Chances are at the start of the new year you’re looking to be a little bit inspired. Look no further, you’ve come to the right place.
This year we’re excited to be getting in the studio with lots of other creatives, to understand their inspiration and the process they use for creating their projects. First up? The amazing Hatrik Vintage. The founder Sophia started her business based on a love of vintage, and has since evolved into a denim customisation guru, creating one of a kind, stop and stare in the street embellished denim. I’ve long been coveting one of her amazing denim jackets, my favourite being the one embroidered with a sequin motif of The Great Wave off Kanagawa (one of my all time favourite art pieces). Recently I got together with Sophia to capture her process and share with you the inspiration behind her business and creativity.
DIY Sequin Denim With Hatrik Vintage
How did you start Hatrik?
Hatrik was started about 3 years ago as a creative outlet amongst studying Law at university. It was the best way to satisfy my love for fashion and the arts, and what began as a small hobby has since grown into a business. Hatrik is now mostly known for the customised denim vintage pieces, where girls (and guys) can work with us to create unique designs on vintage denim pieces.
For a while it was really all about the customised names embellished with sequins and glass seed beads, but the ‘denim archive’ now features floral clusters, hearts, quotes and our favourite- the Japanese Wave.
Where do you get your inspiration?
After my trip to New York City (during Fashion Week) last winter, I was so inspired by the epic customised fashion pieces (mainly in the higher end boutiques that were far out of my reach). The main inspiration was Gucci designer Alessandro Michelle’s Spring 16 collection- boasting rad denim pieces with bees and flowers and colours that broke up that ‘monochrome’ look we were all so tired of!! Despite not purchasing one myself, I brought the ideas home with me and started recreating old denim pieces!
While I don’t like to admit it, i’m a fashion and arts hoarder- I rip pages from magazines, re-pin like crazy on Pinterest and make mood boards all over my house. I think to find inspiration for creative projects you always have to be looking- it very rarely just comes to me without trying to come up with concepts and designs.
The cool thing about customising denim is that anything is really possible, and working with all different types of characters means that every piece is unique which is something really rare in fashion these days.
Tell Us About How you Make Your Customised Pieces
The creative process isn’t necessarily always the same (which is a blessing in disguise because things are rarely dull in the office!!). When talking to girls about their designs, we usually take a few mock ups of the design to get it perfect- I link them to Pinterest and Tumblr and try to tweak the jacket to their personal style.
Once the design is confirmed and we source the denim from op-shops, vintage outlets and even online if its a niche piece. I love this aspect of it because its showing a sustainable side to fashion that you don’t often think about. You don’t need to be wearing hemp or ‘eco-friendly’ material to be sustainable- its also about recycling and re-loving a piece that already exists !! Once the piece is sourced we start production, for most pieces we use a ‘stacking’ sequin technique- placing the sequins down and fastening every single one with a glass seed bead. It’s a really slow process and labour intensive but the end product is absolutely satisfying and so epic when its done.
Recently, we have been mixing up materials, with customised embroidered patches, lace appliqué or hand embroidery. My favourite so far, the cutest pastel pink flamingo on a light denim jacket- or my double love heart denim skirt that I wear with EVERYTHING!!
Check out this video of the process!
Thanks Sophia! Make sure to check out the Hatrik Vintage site and follow Sophia on Instagram.
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