Unravelled Stories. Meet: Celina from Child of Society

While the fashion industry is focused on advancing through means of high-performing technology and artificial intelligence, Melbourne-based maker Celina Kanae Samarakoon is choosing to take a step backwards.

Her label, Child of Society, is truly one of a kind. The two-year-old accessory and apparel brand fuses her Japanese and Sri Lankan heritage, her dedication to zero waste practices, and her interest in natural dyes and slow ways of making. 

After a brief stint studying fashion design, Celina became disenfranchised with the industry and its mindless throwaway culture. It’s then she leant on the values she grew up with – a respect for nature and a regard for culture. Now, Child of Society integrates traditional crafts with modern wearability.

You’ll find Celina using avocado pits and natural indigo pigment as her main dye sources, and any threads and scraps leftover from natural fibres are home composted. Child of Society is the embodiment of considered, thoughtful and slow fashion. 

Interview by Maggie Zhou

 

TSS: How did you get into making such beautiful pieces? 

Celina: Thank you so much, that's so sweet! I have been making clothes since I was very young and always enjoyed doing all things arts and crafts. I decided to take fashion more seriously by briefly studying fashion design in Sydney, but this is also where I started to see the issues in the industry when it came to waste and sustainability. I moved to Melbourne and learnt about more responsible ways to create, and this is when I started to develop my own style. I started to centre sustainability, resulting in a passion for zero waste, naturally dyed and culturally inspired clothing. 

TSS: You’ve spoken about how your Japanese and Sri Lankan heritage serves as inspiration for your work. Can you expand on this? 

Celina: Yes! Living in the diaspora, I have been exploring craft and fashion as a way to (re)connect with my culture. Craft and making has been used as a medium to tell stories, share knowledge and express values all over the world. These crafts have been evolving over many generations, but recently with less young people interested, a lot of this knowledge and ways of practicing are being lost. 

This way of making is inherently more sustainable as it causes people to be more in tune with their environment, and place greater value on what they wear. I want others to see value in traditional crafts and slow making as a way to connect with culture and the values linked with slowing down. I wanted to use Child of Society as a way to explore how we can wear elements of traditional dress and long-standing crafts to feel a connection to cultural lineage.

TSS: What made you pick the name Child of Society?

Celina: The name Child of Society came up through a conversation with my mum. We were talking about my childhood, and she was reflecting on how busy she was whilst trying to raise me. She said something along the lines of 'society raised you' in Japanese, so it doesn't translate perfectly. I realised that we are all products of the societies that raise us, ever-changing and evolving. In a world that is so fast-paced and demands perfection, I wanted my brand to showcase learning, evolving and growth and thought that 'Child of Society' captured that perfectly.

TSS: What considerations do you have when creating your products? I’d love to hear more about your natural dye methods and zero-waste design ethos.

Celina: The fashion industry is not very transparent, and it's almost impossible to find out where exactly things come from and how they are made. This includes a lot of dyes that can be harmful and potentially toxic to us and our environment, which is why I have a strong interest in plant dyes. At the moment, I use avocado pits that I collect from my kitchen, and natural indigo pigment sourced from Tarai Blue as my main dye sources. I also grow my own indigo that I hope to use as a dye source for Child of Society one day.

My interest in zero-waste design started when I learned to pattern make. It felt wasteful to cut away something that had been grown, processed, spun and woven to end up in my hands for me to send it to landfill. Saris and kimono are also zero-waste, so I found that to be an interesting intersection to explore. I only use natural fibres now, so the threads and unavoidable scraps are composted at my house. The fashion industry has such a large impact on the environment, so I do what I can to make sure I minimise my own impact. Looking to the past and how traditional crafts were practised serves as a great guide on how to do that.

TSS: Your work is highly connected with nature – what’s your connection to the natural world?

Celina: My work is heavily inspired by my culture, so I think the elements of nature are inevitable. So many cultural motifs and designs are based on the local place where they have been used for centuries, and hence strongly incorporate local motifs from nature.

I was raised to respect nature very deeply, and from a young age I was taught that nature gives us life, and that nature itself is alive. I grew up in Cairns where nature is both beautiful and unpredictable. The human impacts in nature are easy to see up north, but you can also see how nature adapts and overcomes certain challenges. I am so lucky to have grown up next to some of the most beautiful reefs, oceans, mountains and rainforests in such a diverse community with many perspectives on connection to nature, which I believe have all influenced the way that I connect with nature. 

TSS: Some of your most incredible pieces are your Kanzashi hats. Can you explain its cultural significance and the story behind them? 

Celina: In Japanese culture, kanzashi (traditional hair ornaments) have been worn for hundreds of years. When I celebrated my coming-of-age ceremony, I was given a box of kanzashi to choose from. One of these was a tsumami hana kanzashi (pinched flower hair ornament). I admired this kanzashi’s beauty as an accessory and as a representation of my culture. I would have liked to continue wearing it, however, I couldn't see it fitting in with my wardrobe or lifestyle. This sparked the recreation of this hair ornament in a modern context, prompting conversations about the evolving nature of cultural design and tradition not limited to formal occasions and tourism.

Traditionally, they are worn with consideration of the motifs that reflect the current season. The Kanzashi hat is made of a simple and seasonless five-petal flower. To accommodate the practical needs of a hat (i.e. flexibility, durability and comfort), the flowers are not constructed using the traditional method, but rather by sewing with thread. Recently, I have also started making tsumami hana (pinched flower) hair clips and hair ties for a more casual look which actually looks more similar to traditional kanzashi. 

TSS: What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome in your career?

Celina: I believe that my biggest challenge that I am always trying to work on is my confidence and trusting that something I create is 'good enough'. I struggle to know when to stop and often find myself looking at my work too closely, doubting it and wanting to start again. I'm sure most people with creative projects can relate to this feeling, but it is definitely an area that holds me back from producing new work publicly. I have an amazing community of friends and family that encourage me to share my work and I am forever grateful for each and every one of them.

TSS: Who are some local artists and makers you admire? 

Celina: Studio PCL, DnJ Paper, Remuse, Safael Samad, Reify and all of my friends! I truly admire each and every one of them and thank them for inspiring me to keep creating.