about

(My current focus is full time art and jewellery design. Our 100% recycled-textile clothing line may return in future.)

Hello, welcome :)

I know it's rare for people to read online these days but an old school about page feels like a nice thing. If you'd rather see/hear me chitchat about my work there's plenty of that on instagram (check the reels).

Anyway, my name is Naomi. I'm a painter - possibly a fantasy artist, depends on your definitions - moonlighting as jewel and clothing designer.

I learned skills like sewing, mending garments, knit and crochet (as well as the nearly lost art of sock darning) from my grandmothers and great grandmother. The work you see here is a synchronization of creativity taught to me in a family culture of recycling and reinventing, skills that were necessary for survival for us until very recently.

My jewellery line is a lifetime of making art and obsessive reading on esoteric subjects channeled to three dimensional, wearable pieces. I create tiny sculptures in wax and clay, carved to the size and design of the intended jewel. No computers or digital tools are involved. The prototypes are set in molds which are then injected with wax and used to cast. This is called the ‘lost wax’ method, a traditional way of making jewellery. Sometimes my wax sculpts are cast without creating a mold which makes them unique and impossible to replicate.

Gemstones, crystals, pearls and beads are sourced ethically to the best of my ability. Vintage and pre-loved where possible, or from small collectors. Crystal and gem mining strips the earth and for fellow believers that stones carry energy it's important not to support these practices.

I have immense gratitude and appreciation for my customers around the world who collect and wear my designs.

More here.

Clothing, Textiles & Radical Sustainability

The clothing collection may return but as of now (2024) my focus is art and jewellery. When I started creating ethical garments in 2012 fast fashion was already a booming industry. During the 2010s consciousness of pollution, climate change and consumerism was raised but this has unfortunately only resulted in greenwashing and very little actual change. I had to step back from my activism on this matter as I was powerless against the lies of the fashion industry, especially when any mention of this on social media resulted in immediate shadow bans and harmed my ability to make a living.

Naomi Nowak clothing is ethical, handmade and unique. Each design is limited edition, sometimes one of a kind, envisioned and created by me personally, using recycled textile only. I also offer a selection of quality vintage and second hand, all in the interest of halting fast fashion consumerism.

The world of ethical fashion, slow fashion or sustainable fashion is a varied spectrum. Some companies (especially smaller ones) are doing fantastic work and some are, unfortunately, greenwashers. What sets my work apart is that I use 100% recycled textile. If you know of any other company that does this on a larger scale (not recycled fibre, not deadstock, but recycled textile) please email me their information immediately, because I have yet to find one!

The textiles I use are sourced from local second hand and charity shops and textile sorting plants in Sweden and Europe. I choose these fabrics for their softness and suitability to a wide range of products that are comfortable, flattering and feel good on your body.

Using reclaimed textiles is not only an ecological benefit but a good choice for your health as well. Newly manufactured textile is heavily processed with toxic chemicals and it takes many washes to get them out. Ever seen a new garment with a ‘wash before use’ sticker? It’s because the chemicals are so bad they can irritate your skin, and there is as yet little research about the long term effects of this exposure but there are studies to suggest chemicals from textile manufacture can cause hormone imbalances in humans and animals.

All textiles are clean on purchase, but i also launder completed garments using completely natural and compostable Sapindus nuts (also known as soap berries) to further remove the last of the chemical detergents.

Not only is this the only fashion house I know of that’s 100% recycled, but the production outfit is very small (just me and a colleague). There is no industrial-scale supply chain and no oppressive demand on dwindling resources; it's sourced and created by us and shipped straight to you.

Because of this I can maintain high ethical standards that bigger companies disregard as ‘inefficient’ for their scale and output. My methods are slower, the financial outlay is higher. I think these are small costs to pay for the infinitely larger rewards of not contributing to rampant consumer culture that is currently destroying our climate and polluting our air and seas. Getting new clothes is fun and life-affirming; this shouldn't have to come with the uneasy feeling of supporting unethical manufacture and contributing to pollution, climate change and infringements on human rights.

I offer alterations, repairs and exchanges because garment should be made to last - something designed to have a long life is an additional way of providing an ethical product and working in the spirit of grandmothers.

What about organic cotton, recycled fibre and recycled textile you ask? Organic cotton is grown using kinder methods and less chemicals than its industrial counterpart so it is a marginally better choice. But it's still a strain on the earth and takes up land that could be used to grow food or preserve our vital oxygen breathing forests. Why make new textile when there is an abundance of it already in existence and ultimately headed for landfill?

Recycling textile fibre is an attempt to answer that; a method which involves shredding and re-using old garments weaving the fibres into fabric. The industry term for the fabrics used in this manner is ‘post-consumer textiles’- second-hand clothing processed by thrift stores and donation charities and then sold by the tonne to recycling plants. But in a world of fast fashion where millions of tonnes of clothes are thrown out every year, there’s just too much for this system to manage, and not all textiles are suited for the process. in addition, textile created this way only has a small (up to but usually less than 40%) percentage of recycled textile, mixed with new fibres to retain durability. It also takes a lot of energy and is far from a perfected method.

Despite the eco credentials of these methods the absolute bulk of garments produced to this standard are still sewn in sweatshops located in developing nations, where human beings (sometimes children) are grossly underpaid, housed in dangerous conditions and made sick by long working hours and exposure to fibre dust and chemicals. I¨m happy to say I suffer no such problems and because I am my own supply chain without middlemen I can keep my prices more affordable than most suppliers who produce ethically and respect human rights.

The two options described above - organic cotton and recycled fibre - are both preferable to the way the vast majority of garments are manufactured today - that is industrially grown and dyed cotton, causing ecological devastation. There has also been progress in recent years with other types of fibre, such as lyocell, modal and hemp. There are companies that produce with these fibres in a 'closed loop' business model, which is admirable and more sustainable than fast fashion. However, as I edit this text in 2018 we are heading for rapid climate change and no longer have the luxury to slowly work out kinks within a non-functioning system. We need change now, and that means halting manufacture. 

So I've chosen the third option, using recycled textile exclusively. This is a simple equation - truly ethical product produced with truly ethical methods - my promise. The fast fashion and textile industries are huge and enourmously harmful - the brief description above only scratches the surface. For recommended further reading about fast fashion and its impact on our planet, please see fashionrevolution.org, an excellent hub of information, initiatives and ways to get involved.

Acknowledgements

A warm thankyou to Karin Öst who helped me run my clothing design business for three years, ending in 2019. 

Photography on the site by: Liselotte Eriksson, Maria De La Croix, Diana Jakobsson. (And me, but all the best shots are by them).

Additional thanks to:  Liuba Socican, Tessa Anaya, Penny Elizabeth Neill, Kim Wildthorne, Jenny Farida Thåström, Charliana Stjernlöf, Martina Bergsjö, Johanna Öst, Evilyn Frantti.

Thankyou for reading and much love!