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“Dr. Hauschka’s medicinal herb garden is a great inspiration for the idea of using natural raw materials for textiles as well.”
(Daniela Felder)
You are twin sisters, originally from North Rhine-Westphalia, who studied at the renowned Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, where you founded Felder Felder in 2006 and have been creating fashion ever since. What makes you special?
We often draw our inspiration from two seemingly contrary sources – we are inspired by nature on the one hand and by music and the music icons of the 60s, 70s and 90s on the other hand. We grew up in the German countryside, surrounded by forests, and we have always felt very closely connected to nature. In our teenage years, we discovered our passion for music. Since we didn’t have Internet at the time, we drew great inspiration from our father’s record collection and the record covers depicting extravagantly dressed rock stars. We started dressing in things we made ourselves and in vintage fashion to try and recreate the look of the rock stars.
Your fashion appeals to confident, strong women. How do you create this feeling of strength and femininity?
In our collections, you can feel a touch of rebellion mixed with the delicacy and depth of nature, which is expressed, for example, through the choice of colour, silhouette or embroidery.
“Our fashion suits a lifestyle that obtains materials from nature respectfully, without compromising quality, effect, beauty and style. We have that in common with Dr. Hauschka.”
(Annette Felder)
You have been dealing with the topics of sustainability and fashion for quite a while. What is it that motivates you?
We are very interested in the topic of circular economy. Organic residues as a natural base for sustainable textiles fit into this way of thinking perfectly! Clothing should be biodegraded after responsible use instead of filling garbage dumps for decades like many conventional textiles. We already had the chance to admire Dr. Hauschka’s beautiful medicinal herb garden in Eckwälden – a great inspiration for the idea of using natural raw materials for textiles as well.
Our fashion suits a lifestyle that obtains materials from nature respectfully, without compromising quality, effect, beauty and style. We have that in common with the people of Dr. Hauschka. We share a vision of developing sustainable values while keeping quality, results, beauty and style in mind.
We are drawn to like-minded people. We place importance on mindfulness and respect for people and nature, but also on the desire for adventure and new ideas. Fashion and beauty should inspire and be fun!
How would you describe our collaboration?
We felt a real synergy with your team and immediately exchanged ideas about innovative possibilities. Making textiles out of raw materials is the first step, and creating clothes out of those textiles is the second step. For our collaborative project we used materials that come from nature – pineapple leather that is made from pineapple leaf fibre, Tencel made from wood pulp and tree bark. We also worked with sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, vegan silk or recycled polyester.
Thank you for the interview, Annette and Daniela!
Tanja Fiedler’s work has been published in Spiegel, Architektur & Wohnen, mare and Berliner Zeitung. She has been writing and editing texts for various companies since 2005. She currently lives in Berlin and works in Kreuzberg as the lead of the editorial team for the brand agency Stan Hema, where she heads the external editorial team of www.wala.world.