We had the good fortune of connecting with Anne-Marie Judd and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anne-Marie, why did you pursue a creative career?
From a young age I was a maker of things. I think if you have an urge to create then you don’t have a choice, you need to envisage and express your ideas in order to be fulfilled in life. There is simply no other way you can be. For me, I am fascinated by learning something new, the journey of gaining new skills and knowledge is so satisfying.

I spent the first half of my working life developing products in a high volume manufacturing industry, the products were fun and the work was interesting but I felt a deep disconnect with the way these products stripped more from the environment than they added to societal good and they had little personal value to the people who consumed them. After discovering natural dying as an artform and heritage craft I felt compelled to create textiles that have a story and carried the colors of our local landscape. When I dye a cloth using locally foraged dyes and found objects I am creating a permanent snapshot of a place and time. When these textiles are sewn into clothes, I feel I am creating something that has meaning beyond the garment – it’s as though we are wearing our landscape. To me, there is great creative fulfillment in knowing that I have taken something from the ground, given it a personal connection to the wearer and that it will eventually return to the ground leaving no trace of synthetic chemicals.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So, I am a natural dyer, I work with plants, roots, bark and found objects to create prints and color on textiles. These textiles are then sewn into one-off garments, home goods, and art pieces of my own design. My focus is creating clothing that is dyed using local and native plants, I forage for the plants and hand dye and make each piece in our studio, everything is done in house. I also work with found rust, washed up on beaches or on abandoned structures, rust prints have a photographic quality to them which captures a moment in time.

In wine making there is a term ‘terroir’ which describes the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it was produced: my principals are the same with the textiles I produce, I want them to represent the land and the environment they came from. My aim is to marry a heritage craft practice and create garments for a modern age, I’m inspired by Japanese silhouettes and the simplicity and practicality of workwear garments.

The process is not always easy, working in this way means that each piece I produce is unique and the dye process is very time consuming. It is often challenging to value the time I have put into it, particularly communicating this to people who want to buy something. Over time I have learnt not to devalue my pieces when I sell them – if you tell your story to a customer and they appreciate the time and effort involved in the craft then usually they can justify the higher price point, for me this was not always intuitive coming from a volume and mass production mindset where getting the lowest price was always one of the key factors driving design.

I want people to know that when they buy something from The Way We Live, they are purchasing something that is a total one-off, derived from the local environment and crafted to be passed down to the next generation. I want to produce heritage pieces that will still be in use when I am not here to see them!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well I’d obviously start by visiting Surf Canyon where my studio is based, it’s a great spot to buy hand made goods and chat with inspiring locals. I teach natural dye workshops here too, so we’d have fun making some indigo bandanas in the Malibu sunshine.

Its essential that any visitor to the LA area get out of the city, there’s more to LA than the Hollywood sign! Take a drive up PCH and appreciate the ruggedness of the California coast and the beauty of the beaches that we are so lucky to have right next to our urban areas. Maybe hike in beautiful Topanga State Park, it’s the world’s largest wildland located within the boundaries of a city.

Visit ‘Bob Bakers Marionette Theater’ – I promise there is nothing like this anywhere else and it’s my favorite place in the whole of LA. Its been running since 1963 and is a historic marionette theater which features all of the original puppets and has the BEST shows for kids and adults. I always take my guests there and its never failed to put a smile on their face.

Eat at ‘The Old Place’ on Mulholland Highway in Cornell, the place is really ‘old’, its housed in an old country store and serves up great steaks, live music and a vibe that is truly unique. There’s so much great food in LA its hard to choose but I’d definitely get some tacos from one of the many trucks around town.

Stay at Malibu RV park- honestly you couldn’t get a better location for a camp ground, located so close to central LA but overlooking the pacific ocean, you can wake up to sound of the waves rolling in.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh wow, so many people. Well my dad was a great collector of found things and he gave me a love of looking at the environment and finding treasures, this really influenced me to look around and find the beauty in nature but also to recognize that aging and wear give their own patina on objects that is unrepeatable without a time investment.

My journey into natural dyes was triggered by a chance encounter with the book ‘ Eco Colour’ by India Flint her work is astounding and she opened my eyes to the possibility of working with plant prints.

The creative community at Surf Canyon, where my studio is located, have lifted and supported me – their collective talent has pushed me further and I’m lucky to work within such amazing group. Of course, I couldn’t have pursued this without the encouragement from my family who could saw my passion and urged me to follow it.

Website: www.thewaywelive.us

Instagram: @thewaywelivetoday

Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/anne-marie-judd-a5948824

Image Credits
Amy Smyth (For all photos except: IMG_3629.jpg, IMG_5001.jpg, these were taken by me Anne-Marie Judd)

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