MATERIAL is a collective of designers with a shared commitment to a creative practice that redefines the intersection of artisanal tradition with contemporary silhouettes.
MATERIAL will create curated, experiential gatherings in artist spaces that address an aspect of the design practice, such as ideation, collection design, and material sourcing.
We believe that audiences and designers benefit by a more meaningful dialogue. By bringing together diverse designers and artisans who create and manufacture locally, we intend to rekindle this designer-patron relationship in a MATERIAL way.
GILLION CARRARA is a Chicago-based metalsmith and academic whose creative process is fueled by her interest in exploring the relationship between materials, function and fabrication. Reflecting her preference for solitary work, she carefully sculpts and molds natural and industrial materials such as silver, horn, shell, wood, and stainless steel sourced locally and internationally. The results are sensual and tactile accessories and objects that have earned her a following among collectors around the world. She is the founding director of the School of the Art Institute Fashion Resource Center and is a member of the faculty.
ANDREA REYNDERS’s designs reflect and define the space between body and garment, dreams and reality and the relationship between our private worlds and our lived expressions of being. This aesthetic approach inspires a vision of dressing that appeals to women and men. Professor Emeritus of the School of the Art Institute’s Fashion Department, and currently Design Director at the Chicago Fashion Incubator at Macy’s, she continues to nurture designers internationally.
ANNA BROWN brings a background in modern art and comparative literature in Spanish and Portuguese to clothing design. Her collection research includes historical menswear and workwear, twentieth-century art and design, and the built environment’s interaction with nature. While always interested in volume, proportion, and dynamic asymmetry, her practice is guided by inventive forms that are true to modern life. She currently works from her storefront studio in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.
