Ada Zanditon
...fashion can sometimes provide us with a visual opportunity for globally understood narrative.
Nothing inspires me like...
A really good cup of fair-trade tea, preferably made in my extremely beautiful Marmite tea pot. Yes, that’s right, a teapot that looks like a giant jar of Marmite! (I also find Marmite butter and crumpets extremely inspiring).
My tea with no sugar (because my dentist could be reading this) and a generous dash of milk. Mmmmm
I hope...
That in my lifetime, affordable, renewable and sustainable sources of energy become available to everyone on the planet and that we stop being dependent on oil, that a majority of the earth’s population will care about and understand the importance of biodiversity and their position within nature (rather than superior to it) however if it takes a long time I won’t be surprised.
Cultural influences...
Inlude: Vandana Shiva, Thomas Heatherwick, Bishi, J.E Lovelock, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Lana Del Rey, Klaus Nomi, Kylie Minogue, Cesar Harada, Zaha Hadid, Viktoria Modesta, Julian hakes, Luca Romanyi, Buckminster Fuller, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Anish Kapoor, William Morris and Charles Le dray.
I got where I am...
Through determination, intuition, perseverance and putting the hours in. I learnt to accept that it’s as much about the process as the end result and that most of all, it's about the customers because without them, like oxygen without hydrogen, you won’t have any water.
Fashion can sometimes...
Provide us with a visual opportunity for globally understood narrative, meaning and connection, where language cannot transcend a barrier. I realised this particularly when I was doing a catwalk show in china and even some of my gestures were not understood but my clothing was.
Did you know...
That as of spring 2010 there are only an estimated total of 790 mountain gorillas left worldwide with whom we share at least 95% the same DNA?
I sense that...
A lot of people are put off of the idea of sustainability and environmental issues by two things, 1. A feeling of lacking the power to make an impact 2. Really irritatingly self-righteous hardliners who give it the whole holier-than-thou spin. But I believe two things 1. Each individual effort as part of a collective whole is incredibly important 2. Never be put off doing something good by a smartypants, it’s about discovering and evolving not, suddenly becoming a saint.
If I could...
Encourage people to connect what they wear, how they consume and what they consume to their own unique position of power to be part of and create a more beautiful environment and experience of being then that would be my greatest achievement.
There's a new...
Way of making objects using 3-dimensional printing, AKA rapid prototyping and I am extremely interested in this and other innovative technologies as ways of creating and innovating with the possibility of zero waste and local global manufacturing.
The earliest memory...
I have is playing football with my grandad in the garden of my grandparent’s house when I was two.
My mum...
Is a highly intelligent, self-motivated artist who has encouraged me to think and live my ideas and I will always be eternally grateful to her and all of my family.
I like making...
Risotto, (Maybe love is a more appropriate word) especially with wild mushrooms, cream, saffron and courgettes.
I tried to live...
In Paris and although the architecture, culture and food were wonderful beyond all belief I really missed the eclectic multicultural madness and diversity of London.
Pain comes from...
Accidentally standing on one of the many pins trapped between the floorboards of my studio, with my bare feet.
I have never...
Driven a car and I am neither proud nor ashamed of this – it’s just a fact! I grew up in London and I really like gazing out the windows from the top deck of a double-decker bus.