"It's my party"

WEEhuuu..exhibition/pop-up shop coming up!! I will exhibit pictures and clothes in a wonderful little gallery called Schadenfreuden at St. Hanshaugen in November - opening Thursday 7th. You will be able to buy original watercolor paintings and clothes( AW13, samples and some brand new warm homemade stuff:D).
#workinprogress:

Shit happens

I've planned a lot of blog posts, but obviously haven't been able to spit them out there..I guess I've just been overwhelmed(What's the meaning with stonehenge?). To sum it up: shit happens! But the show in London went great with a lot of good feedback and soon there will be a new website WITH a webshop AND I have an EXCITING happening coming up in November so stay tuned! Oh, and the pictures from STABELs new collection(not a fan of season labeling) is a tiny bit delayed, but here's a little preview:

The metamorphosis of STABEL part 2

A lot of things are going through my head these days as I'm trying to mold this business that I started. Difficult decisions gets thrown at me all the time and I'm trying to listen to my heart to navigate through them. I recently had to cancel my planned show at Copenhagen Fashion Week because I didn't feel ready yet. It was a very hard decision to make and I cried as I sent the email, but something in me told me that I needed more time - time to step back and really think through what I want this business to be and carve out a business model that I feel correspond to my values and intentions.

Sometimes I feel that I'm in the wrong business - that I don't feel at home here and that I don't want to follow all the rules that comes with it. But I know that I'm here for the right reasons and I will continue to fight for a different approach - a slower approach - and I'm very excited about it!
I'm planning to start up a web shop soon with some limited edition styles and more exciting news to come - stay tuned!

Meanwhile I'm painting a lot these days as it clears my mind.. Check out my shop on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MajaStabel or my Tumblr site: http://majastabel.tumblr.com/ to see more work. For any inqueries please mail me at maja@stabelstudio.com - I would be delighted to hear from you!

What I'm doing these days..

..sewing, drawing, planning, writing, designing, painting, reading, searching, dreaming, grasping, doubting, learning, reaching, laughing, crying, hoping, yearning, waiting, worrying, digging, finding, loving, enjoying and playing around with old sketches.

Visit at DAFI and CFW in Copenhagen

I've just been in Copenhagen for a meeting with Danish Fashion Institute and Copenhagen Fashion Week. It was a wonderful visit! Exciting times:-)

STABEL in the Norwegian magazine 'Stylemag'

STABEL in the Norwegian Magazine 'Alt for damene'

Painting time-out

When the business planning is totally overwhelming me like it has the past couple of days I take some time out to paint. It always calms me down and make me forget about everything else for a little while. Take a look at my new 'Illustration' page in the side menu:-)

The metamorphosis of STABEL

So with all the talk about transparency and to be honest about your supply chain these days I wanted to share with you my way into it.

I am producing my first collection in India. Why India? Because there is a school here in Oslo that has collaboration with this Indian supplier and they are helping new designers to get their production up and running. That means that they produce as low quantities as you want and they have a professional video conference system that makes it very easy to communicate and to actually see the samples in detail (because of the high quality video that can zoom in and out on details) before they ship it. In this way we spare a lot of shipping costs (and CO2 emissions) because there is no shipping of samples back and forth. To find production as a new designer is a big challenge - as very few factories want to produce low quantities and if they do, it's super expensive. And to come in with a vision of changing the way the business of fashion work is not easy to say it lightly - there is certain rules you should follow. But I will continue to fight for slower fashion where seasons are faded, quality is put before quantity and innovative and sustainable solutions are the new rule.

I’m still in the process of figuring out how to make this all work and I’m going crazy because I want to do it all at once and I want to be as good as the people that has been in the business for many years. I want to use organic materials and I want to be 100% transparent – but all in it’s right time, when I have more resources.

I realized that I need to pave the path first and find my own way in the right time and it is all in the process of learning, trying, failing, discovering AND enjoying. The challenge lies in taking one step at the time and having patience to build something from nothing and to not lose yourself and your vision in the process. 

I will continue to put out posts about the daily life and challenges of STABELstudio. 

Hopefully you can use my experiences as an entrepreneur and designer for inspiration and learning or just for pure amusement. 

And to kick it off here is an article by one of my biggest inspirations and a sustainable fashion superhero, Bruno Pieters of 'Honest By' :

Does Transparency in the Clothing Supply Chain Matter?

by Bruno Pieters, Honest By, 03/11/13

So I've been in India for the production and it was wonderful!

The factory is cute and the people are very nice. They loved the idea and concept of STABEL and it's no problem to make minimum waste work in production!:-)

Video from the show

STABEL AW 13

AW13 Show

We had our very first show this Thursday at the store NR.9 in Oslo. It was a great evening and we're very grateful for everyone that showed up! More pictures and a movie coming up!

Very happy to announce that we're now a member of DAFI!

 

Our stand at Gallery// CFW// AW13

STABEL in DASH Magazine Blog

 

Details

STABEL i Vixen

AW13Colors

StoneShirtPatternCollageInspiration