Talent Talks: Valeria Pulici

Valeria Pulici Valeria Pulici views timelessness as a trap, exploring femininity through conflict, vulnerability, and the grotesque. She focuses on "filthy femininity," using charcoal-based bioplastics designed to degrade over time. Embracing the idea that some objects aren't meant to last, she connects the human condition of change to the (im)permanence of materials.

Photographer: Valeria Pulici - Assistant: Jacek Gleba Puig - Model: Monica Okello

Could you please introduce yourself

My name is Valeria. I am an Italian designer based in London since 2015. My background is in fashion, where I mainly have been working as a print designer before my graduation. I have always been drawn to the arts and creative field. I’m someone who has different and varied interests in my daily life. I am very curious, I like to know how things are made and why. Experimentation is at the base of everything I do, even with myself. I guess I see fashion in the same way, as a ground for (self)experimentation and discovery. I try to redirect this in my work by merging techniques and disciplines.

Having graduated recently, how do you look back on your studies?

I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue a Master’s Degree. For many years, I thought about returning to education and study at Central Saint Martins. I guess I was getting stuck in my job which didn’t reflect my reasons and vision for design. I needed to find a deeper meaning and knowledge and also a little more pleasure, consciousness and authenticity within my role as a designer in a rapidly changing and increasingly challenging world. I am also proud of my achievements, what I’ve learned and what I’ve accomplished. I see it as a solid foundation for my future professional career and life as a designer. These studies opened my mind to fashion, especially the alternative and sustainable possibilities that lie behind traditional methods of design and creation. It was an unforgettable journey and something that truly changed me. During this time, I also met amazing and inspiring people among my tutors, classmates and friends who I can never thank enough.

Could you please tell us something about your graduation collection/project?

My graduate collection is called A place in the dirt. The concept is inspired by the work of Julia Kristeva on abjection, Powers of Horror and by some visionary artists such as Lynn Hershman Leeson, in particular her Roberta Breitmore series. I see my collection as a double exploration.

On the one hand, it is a moment of deep self-analysis and a tool for investigating broader concerns and feelings shared by all of us. At first, I was looking into filth and what it could mean beyond uncleanliness. Kristeva’s work inspired me to examine unusual and more personal means of abjection: it made sense to explore fashion ideas, garments and details that I dislike. I used my late grandmother's style and clothing as a starting point. I never felt that her clothing could represent who I am but I also came to the realisation that I couldn't really get rid of them. It was something I rejected but also deeply ingrained in me. Something I hate and love simultaneously, a form of “jouissance”. With this collection, I let her go and kept her alive at the same time. I felt lost. I felt like it seems we can never truly know our identities because some parts are buried deep down inside or else, we intentionally keep them there for fear of discovering something we don’t like. In most cases then, we only construct, shape and nowadays literally remake idealized versions of a Self we don't truly know. What emerges is a “filthy” femininity, confusing rather than reassuring, chic and raw, fully styled but also absolutely mismatched.

On the other hand, it is a material investigation. Throughout my Graduate Diploma and MA, I continued to work with and explore bioplastics and their creative applications for fashion and art. For my MA collection, I mixed them with deadstock and upcycled fabrics. My goal this time was to create less artistic pieces and propose viable potential fashion applications. I then casted at charcoal bioplastics - cut and sewn as if working with leather - and 3D embellishments -casted replicas of various collected and found objects. The challenge was to perfect the look, consistency and strength of the bioplastic to create garments that looked finished with a visually appealing appearance and a comfortable fit. The idea was to investigate regenerative options for embellishments and at materials, combining both fashion and bio-based material design. There are so many applications that can be developed for bioplastics and so many different ways of working with them. Bioplastics represent a highly creative and visually impactful medium to work with. Their versatility inspires experimentation with nearly endless possibilities of color and textures. At the same time, they are inherently regenerative and circular. It's a win-win situation.

Which materials, techniques, programmes and/or applications are you mostly interested in?

I am interested in bioplastics and their creative applications. From a fashion point of view, where materials are an integral part of the process, bioplastics have an exciting role. I see their potential for the future in both fashion and art. They will be used, researched and developed increasingly until they become as readily available as fabrics or fully substitute petroleum plastics. The more people explore their potential, the more options will be developed and more knowledge will be created.

In terms of specific techniques, I like to mold and cast them, interact with them with a hands-on approach, try them out, challenge them; as well as design them and study their behaviors. I believe that finding applications and developing customised techniques to work with bioplastics is a fundamental part of the material research. What interests me about bioplastics is their potential role in changing our perspective and our relationship with materials and engaging in the processes of reusing, reevaluating and reintroducing them into natural life-cycles and the environment.

The exhibition you are a part of looks into meaning of regeneration. What does regeneration mean to you and your work?

Regeneration for me always starts from materials because without them I cannot create. The inclusion of bioplastics in my work aims to encourage a closer relationship between art, nature and craftsmanship. In my opinion, regeneration also means reintroducing materials and knowledge that have been largely replaced by synthetic polymers and industrialisation. This is how regeneration manages to blend tradition and innovation. It allows us to progress without forgetting the fundamental knowledge and materials that have shaped part of our life on Earth. I wonder if regeneration will be able to circle us back to a time when we were more connected to nature and organic materials. Ultimately, I think regeneration means being open to recontextualising and exploring processes that emphasise the cyclical nature of creation and decay.

How do you perceive the meaning and importance of community within the fashion field?

Fashion is not easy and it is something that we need to create together. Creating a graduation collection is one thing but it's not doing fashion. When I think about how in influential and present fashion is in our lives and how many people work in this industry, I already feel a sense of community. The community of people that allows fashion to exist and be tangible in our daily lives. It's a global community. When you look at it in its full scale, you understand how much each of us is contributing to changing and transforming it positively. I instinctively think of all the students, designers and artists who engage with circular and regenerative practices and decide to work with biomaterials and upcycling. Everyone is helping to create an exciting and revolutionary new side to this community.

How do you view the future of fashion? And your own role therein?

I think that the hybridisation and interdisciplinarity of practices within fashion are necessary because it is a powerful tool for promoting innovative and unconventional sustainable solutions. There is clearly a transition underway in which science, biology and the creative industries are increasingly connected. There is a lot of research underway into biomaterials alternatives, and some options are already commercialised. It's a global shift and more and more designers and artists are engaging with them. I believe they will become the norm in fashion. I am thinking, for example, of trimmings, sequins, plastic beads or embellishments completely replaced by bioplastics. Bio-based leathers and rubbers will be used more and more frequently and will become more commercially available.

In my own way, I have decided to be part of this movement and to contribute, even if in a small part, to this global research. It would be great to further cultivate my creative practice, working at the intersection of art, fashion and material science. I want to improve my techniques to the point of developing an artisanal craft around it, along with a custom library of materials available as an open source for students and other creatives to consult, a sort of platform to be clear. Create increasingly re ned, performative and beautiful objects and materials by collaborating with biomaterials specialists or other artists and designers. There are many things that make me excited about the future of fashion.

Talent Talks: Saimi Parikka

Talent Talks: Azul Espirito Santo

New Order of Fashion is kindly supported by: