Eastside Culture Crawl: November 14-17
Every year, the team here at Diane Kennedy looks forward to the Fall season, in part because our city holds a very special 4 day event.
We are thrilled to be participating (instead of attending) in this year's annual 23rd Eastside Culture Crawl. For those not in the know, it's an event that celebrates the tremendous impact that Art and Design has on our community in East Vancouver. The Crawl began as a small group of Eastside artists interested in engaging with the public. They eventually decided to come together as a circle and promote an open studio event.
As one of Vancouver’s yearly cultural highlights, The Culture Crawl provides a great opportunity to explore East Vancouver’s vibrant arts scene and laude our local artists for their contributions to our city. Vancouver’s strong and creative arts community is a key element of what makes Vancouver such a dynamic and thriving city. As a proudly Canadian fashion line, being located in the heart of such an inspiring neighbourhood is such a blessing to us.
In the first few years, attendance was only a few hundred people; participants and attendees included. Fast forward 20+ years and The Eastside Culture Crawl has grown to include over 480+ artists and 68 venues. Participants include visual artists, craftspeople and designers, and the event attracts more than 40,000 attendees, lovingly dubbed, "crawlers".
We're so honoured to be included in the Crawl's wonderful line-up of textile and design artists; their work is well worth your attention. Textile practices go back as far as humanity's origins. Over history, this "technology" has led to the invention of basketry, weaving, knitting, stitching and ever increasing complexities of design and process. It's only natural that the fashion industry works closely with the artistry of textile production. Together, pieces are created that not only express one's individuality, but can also make statements about social/ethical values, such as our personal commitment to Eco/Ethical fabric and production practices.
From November 14-17, our designer, Diane, will be on hand to chat with you about our inspiration, process and execution of our work. Our design process is created almost entirely on a computer, but using a machine does not mean we simply push a button and the finished product appears. Computer–aided design, for example, is a labour-intensive, highly skilled process. Patterns need to be created and tested, prototypes are sewn and fitted on real bodies. Adjustments are made, patterns are graded for size and a cut layout is created to make best use of the fabric. Each Diane Kennedy garment is then sewn on a machine by a skilled seamstress, all of which happens at factories very close to East Vancouver. We'll be able to go into more detail about these processes to anyone who visits our studio during this event.
The Eastside Culture Crawl is a grand opportunity to learn more about our process. We're excited to show you how much goes into every piece we design & produce!
