Nolly a Nongovia od Isobel Dyson (PDF download)
 

Isobel Dyson je talentovaná ilustrátorka, ktorá vyrastala v Južnej Afrike. V rámci absolvovania Maastrichtskej Akadémie interdisciplinárnych umení (iArts) v Holandsku sa rozhodla napísať a ilustrovať detskú knižku. Dostala názov Nolly a Nongovia a zameriava sa na problémy rýchlej módy a upcyklácie z pohľadu detí. 

V rámci týžňa módnej revolúcie, Fashion revolution week, Vám s potešením prinášame jej slovenskú verziu, ktorá bude k dispozícii ako PDF dokument počas jedného mesiaca.
Nižšie nájdete rozhovor s Isobel o jej motivácii napísať túto knihu a taktiež o tom, ako aj Vy môžete ovplyvniť udržateľnosť v móde. Rozhovor s Isobel pripravila v angličtine naša dobrovoľnčka Rubi.
Anglickú verziu knihy nájdete na Isobelinej webovej stránke https://isobeldyson.wixsite.com/mysite.
Jej umeleckú činnosť môžete podporiť kúpou dobrovoľného lístka v ľubovoľnej cene.

Interview with Isobel Dyson, Children’s writer and Illustrator

Isobel is a talented children’s author and illustrator who grew up in South Africa. As part of graduating from the Maastricht Academy of Interdisciplinary Arts (iArts) in the Netherlands, Isobel decided to write and illustrate a children's book. It's called Nolly and the Nongos and focuses on the issues of fast fashion and upcycling through the lens of a children’s book. As part of Fashion Revolution week, we are very happy to bring you a Slovak language translation of the book which will be available here. Below you can find an interview with Isobel on her motivation on writing the book, and how you can make an impact in the sustainable fashion revolution. 

Rubi Jansen: OK, so, I’m very excited to talk to you today, would  you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your book?

Isobel Dyson: Sure. So I studied in this program called Interdisciplinary Arts for three years. And in the third, we have to do a graduation project for the entire year. And, I decided to create an illustrated children's book. Leading up to my third year I have basically been doing a lot of research into the fashion industry and its implications. And so I translated, or tried to translate the main essence of what I learned through doing this research into a children's book.

Rubi Jansen: Can you describe the scope of your research? I know you've been researching a lot into fashion?

Isobel Dyson: So During my second year, while doing a project that was not related to children’s books but was related to clothing and sustainability, (Distressed 2018) and it kind of led me into this world of the fashion industry, and everything that's wrong with it, from the production of the cotton, the factories where clothes are made, the whole system behind the fashion industry (which is called fast fashion), and the transportation of the clothes, then us wearing the clothes, and how when we wash them the plastic microfibers have a five year old release into water. And then, of course, the worst part is when we throw away our clothes really quickly and too fast. I started off by researching each of these individual phases. But in the end, I came to the conclusion that the most beneficial action one person can make to end this cycle is to stop buying new clothes, because we basically have way too many clothes in the world right now. And you need to reuse what we have instead of making more. In landfills a large amount of the waste are clothes, surprisingly, and they don't decompose. The clothes are made not completely with cotton. So there's a lot of plastic fibres in them and which obviously makes it hard to decompose. So that was kind of the main message of the story book to reuse what we have before rather than buying new things.

Rubi Jansen: So why did you decide to synthesize your research in the form of a children's book?

Isobel Dyson: Well, I've always enjoyed reading my self, especially as a child. I see the power of stories and how they can be used to bring across a message. And so I kind of wanted to take advantage of that power and influence that story you can have, and sort of rewrite the way that kids especially view the world and kind of reinforce a different message or story which values things that last longer, that are made well, and the skills required to mend and fix clothes.

Rubi Jansen: Yes. And as this is Fall Fashion Revolution Week and a lot of people reading this will probably be wondering why what they can do to improve their sustainability when it comes to fashion, is there a piece of advice you would give to people wondering what steps they can make to be more sustainable.

Isobel Dyson: Yeah, I mean, the first thing that you can do is to stop buying from fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Stradivarius, Mango, these kind of shops, because they are the epitome of fast fashion, and they do not treat their factory workers correctly and they basically reinforce all the bad things that are wrong with the fashion industry. So the first thing you can do is stop buying clothes from there. The second thing will be to mend what you have in your closet rather than throwing things away. And if you do throw things away to try and find another home for them rather than disposing of them in the trash, and you can do things like tear up sheets and use them as cloths, for example, or hand down your clothes, or give to charity shops. Personally, I think that buying anything new is not necessary, but they are sustainable brands, that use upcylced fabrics or use more sustainable fabric that's made from cotton, for example. But I think that the best you can do is reduce your consumption. And if you do want to buy clothes, then buying from second shops. There's a lot of apps as well. We can sell and buy clothes online and people are trying to get rid of like Depop, for example, or in the Netherlands Vinted. And yeah, And also you can organize things like clothes swaps, go to charity shops, for example. That would be my advice.

Rubi Jansen: Thank you. And your books can get a Slovak translation as part of the Fashion Revolution Week, which I'm sure you're very excited about. 

Isobel Dyson: Very!

Rubi Jansen: And do you think there is universal nature in the way that kid's books can give a message?

Isobel Dyson: Yeah, I do. I mean, I especially tried this mine to make it universal, so in that I made, for example, the houses that the characters live in, not specific to one country. And I think there are just underlying themes that can be picked up wherever you are. Like a grandmother trying to get her grandaughter to clean up the mess, it  is just something that kind of happens in a lot of families. And so I think they're really useful in that sense and can be picked up wherever you are in the world. At least that’s what I tried to do with mine.

Rubi Jansen: And if any of our readers are interested in getting to know more about your work, where can they find you?

Isobel Dyson: You can find me on my Web site, and send me a message via the contact page.

Rubi Jansen: Ok, and thank you very much for the interview, it been a pleasure talking to you!

Isobel Dyson: Thank you. Enjoy Your Evening!

more about fashion revolution week: https://www.fashionrevolution.org/