Ella Wiznia tender-launched the upcycled and genderless style model The Collection in 2016 while she was nevertheless in university and offering her wares at the Hester Road Reasonable, an outside weekend market in NYC. At the time, Wiznia was in restoration for an taking in problem and she began hand-embroidering and building her personal clothing and components from pre-current resources as a way to recover. “Transferring my fingers was so very good for my mental health actually. It was so important to tranquil my head and that’s how I started out earning items for my possess pleasure,” she says.
Because garments procuring in merchants with traditional sizing was not conducive to Wiznia’s recovery, she turned to thrift and second-hand retailers to resource apparel that could be reworked, or to uncover attractive but forgotten heirloom materials that could then be repurposed into sentimental, wearable items. A sampling of The Series’ offerings consist of balaclavas manufactured from granny-square crochet blankets, quilted chore shirts fashioned from several scraps, and puffer jackets that after made use of to be sleeping bags or comforters. Wiznia and her group also take customers’ house textiles like linens, top rated sheets, pillow cases, or throws that are no lengthier getting utilized to build some thing new.
“It was normally about honoring these elements that I observed to be so extremely special and forgotten for a really long time,” suggests Wiznia. “It is a way to extend their lifespan, to make them into points that can be worn and used rather than folded up in a closet or thrown in a corner.” Wiznia also finds the process of reworking these vintage handmade quilts or blankets, quite a few of which have been “traditionally deemed as women’s function simply because they’re associated with the residence and intensely rooted in domesticity,” as a way to respect the craft and patience that was place into these heritage items.
Given Wiznia’s affinity for quilt-like “mish mosh,” it is fitting that her Higher West Side apartment—which also doubles as The Collection studio exactly where she and her small crew sew and take care of shipments from—is in the same way eclectic in design. “I imagine [my aesthetic] is identical to the apparel I make, form of classical design blended with enjoyable shades and textures. I like actually nicely-intended, intentional parts or things that are traditionally connected to a childhood memory,” says Wiznia. “I constantly look to Iris Apfel’s or Gloria Vanderbilt’s residences and interiors. I just appreciate the layered-on textures with extra of the present day elements.”
The house necessities that outfit Wiznia’s New York City condominium consist of a structure-centric Heller dinnerware established, a wall-spanning mirror from Ikea, a bouquet of faux flowers (because of to Wiznia’s allergies), and a big Roman column pedestal. “My most prized possession is that column, which my pals identified on the road when I was in school finding out urban structure and architecture,” says Wiznia. “They brought it up to my room and I nearly fainted when I noticed it. It was like I experienced died and absent to heaven.”