Tania Marcial
Tania Marcial is a fashion designer from Barcelona, who masters the handcrafted upcycling technique. After some experiences in the industry of fashion, she has been able to take an inside look into it, coming to the saddest conclusion that its overproduction is meaningless. This is how and why her career has developed into a sustainable way of fashion, focusing on the possibilities of “upcycling”. Her aim is to recover and maintain the craft of dressmaking, for which she develops her creative process based on the method of patchwork, making pieces from scratch, and being a participant in the whole process. Using materials such as denim and circular knitting, the designer reuses outdated and old garments, giving them a new value. These pieces have an emotional significance, which comes from the designer's attachment and involvement in the creation from the very beginning. Starting from the raw materials, with machines and tools in her own workshop, she decides the intention of each and every stitch and finishing touch, only possible by being part of the whole course. This fact inevitably exposes the problem of the loss of manual professions and craftsmanship, which will soon be rare in the current panorama. The usage of materials with which these garments are created manifests the need to recover all the "abandoned" clothes and capitalist waste, reusing clothes and objects that most consumers consider garbage. This appreciation makes every piece unique, with no possible replica. Garments and fashion acquire another meaning. Something precious to be conserved for years, something that accompanies you, one more trait of your identity; or from a physical point of view, just like we take care of our skin as it ages, we repair it and even "customize" it, just like we could do with clothes. We can revalue the conception we have of clothes as almost disposable assets, with no personality.
