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In 2021, Ana Andrade set out to create a line with goals vastly different from the ones she saw in the fashion industry: to bridge the gap between traditional artisan communities and the high-end designer market. Each Veredas piece is produced working alongside local craftspeople in Latin America in a way that positively impacts their economies, improves their working conditions, and directly contributes to the preservation of their cultural heritage and traditional crafts. Read on to learn more from Andrade about the inspiration behind her brand.
When and how was Veredas founded?
I started working on Veredas during my final year at Central Saint Martins, when I first started researching Brazilian traditional crafts and meeting with communities of artisans and lacemakers (with whom I later produced my graduate collectsion). The brand in itself, however, wasn’t officially launched until the end of last year (2021).
VEREDAS means trails/pathways. It is also in the title of one of the masterpieces in Brazilian literature, Grande Sertão: Veredas, which speaks, not coincidentally, of one of the areas some of these artisans live in.
How would you describe your brand in three words?
Experimental, ethical, otherworldly.
What was your inspiration for your most recent collectsion? How do you find inspiration in general?
Anunciação.22 is our launch collectsion. It's an extremely important body of work with all of our DNA imprinted into it—all of the work, blood, tears, and research that went into making Veredas in the years prior to launching our brand.
My creative process is 100-percent textile based. It starts with the work and research carried out with the local artisan communities in different parts of Brazil. From there, I take this textile exploration and play and apply it into actual clothing design, mixing references from traditional Brazilian cultural identities with contemporary references of things I am interested in (sci-fi, futurism, fiction, anime, video games, theory, etc).
Current style or fashion muse:
Princess Mononoke and FKA Twiggs
Tell us about the creation of your bobbin lace pieces:
Bobbin lace is a textile technique originated in 16th-century Europe made from the twisting and braiding of single threads into small, intricate patterns. I fell in love with the technique a few years ago while doing research for my graduate collectsion, which eventually evolved into Veredas. I connected with it not only because of my background in knitwear, but also because of how receptive, loving, and heartwarming the lacemaking community in Ceará, Brazil was to me, my project, and my ideas.
I’ve built very organic relationships and friendships with the artisans in a way that their village became a second home to me in Brazil. I have always promoted a lot of exploration and experimentation with the technique (we have samples with wire, plastic, elastic, paper, and many other kinds of crazy yarns!) while still paying respect to the traditional world of lace. In bobbin lace, I never tell the artisans exactly what to do—we work together by respectfully experimenting and creating collaboratively. Each of our pieces is single handedly made by one of these women living across villages in Ceará and can take up to three months to be completed. This really is a labor of love and a reflection of what we hope for sustainability in the fashion industry.
Tell us what playlist is on repeat in the studio lately
This one tune: Last Train Home by Pat Metheny Group.
