Interview by Mercedes Arnold

Maine Vibes Magazine: I have to say again, thank you very much for doing this. This is really special, especially where we're here in your studio. It really means a lot to me and I'm so thankful! 

Catherine Fisher: I really admire everything that you're doing! It's incredible, right from the first issue—wow! I'm really happy that you're here in the studio because now it's full of your great energy and I’ll get to enjoy that after you go.

MVM: I’m not sure I’ve cried yet in an interview, but this is close, thank you for your kind words. I would love for you to introduce yourself, state your pronouns and introduce your business.

CF: My name is Catherine Fisher, my pronouns are she/her, and my business is Catherine Fisher Clothing, which is a line of sustainable clothing where each design springs from the meaning of an original poem.

MVM: I would love to hear how you evolved from biographer, acupressurist, and innkeeper, to a clothing designer. 

CF: I’m kind of surprised at where I find myself today, I must say! It’s not as though having a clothing line was anything I had long wanted to do. In the trajectory of my adult life, I’ve been an innkeeper, a personal historian working with people to write their life stories, I had a shiatsu practice, and I also worked in the archive at the Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England. I suppose what all those things have in common is a space of connection between me and other people, and usually a strong element of story. And, I love to learn new things!

When I turned 50, I realized I wasn't taking many risks by way of putting myself out there creatively. So, I went and got an MFA in poetry at 50, where I had to learn to share and get feedback, and that was so important for me. After the program, for some reason I started to see the poems on garments, and that the designs of those garments—their shape, materials, everything—would come directly from the meaning of the poem and its imagery. The garment would take the shape of the meaning of the poem. Then, over a year into it, it became clear to me that rather than have the poem on the garment, the poem would really become the garment. I now see the garment as a translation of the poem. It IS the poem in physical form. Instead of the text, I now hand-embellish each piece, or they include an accessory to be worn with the garment or both.

The element of connection comes into play in that, even though the poem and the garment are of my design, it's really the energy of the person who wears it that completes the whole expression. My hope is that that wearer will make it their own in the wearing, perhaps as they think about the idea or theme of the poem, but then take it further as their own expression. Wearing a blouse that embodies a poem about finding the Self in the Other, or finding your other half or soulmate, might make you think about that concept as you go about your day. OR, it might not! It's all good.

MVM: That is so special, to have you start by seeing the garment as a piece of your poetry and designing the clothing, that in itself is almost like another form of poetry. Your pieces are beautiful. I love that you're so connected and feel drawn to sharing stories and your art through poetry and clothing. What sparked you to want to start sharing your poetry? 

CF: I don't know. I never thought about it this way, but maybe making clothing from the poems is a shy way of sharing the poems without just putting them out there as writing. I’ve always loved and at times made, artist’s books, and I love the fact that their concepts are worn on the outside. With an artist’s book, its shape, materials, and graphics let you know the story on many levels; the clothing is meant to be like that as well. The garments are poems, they’re books, they’re even rooms or spaces, really, of connection. And through them, I’m trying to connect my own personal experience with something that is also universal, something to be shared with a reader, or a wearer.

Writing poems is humbling but it’s also a cool way to learn about things. 

This past weekend I bought a Sujeo spoon from the fine metalwork artist Erica Moody at the Portland Fine Craft Show. The spoon had me thinking about how she might have taken a flat plane and then created the curvature. But, how did she know how much curvature to make? To what degree does the artist have to bend it in order for it to hold at least, say, one drop of liquid? I started googling, of course, and learned about a spherical cap, which is what it’s called when you slice off the top of a sphere. So, Erica Moody has (perhaps! I don’t know!) taken a flat sheet of metal and curved it so it can hold something. Then, I imagined being in the bowl of the spoon, and how, with such a smooth metal surface, it might be hard to climb out. You would likely keep sliding back down. That made me think, that’s kind of what memory is, thought sliding back into itself, rising and falling and pooling, and so it goes from there in working all that into a poem. 

The poem might be, then, about memory, not a spoon, and a garment from that would be…what? There’s where the fun really starts…It becomes not about just my experience of buying this exquisite work of art from a talented metalwork artist, but what the work makes me wonder about, and what the spoon might have to say to you and me. Maybe I’ll get to collaborate with Erica Moody on a new garment one day—wouldn’t that be amazing? A Sujeo jacket that would hold the spoon and accompanying chopsticks? Or she could make a special spoon closure?

MVM: The level of curiosity pouring out from you and going into your poems and clothing is incredible. I love exploring how much thought goes into art, and knowing what goes into your writing and clothing, it’s so beautiful. 

CF: I suppose it’s all trying to get to a core idea from a number of angles. I developed unique handwriting for each poem that I hope captures the energy of that poem, which is another way of getting at the meaning of that piece. I also made props for the models to interact with in the photo shoots and recorded my reading of the poems for the site.

MVM: That sounds so fun. 

CF: It’s totally fun. Self-indulgent, really! 

MVM: How good do you feel doing that?! 

CF: Yeah, it’s way more fun than QuickBooks! 

MVM: Ah yeah! On the other side of the business is the admin work which I’m sure every small business owner is aware of, but what a privilege to get to do that work and express yourself in that way. 

CF: It is a privilege. I am very fortunate that I get to explore this and see where it takes me and how it will evolve. 

MVM: It’s really special. Again, the work you’re doing is so cool! Thank you for sharing and giving us a look into what inspires you. It seems like creating connections with others and storytelling is important to you. Can you tell me more about what inspires you? 

CF: In terms of what inspires the work, it would be learning new things and following those down, and seeing where they lead. But then what inspires me in living out this life on the planet, I would say definitely other people. That moment where you feel the energetic connection that feels like taffy… like sitting here with you, Mercedes! That type of connection always energizes me. I also totally recharge in the woods and on the water. 

MVM: Ohh!! I’d love to know more about that. 

CF: I am so fortunate that where I live, across the street there are magnificent woods and trails. The trail I walk every day has old stone walls, moss, a ravine, a marsh, a ridge, and a dam. I get all of that in one walk with my dog every morning. I’d like to say I go all zen and empty my mind of everything, but that’s really hard for me. I am working on everything all the time, figuring out the shape of the work or the right words, and making voice memos of ideas. The woods are kind of like my office in a way and I had to tell myself that that was ok. It’s ok that I don’t achieve an empty mind when I’m there. I go into the woods and I come out with something, and I’m grateful. I’m grounded there by my dog, and I also recharge in a kayak or on skis with my partner. She’s very supportive.  

MVM: I love that, having the woods as your office. It’s like an energy transfer, the forest is transferring its energy into you and you’re like, ‘yep, I’m here to work!’ 

CF: You totally get it!

MVM: Ok, so your garments are sustainable. I’ve read a little about this on your website, but I’d love to know more about why it was important for you to make them sustainable. 

CF: Well, first of all, I'm fortunate that I'm starting this project now where there's so much information available so that I can do it the right way from the beginning. I'm not a long-established business that then has to go back and change how I do things. I was fortunate to go to the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, which was part of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. It was there that I was able to learn about sourcing sustainable fabrics, buttons, labels, and even the hang tags that go on the garments. I decided that if I was going to put more clothing into the world, I ought to do it ethically and sustainably. 

In terms of human rights, I know that the fabric I source is made by people who are working in healthy conditions and are paid a living wage. In terms of the environment, sticking to organic cotton, linen, and hemp blends avoids fabrics that take an excessive amount of water to manufacture, or use chemicals that pollute the waterways. All of these considerations come into play. The clothing is cut and sewn in Scarborough, Maine, and I get to work closely with the people who are actually doing the artistry. 

MVM: I appreciate, and I hope others do too, that you work with so many local people but also, for those that you’re working with outside of Maine, they too are doing what they can to be sustainable. Fast fashion is polluting the earth and hurting people. I’d love for people to think more about the garments they wear and how that affects not only them but so many other people in the world. I mean, your pieces are made to last a lifetime, which is important. 

CF: I hope so. I hope they have a second or third life. Being thoughtful about our choices shouldn’t be so much a choice as a decision. It gets easier. Being more thoughtful about the clothing you buy doesn’t have to be depriving. Fewer and better can be creative and empowering. We might dress more out of a sense of who we really are and how we want to express ourselves, instead of adhering to the latest trends. Giving ourselves time to be thoughtful about choosing something that we think we’ll like for a long time, that is in keeping with who we are, I think is a good and rewarding practice. 

MVM: Absolutely. I try to make a conscious choice and think about how much waste I’m producing, but I’m not perfect or good at it by any means. It takes time and effort and oftentimes is a major lifestyle change. We talked about this a little bit prior to our interview, but what makes Maine special, especially the small businesses, creators, and makers here?

CF: I think most people probably say this, but I find other makers and business people to be incredibly generous. I really feel that atmosphere of everyone wishing each other well. There’s something about living in Maine, everybody’s chosen to be here. They’re here because they want to be, as it’s not always the easiest place to live. There’s some kind of intentionality to being here. I also love all the collaboration that I see and I’d love to do more of that myself. 

I’m hoping to collaborate with a fine weaver in Bath, Emi Ito. I have a garment that I’d like to have come to fruition. It’s inspired by the snowballs that gather on the back of my dog’s legs, when we’re in deep snow—those big clumps! I have a trio of snow poems that may be expressed as a new short tunic, hopefully, appliqued with woven snowballs created by Emi.

MVM: That is cool!

CF: I know! I see a lot of artists collaborating and I think it’s really cool, to have two makers come together to make a new thing. I feel that way about the paintbrush that is included with the duster in my collection, called Brush. There’s a special pencil pocket in the front that contains a one-of-a-kind handmade paintbrush. The brush itself is cashmere goat hair from Wendy Pieh of Springtide Farm in Bremen, Maine. The handle of the brush is made from driftwood sticks I collect on Maine beaches with friends. I send the goat hair and sticks to Ying Zhou in Florida, a master calligraphy brush-maker, and then she sends them back as beautiful brushes, each with its own character. The cloth book and other sewn accessories are made by Olivia Dwyer of Olivia Halo Designs, and collaborating with her has been so great. 

MVM: Again with the energy transfer, coming together feels so good! I love making connections like that and working with others. 

CF: Well, I find working with someone else can bring out a piece of you that you didn’t know before so that you’re creating something new together, and also learning new things about yourself and each other. 

MVM: Right! This is so fun, can we stay here all day?
CF: And have a dance party? 

MVM: That would be fun, we should! But in speaking about collaborating, there are so many small businesses and artists here in Maine and I really feel like we run the state and the whole vibe that Maine is becoming, it’s so exciting to see! Are there any makers that you want to shout out to? 

CF: Oh probably about 7,000 or so of them! One that comes to mind is Hope Rovelto of Little Chair Printing. I admire Hope so much. I got to work with her a little bit at the beginning of this project. She's a queer screen printer and activist in equal measure, and she is a person who is really walking her talk all the time. I really admire that in her. 

I would definitely shout out to the Am family of Golden Thread Designs who make my clothing. Bamphoth Am came from Cambodia decades ago, and she and her husband and their two adult children, and her sister all run this amazing atelier in Scarborough. It's a complete family enterprise. Both Bamphoth and her daughter Metrey work on my pieces. I admire them and love working with them. 

And then the jeweler Emily Percival—I admire her work and her energy. She's one of those people who's got a driven creative side, but also works in the business world. Also, the metalsmith Maria Wolff, has convened the Metals Collective and created a community in her art. Autumn Cipala, the ceramic artist, creates museum-quality porcelain pieces…I mean the list just goes on and on! 

MVM: I know, it’s great.

CF: The more I get to do this, I would say that a giant piece for me is getting to meet more makers. It’s so nice to be connected to so many creative people in a way I hadn’t fully before. 

MVM: To wrap up, is there any advice that you would like to pass on to readers?

CF: Well, right now one of my mantras is, “just keep going”. It’s not been easy. I’ve had a lot of hurdles and hard, hard times, especially before launching a year ago. Usually, I believe in flow and if it’s not flowing, that’s ok, just go to something else. But I kept going and I’m glad that I have. Then, I try to keep the idea at the forefront that each moment is a space of potential and you get to choose how it’s going to go and what you want to bring to it.

MVM: That is a good mantra and good to remember. Thank you for sharing.

CF: And get people like Mercedes in your life! Fill up your studio with cool people every day! 

MVM: Oh gosh, thank you for having us in your gorgeous studio, I really appreciate you. 

CF: Thank you! I’m thrilled for you, awed by you, and I really wish you so much happiness and success, continued collaboration, growth…everything you want for yourself, I wish for you. 

MVM: Wow. Thank you, Catherine, that means a lot! Is it time for the dance party now? 

CF: Totally!

Thank you, Catherine, for opening your studio space to Maine Vibes Magazine and sharing with us!

Web: https://www.catherinefisherclothing.com

Instagram: @catherinefisherclothing

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