Hooting Miss Owl: Interview with Eco fashion warriors, Dumpster Design!

In 2007, Daisy Harris-Burland started something that a lot of peple told her not to do. Now down the line she has really made a name for herself. You may know her as the brainchild of Dumpster Design! Dumpster Design brings us 100% Eco friendly couture and it really takes recycling to another level. Each garment is handcrafted and manipulated with materials she has found, giving them a new lease of life. Her dresses start from £700 and she has worked with big names like Benefit Cosmetics, Suzuki, Brighton Fashion Week and Waitrose. I had the chance to interview the lovely Daisy and this is what she said....

HMO - Hi Daisy. So, I first discovered you at Brighton Fashion Week 2012 and you recently showcased again at BFW2013 in their new Eco fashion show, Sustain, which I also saw. You must have been pleased that Eco and sustainable clothes has been recognised in the fashion industry to be given its own show?

DAISY - Yes, it is great to see that sustainable fashion is finally being recognised as a viable option in the industry. More than anything it raises peoples awareness, many people do not realize that it is even possible to create a collection 100% eco friendly. So it was amazing to have a whole show dedicated to doing just that.

HMO - Brighton is certainly the perfect place to showcase your designs. Are there plans to go international?

DAISY - Absolutely. I would love to go international, as I’m sure any designer would. However I think I need to crack the UK before I go gallivanting off to other countries. It would be interesting to see how my designs change in accordance to the location as every country specialises in different materials.

Dumpster Design at BFW2013 Sustain Show. Images courtesy of Clive Flint & Gareth Gregg

HMO - What inspired you to develop the idea of Dumpster Design?

DAISY - Haha...well, when it comes down to it Dumpster Design was formed because I was (possibly still am) a massive cheap skate. I was 16 and had my prom coming up… everyone was buy £400 dresses and I didn’t have that sort of money so I went into my kitchen and made a dress with what I found under the sink. This was all very well and good until my friend spilled a drink on me at prom and I was left standing in the middle of the dance floor with my cardboard dress disintegrating around me (I ended up having to go to reception and ask for substantial amount of duck tape). But that’s where it all started, with the attention and interest that one dress generated I knew there was a business to be made.

HMO - One of the things I liked about your show is that you could recognise what some of the dresses were made from. Is that something quite important to you? Is it intentional?

DAISY - In all honesty I try and make it so you don’t immediately realise what the dresses are made from. As everything I use is still in its raw state (I don’t paint it or change its natural appearance in anyway) it means it can be very obvious what it is. If you stuck a roll of kitchen roll to a top you’d know it was a roll of kitchen roll stuck to a top if you get what I mean? I love the fact that you don’t realise that these are all throw away house hold items until you get up close and really see the intricacy involved in every design. I love watching peoples reactions when they realise a dress is made from jay cloths haha

HMO - What has been the most unusual material you've used to make an item?

DAISY - Man, there have been so many. Umm...most unusual I guess would be deckchairs, maybe? Oh or liquid latex-that was an odd one!

HMO - What would be your dream material to use?

DAISY - My dream material...hmm...it would probably be from the inside of a space satellite or huge computer. Anything that would leave me with loads of micro chips and memory boards, along with meters and meters of wiring. I would love to see what I could make with that!

HMO - You must do a lot of experimenting. Do you find it quite easy to manipulate materials in the way you want them to go? Is there a material you're still tackling?

DAISY - When it comes to manipulating materials I am fully at the mercy of the material in question. If I try and fold something and it is clearly saying ‘I aint foldin’ like that!’ then that’s it, cant do it. I have to find another way to work with it. It is all about pushing each material to its limits stretching it to the exact point just before it breaks. But I have to listen to the material and work in a way that suits it best, as every item has different properties. But that’s what I love to find out, and that’s why each of my designs are so different depending what they are made of. But for material I am still tackling.. I just made a dress out of cling film and that wasn’t easy to say the least, its just so...clingy?! I was about ready to wrap it round my head and call it a day on more than 2 separate occasions haha.

HMO - Where do you source your materials? Do you go out looking for things, do people donate?

DAISY - Oh my word, here there and everywhere! Im always sending out some bizzareo request to my friends and family. ‘This week its lottery tickets guys!’ or ‘don’t forget to pick up any old porn mags you have lying around on your coffee table, I'm making a 'Lust' dress'. They are used to it by now! It is surprising how much stuff you can generate though just by asking around. And of course, if I'm making a dress for a company, then they supply the branded materials themselves.

HMO - What are your career highlights so far? Anything you're still aiming for?

DAISY - Career highlight? Well, once I was sat in a park and a total stranger walked past me and said ‘excuse me, are you Daisy Dumpster?’ that’s not my name, but still, that was pretty cool. Oh and obviously working with huge brands such as Benefit Cosmetics, Dior, L’Oreal and Suzuki blah blah.

HMO - What advice can you give other budding designers out there?

DAISY - It sounds cliché but just don’t give up. I had so many people tell me ‘no’ when I was first starting out. I even had to quit my degree course (which was fashion?!) because they didn’t like what I was doing. But I carried on and have never looked back.

HMO - Any exciting projects coming up?

DAISY - Lots of exciting things at the moment. I am currently working on a 7 dress collection based on the 7 deadly sins, this is for the Radical Designer Awards in London in October. I am also doing Front Row fashion show in November and…save the best ‘till last… I have just had conformation on a collaboration with Dior, DIOR?! It still surprises me to say it! VERY excited to get stuck into this one!

You can follow Daisy and Dumpster Design's journey on Facebook and Twitter. If you are interested in getting a bespoke garment made please contact Daisy via her website. I also get to try out one of Daisy's dresses in my next Style post. You can find it here!

WARNING!! You are about to witness a sneak preview of current work in progress on the new 7 deadly sins collection