleague Alice [Morell Evans] worked on patchworking the knitwear. Then there’s Holly at Orta Print Studio, who dyed the silks and screen-printed the artworks.

That’s amazing, I love it when a large group of people come together in such a beautiful way. And that the TOAST customer is also part of it.

Yes, it starts with people being generous and donating things back.

The silk scarves you used were donated. Can you tell me more about how you used these?

We used scarves from TOAST returns in the woollen coat. I worked with Holly to over-dye them and create a consistent colour, then we screen-printed my artworks over them.

I wanted it to feel like there is a hidden history in the garments, like the lineage within us. In all different forms of repair, it's about giving time to something that has been discarded. There is beauty in that.

The knit dress is also such a special piece. What do you think makes it unique?

I draped it on a stand in quite a complicated way, and then I was looking at it and thinking, “No, we need to keep it really simple so that the textile speaks for itself.” The artwork is of a specific place on the Isle of Man. I was really inspired by the red of the bracken in winter, and there was a stone circle with lichen on the stones. I've tried to translate those colours into the work.

That reminds me how much I love your use of colour. Are you drawn towards a particular palette?

I gravitate toward primary colours – which, depending on the brief, don’t always work. In past projects with charity partners where the subject matter is very serious, it's nice to bring what I feel is my expression of hope.

Did the different stages of the process teach you anything new about yourself?

Taking time out after being diagnosed with a chronic pain condition gave me the space to rebuild confidence in my own handwork. I finally thought, ‘Oh, I can do this!’ For this project, I've done a lot of draping, which shows how my hands have shaped the silhouettes. It’s a whole new language that I’d like to move forward with.

In your opinion, why are collections and collaborations like this important?

I think it's really important to show the possiblity of materiality through working with artists who bring a whole different perspective. With this project, I was translating a feeling within me into the collection. I hope that feeling comes across.

Well, I know I'll have my eye on a certain coat. What would you like to see more of from the fashion industry in general?

Supporting artisans, designers, and holding onto crafts. It's really important to look after people and the planet.

The TOAST Renewed By Bethany Williams collection is available to purchase online from 15 October.

Words by Aja Barber.

Photography by Aloha Bonser-Shaw.