COLLABORATORS

Pikku Takki’s “FIRST RUN” is the culmination of three women coming together to make clothing with a purpose, united in their passion to create beauty. It is a collaboration across three continents: Aliza Rand is an artist and photographer living in Madison, WI; Sabine Kaipainen is a professional musician and fashion designer based in Thun, Switzerland; and Meeta Mastani is an India-based textile artist specializing in print/dye, and an advocate for traditional, communal and sustainable arts and craft practices. 

Aliza and Sabine first met through a shared mutual love—Sabine’s son who would soon become Aliza’s husband—and found they had other passions in common. The two artists realized they shared similar creative visions and began a collaboration on wearable art featuring Aliza’s photographs printed on textile cyanotypes, much of which was showcased in the exhibition, “UMSTÜLPBAR / INVERTIBLE,” at Galerie Kurt Im Hirsch in Berlin. The expansion of Aliza’s family prompted Sabine to begin designing children’s clothing that was so durable and beautifully designed that the two saw an opportunity for expansion. 

Clockwise, Photos by: Reto Camenisch, Lance Iversen, The San Francisco Chronicle

Aliza and Meeta met while the latter was Artist in Residence at UW-Madison. Aliza was then working as the Photographer for the UW-Madison Division of the Arts, where she documented Meeta’s lectures on traditional Indian craft practices and her hands-on master classes. Fascinated by her life and work, as well as the values imbued in her practices, Aliza proposed a production collaboration with Bindaas Unlimited and Meeta on an ethically-sourced, fashion forward children’s clothing line. Meeta’s commitment to making clothing a sustainable and communal practice through her fair trade textile and craft business, proved to be the ideal fit for Pikku Takki’s "FIRST RUN".

Photo by Michelle Stocker, Cap Times, Madison, WI