Alter D.
What’s your name and where are you based?
My name is Gabriela Vallejos Castro and I’m based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Can you describe what you do in a few words?
I repurpose discarded shoes and textiles into contemporary footwear.
Can you tell us about the moment you realized you needed to leave commercial fashion?
I knew within the first 3 months I wasn’t going to last a lifetime but I still worked within the industry for approx. 4 years. Setting aside all problems within fast-fashion, I never got used to working in front of the computer for 8 hours a day. I went from working hands-on to sitting still, developing digital sketches. By the time you got to see the samples, the whole team had already moved on. There was never time to fully care about the product and if we as designers don’t have the time to care, how can we ask a customer to?
What was it about footwear specifically that clicked for you?
I’ve studied at multiple design schools to become a fashion designer and during those years it never felt natural to use my own body as a canvas. I’m short and have wide Latin American hips which is very different from fashion-industry-standards. When I started to do footwear, it was the first time I could sketch and drape on myself. I could wear and see the designs through the whole process. It was like my legs became my muses and my models.
You mention that anyone can design, but saying something meaningful is the real challenge, what do you feel your work is starting to say?
That repurposed goods can be done on a higher level in a couture-like manner. That the work can be as clean and polished as something brand new, and in the end that new can just as easily be made from the pre-existing.
You describe this project as finding home, but still settling in. What makes it feel like home?
It’s a gut feeling. I think I struggled to find my design aesthetic before. In school, you were taught to think BIG by sketching big silhouettes and to think w-i-d-e by paying attention to a whole spectrum of things. It was too overwhelming for me, especially since I’m a perfectionist. Working small has made me at ease and grounded because now I can take the time to work on the craftmanship and all the little details.
Working with existing materials can be tough, how do you source them, and what do you look for?
I source by thrifting both in physical second-hand shops and online. I usually look for textures or certain colours or prints. I’ve just recently started to collaborate with a textile sorting-centre and an estate-sale company which has forced me to be quite specific in what I’m looking for and how I convey that to others.
You mention wanting to change the meaning of “new.” What do you think “new” should mean in design today?
I’ve focused on changing the meaning because I work in an industry that’s obsessed with ‘NEW’ and that is often treated equally to ‘BETTER’. As an example, your sweater is old to you but it can be new to me. If you wear your sweater as a skirt it takes on a new shape and forms a new meaning to both of us. It shows that we don’t need to produce more sweaters in order to experience new, we just need to shape-shift things!
If you expanded, what would you try next?
I’m not sure I would. I think I’ve just scratched the surface of this project. However, I’d like to teach more and educate others about mending and caring. There are a lot of people who don’t know how to sew a button for example.
Outside of work, what does an ideal day look like?
Work-free days usually mean re-charging to me. Since I’m an introvert I need time alone without any pressure to perform. Just like every other fashion girly I love iced-lattes and thrifting. However, I love making it to an excursion and travel to a nearby town by train. I won’t leave the thrift shop until I’ve examined all glass-ware one by one. When I’m done, I like to go to a restaurant where I can order a glass of wine and people watch, and wonder about who I would have been if I’d lived there…
Where can people find you?
My work exist on Instagram at the moment at @__alter.d but a website is coming. It’s not quite settled if it’s during this spring or summer, but my work will be exhibited for the first time at @forumgoteborg in a group exhibition which I’m very exited about! Come visit Gothenburg, Sweden!
