August 06, 2018
QUIER, innovation in the fashion industry
QUIER is a design studio based in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, founded by Silvia Querede and Noelí Gómez.
QUIER was born in an academic space. They met as a teacher and student. They share the same interest in research and sustainable practices around Design. Rosario is a city of strong contrasts. Quier was forged in this city, in the permanent dialogue of 2 different women with common interests: Design and the way of building Identity with him.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
Our identity is formulated from this territory of differences, confluences and potentialities, here we find our sources of
inspiration. The design process is nourished by conversations, shared experiences and daily fictions. Textile research is a permanent work premise. We design loose silhouettes, without adjustments. Multifunctional, reversible, multitale are some characteristics of our garments. The engine that drives Quier is the ethical decision to recover the forgotten trades and respect for the people who collaborate in realizing projects, mastery of hands that trace, sew, braid, cut, fold.
What materials do you mainly work with? In the conversation you had, you explained to me the design
process and the new textiles you work on … Tell us a little more about this.
The materials are our first question in the design process since we work in the management of textile waste and we are attentive to the composition and origin of the textiles we use. The first team action – even before QUIER started as a company – was the development of a textile developed with scraps and textile waste. The fabricQUIER is the result of a research about the management of them and an assembled textile was achieved with multiple possibilities, without visible seams and multifunctional: reversible and waterproof. We work with organic materials – wool, cotton, linen – and also with materials of mixed composition, which are rationally used to solve reversible garments or with circular
manufacture.
Who produces Quier?
Our production takes place in Rosario and the region. It is a work premise related to the search for Identity as a symbolic
value and with the intention of generating economic sustainability in the territory where we live. We produce ourselves together with local and regional producers. Our raw material and manufacturing suppliers are located in this territory.
What has it meant for you to attend the second edition of MOLA?
The 2nd edition of Mola was the realization of a management that began in the 1st edition – due to the short production time that was at the time of our contact, our participation was not possible – so we reached the 2nd edition with eager to share our experiences, meet other producers, designers and actors with matching interests.
We meet many valuable people and possess a growing awareness of urgent and unpostponable problems. Mola is a platform to visualize these urgent problems and discuss new actions with interesting actors to forge new scenarios and install this problem and its possible solutions more and more effectively.
How do you value the situation of the textile industry in Latin America?
The situation of the textile industry in Latin America is complex and diverse depending on the country in question. It is not the same what happens in Argentina or what happens in Brazil – which has a huge market and consolidated industry – or Chile with a more stable economy and a market inclined by retail.
We find different situations by country and that may have coincidences in some items. For example, the working conditions of textile workers are questionable, the closer you get to industrial production, the less transparent and fair. On a larger scale, less transparency.
It is also important to recognize that there are other ways of working that are starting to be a valid alternative, the change of paradigm is an increasingly visible and extensive reality in Latin America and the world.