'Asher Blackburn'/ Emerging Designer
Naarm based designer Asher Blackburn honours the past life of discarded fabrics through considered and sustainable design.
How often do we stop to consider how our clothes came into existence? For Naarm based designer Asher Blackburn, the processes which precede a garment’s creation are just as important as the finished product. With each one-off, hand-crafted piece he creates, Asher honours the past life of discarded or forgotten fabrics with considered design and an ethic of sustainability.
Having initially envisioned a more academic career for himself, Asher’s move from England to Naarm during a pivotal time in his life instead led to him discovering an immense interest in fashion and design. What has consequently followed is a process of evolving self-expression and brand development under Asher Blackburn. Having originally chosen to keep his name out of his work, the eventual decision to adopt eponymous branding marks the point at which Asher became comfortable with embedding himself within the label. For Asher, this means taking a step away from reproducible designs and opting for authenticity in everything he does, from drafting his own patterns to hand stamping each piece.
Asher’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond optics. His pieces are primarily made from repurposed fabric and when he is not happy with a design, he takes it apart and starts again. Longevity is central to the garments’ design, which are built to be worn over and over again and passed between friends. The androgynous nature of each piece gives them a unique wearability which enables them to be shared from one wearer to the next. The lifetime of the garments is even further elongated by Asher who offers ways to repair damage or issues that may arise after a piece has left his care.
The process of sourcing discarded fabrics has inspired Asher to consider the interplay between metaphysical factors such as luck and determinism within his work. Asher’s designs are informed and directed by an appreciation for the element of chance that plays into the moment of finding just the right fabric at the time. The result being final products which capture a sense of inevitability - the garment is exactly as it should be, because it could not have been any other way.
For Asher, the practice of allowing the medium to determine the design prompts him to play around with ideas of abstraction. As someone who takes inspiration from post-war abstract expressionists such as Ad Reinhardt, Asher is fascinated by the concept of creating garments which evoke spontaneity, often allowing mistakes made during the process to become the basis for new designs. Indeed, the creative impetus for much of Asher’s work is driven by the possibilities that arise through the physical act of making clothes.
Stay up to date with Asher Blackburn on Instagram
Words by Sarah Hellyer (@sorry_sweetie)
Photography: Copper TB / Asher Blackburn
Models: JackRanieri, Orlando Treleani, Maisie Fraser, Asher Blackburn.
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Here in ‘Australia’, Indigenous people are the most incarcerated population on Earth. Countless lives have been murdered by white police, white government policies and this country’s white history, institutionalised colonialism and ongoing racial oppression. Racial injustice continues today under the phoney, self-congratulatory politics of ‘Reconciliation’ and the notion that colonialism is something that must be denied and forgotten, an uncomfortable artefact of the past.
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Indigenous Social Justice Association - fighting to stop Indigenous deaths in custody
Firesticks Alliance - who campaign for Indigenous land management, cultural burning and looking after Country