Jade To

Jade To...

Born in New Jersey, based in New York, a designer with a focus on handknitting, crochet, and needle-felting.

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For me, inspiration can be found anywhere; horror novels, nature documentaries, scribbles on the sidewalk… It doesn’t matter where it came from, just that it made itself known as something that I could find a piece of myself in. 

The design process is just as important as the final outcome, and with this in mind, concocting what became “Rabbit Teeth” became a ritual that I was, and still am, devoted to. Sifting through everything I come in contact with in daily life for something that calls out to me. 

“Rabbit Teeth” started as a series of illustrations, and with a focus on materiality that provided a sort of eerie realism in its texture and tactility, those drawings were translated into garments and accessories that held their essence and brought forward a new dimension to them. It is inherently a collection that tells a story, using fashion as a means of worldbuilding, with the looks acting as their own characters. 

A consistent part of my work has been playing with the combination of unsettling imagery countered with inviting, familiar elements which create this sort of dissonance and confusion within the viewer. With cute, yet visually uncomfortable imagery balanced with a soft, comforting feel, the pieces provide physical comfort in efforts to counteract the disturbing narrative.