Bâtar D’Este
22nd March
Maker: BÂTAR D´ESTE
Behind the brand: Stefan Teske and Florian Wolf
See more: Facebook, Instagram and Website
A contemporary, slow fashion brand, leaving behind the beaten tracks of fashion industry.
MemoriⒶVenir: “Learning past – creating future”
The concept of BÂTAR D´ESTE roots in the Arts and Craft movement, thinking forward while respecting the artisanal past of crafting cloth and garments. We want to respect all hands involved in the creative process of garment making. We want to transform negative aspects of the industry into positive to create a new ethos of creativity, producing and consuming with a sustainable approach.
In the beginning BÂTAR D´ESTE was like a fleeting, sketchy design experiment. We started creating unusual, independent and quite wild designs. These drafts played freely with form, silhouette and material. We created unique pieces for our circle of friends in the Berlin art scene.
A Chance Meeting
On a journey through Europe, we decided to bundle our strengths and knowledge together. Finally, we followed our instinct. In Scotland, we had dinner in a nice little hotel close to the sea. There we met Fiona – a retired teacher from Edinburgh College of Art. During our conversation we spoke about our search for [the perfect] Harris Tweed® jacket. We had immediately fallen in love with the strict, hand-crafted tradition of the exclusively handwoven fabric of the Outer Hebrides.
Fiona suddenly said: “Why don’t you just create your own Harris Tweed® jacket designs? This idea was so simple and obvious, [I wondered why] I did not think of that.
So, our actual journey began.
We founded our design studio, BÂTAR D´ESTE, at the end of 2017 in Berlin. At the beginning we only made our designs on request. We decided to keep this rather unusual way for our label. This is in line with our sustainable approach of lean production and producing on demand – to avoid a waste of valuable resources. Production to order is not revolutionary: the guild of classic men’s tailors has been doing so for centuries.
Our label is close to the Arts and Crafts movement, which investigated the connection between art, society and work. Special emphasis was placed on the appreciation of the craftsmen’s work, the joy of handicraft and the natural beauty of the selected material. We see ourselves as very close to this movement with our approach – amidst the current discussion about resources, overproduction, exploitation, sustainability and social justice.
In our opinion, the Arts and Craft movement has an absolutely contemporary character. We find it exciting to observe how new technologies emerge and how we shape the future, while respecting the values of the past.
Of course, today’s technology can make a lot of things possible, but at the same time we can take much from centuries-old craft traditions.
We are convinced that the responsibility for a better world already lies in every step: from the selection of raw materials, to the design process for sustainable design, to pursuing as far as possible a “zero waste” approach and preferring local production. These are just some of the principles that give us the impetus to carry on, even if we sometimes feel like David versus Goliath.
We pay attention to the balance between contemporary classics, urban reinterpretations and progressive avant-garde. Part of the collection is in One Size and gender-independent. Our aim is for our clothes [to be seen as] timeless pieces. We are convinced that our vision and designs will help shape the future.
