Issue 47 – Sustainability
‘The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for’ – Ernest Hemingway
It was in Glen Adamson’s Fewer, Better Things, where I first came across the idea of ‘material intelligence’ and its relevance to the current debates around sustainability. Material intelligence refers to an all-but-lost link to the craft that lies behind the creation of an object. Regaining a sense of material intelligence boils down to an appreciation of garments – and indeed objects in general – in terms of the time, effort and skill that went into creating them. In today’s all-consuming, fast fashion climate, I think it’s more important than ever to slow down and think about how a particular object came to be and, of course, how long it will continue to be. Things stick around, after all. They remain and amass. Sustainability is a question of being alert to that very fact, and acting accordingly. And that is the theme of this issue. Enjoy.
