What’s your favorite moment in the making of a garment?
Chiara My favorite moment in the making of a garment is while it is in the hands of the artisan. Since a lot of our pieces are handmade and involve repetitive action, the process has a meditative quality. The artisan forms a connection with the garment and gets into a sort of trance. This is where I’ve seen a lot of magic happen. It’s the possibility of creating, of putting your energy into something and materializing it.
The making of a garment is also when the energy and the frequencies of the artisan are transferred to the piece, before travelling to the owner.
This moment feels very important. Especially, because it usually takes place in a rural area in the highlands, close to nature, not in a traditional factory or workshop that's in the middle of a city. I think it is very special.
Design in Conversation: An Interview with Chiara Macchiavello
Garments become part of us through wearing, acquiring meaning and memories over time. Yet their lives begin long before entering our wardrobes. Chiara Macchiavello, co-founder of Peruvian fashion brand ESCVDO, reminds us of the people and processes that shape a garment before it is worn.
For the past 13 years, Macchiavello has worked alongside her sister to preserve and evolve local Peruvian techniques of crochet, macramé and embroidery, foregrounding the knowledge and care of the maker as intrinsic to the garment’s biography, and inviting the wearer into that story. For this instalment of Design in Conversation, we talked to her about growing up in Peru, heirlooms, and time as the ultimate luxury.
Design in Conversation is a series exploring the vision, craftsmanship and heritage of the makers shaping the Scorpios Bazaar.
Escvdo openly celebrates Peruvian design heritage. What is the most transformative encounter you have ever had with Peruvian design and artisanship?
Chiara 22 years ago, I traveled by car through the Andes and along the coast of Peru, literally from north to south. It was a three-month-trip that was very focused on anthropology and investigating all the traditional handcrafts and techniques that we have in different communities. I discovered and connected with all these artisans and the amazing work and heritage we have. It was like a little seed that later evolved into Escvdo.
I realized that I could really make something with the people, the land and the tradition by including my perspective and my education in design. So that journey was life-changing
for me.
Growing up, what was the first handcraft you discovered, either because it was practiced in your home or surroundings?
Chiara My mother has always been an inspiration to me. She’s an amazing artist and designer as well. Although she was a full-time mother during our whole childhood, she used to make everything for us. She was like the first artisan I met; she used to sew all the textiles we used in our room, the cushions, everything. She made our dresses and it was beautiful to see.
I think that was the first thing that ever inspired me. From a young age, she introduced me to all the artisan work that we have in Peru, by traveling inside the country instead of just traveling abroad.
We recently encountered Escvdo’s Sumac Dress at the Scorpios Bazaar, where the combination of traditional crochet and modern silhouette caught our eye. What’s the story behind this design?
Chiara The Sumac dress comes from a collection that was inspired by the Nazca pre-Columbian culture, which was based in the Southern coast of Peru and had this amazing textile, this big hand-woven zigzag, created with a pedal loom.
Actually, now you can find that textile in one of the most important museums in the world. It's beautiful. We got inspired by it in the collection and decided to try to represent it but with a completely different technique, namely the hand crochet. Although zigzag can be found in a lot of different cultures, we chose to look into our own culture and create a new interpretation of something that's part of our heritage.
Crochet elements, hand-woven details and textile exlorations by Escvdo.
Escvdo defines itself as a sustainable luxury brand. How do you
define luxury for yourself?
Chiara For me, nowadays, luxury has a lot to do with time. We live in a moment when everything is so fast. People are rushing, usually in chaotic cities or cities that are moving so fast. Time and presence are so precious. At Escvdo time is important because we give pieces the time they need during manufacturing. The time of the person who makes them has value. And by valuing that, we want to honor not only a tradition, but someone’s power of creation —the time that has been given to make a garment, and the life of that moment. Maybe time is also what we need to slow down a little bit and be more present, in the now.
On the other hand, time is something that has a lot to do with our pieces because we think of them as timeless pieces. We're trying to create garements that can be with you and live with you for a long time. And if not, maybe be a potential heirloom for somebody.
Is there a textile craft or technique you would still like to learn?
Chiara Right now, there's not a specific technique I want to learn. It's more about continuing to discover Peruvian techniques, because there are many more.
At the moment, we work with approximately 400 families of artisans in nine different regions of Peru, and they all have a specific technique, but there are many more. We love to integrate new people with new talents, whether it's a different type of embroidery or a different hand-woven technique.
And there’s also a lot of different techniques that cannot be applied to more wearable pieces but could be applied to different designs. So, I'm really interested in getting to incorporate all of this into the brand.
ESCVDO AT SCORPIOS MYKONOS
ESCVDO is part of a careful selection of designers that share Scorpios’ appreciation for timeless artisanship and cultural heritage.