I am so excited to announce the launch of my new eco clothing and design company Savage Designs. It all started with a dream to create clothing out of wild harvested nettle, clothes that heal us and the earth. Besides being an incredible wild food, nettle has been used as medicine and fiber for millenia. Although nettle is our signature fabric, we also use other fabrics like bamboo, wool, organic cotton and wild crafted hemp (along with a few other, as yet, unrevealed wild-crafted fibers).

Above is a photo of Stardust Magick, our head designer, and a Village Chief who showed us how to harvest nettle bark in the jungle. We work with tribal villagers in Nepal, in a just and conscious way, who have retained their sacred knowledge of working with nettles. You can watch a short clip in the video below, which highlights how the villagers strip the bark from the plants (about 5 minutes into the video), as well as see how how it is spun into thread. You will also hear the ancient song of the giant himilayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia), sung by an 18-year old Kulung Rai woman named Naibi Lakchhi Rai, who sees the importance of keeping their traditions alive.

We are coming into a new stage in our human evolution, a time in which we realize the fabric of our lives is connected, an era in which our organic beauty can be freely expressed and celebrated through the clothes we wear and the relationships we harbor. I would like to see small fiber cooperatives of people forming in the United States…to create fiber security and remove us from the cycle of capitalism. I don’t see this as a step back, but rather we will learn how to take ancient knowledge and techniques and work them creatively in new ways.

Standing with a giant himilayan nettle plant.

Adorned in a crown of raw nettle bark and a 100% wild crafted nettle shawl knit by Kulung Rai women.

Please click here to visit the Savage Designs website.