Barbara de Vries is a different breed of beachcomber. At Art Basel Miami this past week, the jewelry designer hand-embellished a series of Loomstate T-shirts with plastic debris, which she gathered from the once-pristine beaches of the Bahamas, sorted, washed, and strung up like beads.
PLASTIC IS FOREVER
The plastic detritus that litters the world’s beaches is anything but lovely, but designer Barbara de Vries has managed to transform an environmental scourge into something worth coveting. Teaming up with Loomstate at Art Basel Miami this past week, de Vries hand-sewed a multitude of organic-cotton T-shirts with the polluting fragments. Clad in the patina of age and polished by nature, the plastic takes on a haunting beauty of its own. The Loomstate x Plastic is Forever shirts will be available for sale online and at Barneys New York in spring.
+ Plastic is Forever by Barbara de Vries
Thank you Ecouterre! The Bottle Shack was up over Art Basel Miami at the new Arts for a Better World show, which showed many artists who’s work deals with sustainability, giving back to help save the planet and its species and educate future generations. It was a great success and gave a whole new dimension to this year’s Miami Art shows. I was grateful for the opportunity to show with them. Barbara de Vries