P A R T N E R S
Deborah Milner's collection, Regenerating the Reef, highlights the sustainable ethos behind her brand, choosing natural dyes and sustainable products whenever possible, working with highly skilled experts and ecologically minded manufacturers to bring her vision to life.
A O T E X T I L E S
ao textiles is a design consultancy committed to the research and production of sustainable luxury textiles. Karen Spurgin, Penny Walsh and Emma D’Arcey founded ao textiles, in 2006, following their collaboration on the Deborah Milner with Aveda project.
Combining a shared philosophy with a diverse skill-set, including natural dyeing, marbling, weaving and embroidery, ao textiles provide unique design solutions for fashion and interiors.
Their commitment to both quality and sustainability has been acknowledged, with ao’s work appearing on the Red Carpet Green Dress Challenge at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Oscars and gaining recognition from the EFF Source Awards, 2012.
ao’s dyeing process received the stamp of approval from Greenpeace International’s Detox Fashion Campaign.
G A I N S B O R O U G H
Gainsborough, the Suffolk based fine weavers and dye house, founded by Reginald Warner has been producing exquisite fabrics for over a hundred years. It is a unique mill using traditional weaving techniques where the entire production process from design to hand dying yarns and weaving the finished fabric takes place on the site they have occupied since 1924. Many of the original power looms remain in use today producing luxury, unique cloth that cannot be replicated on either modern looms or older looms found elsewhere.
Gainsborough’s collaboration with ao has enabled threads to be coloured purely with natural dyes to produce some of the first ever fabrics to be woven with naturally dyed threads for the high-end market since the advent of synthetic dyes. This includes the jacquard and taffeta featured in the Reef collection. It is the unique facilities at Gainsborough that has enabled this to be possible resulting in fabrics that are fully compostable and can be returned to the ground without emitting any damage to the environment, thus creating a closed loop process. All materials used in this project are untreated, un-bleached and un processed. All the dyes used are plant dyes and therefore are completely natural.
C É L I N E C O U S T E A U
Céline Cousteau, granddaughter of the famous oceanographer, Jacques Yves Cousteau, shares his passion for the ocean and its conservation. She collaborates with MAR-L helping to replant coral and create a marine protected area, and suggested them as partner to Deborah Milner.
Celine has collaborated with Ostro Minerals on her collection of jewellery to accompany Deborah’s Regenerating the Reef Collection.
Céline is founder and director of CauseCentric Productions which she set up to provide a platform for the stories of small teams of people who set out to protect the environment, ecosystems and species. In 2015, Céline set up the ‘Céline Cousteau film Fellowship’ to empower filmmakers, creatives and activists to inspire change through filmmaking. Céline is a public speaker and influencer to thousands, bringing insight and wisdom as to why the Earth and its eco-system deserve respect and attention.
M E S O A M E R I C A N R E E F L E A D E R S H I P P R O G R A M
The Mesoamerican Coral Reef stretches over the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. The MAR-L (Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program) and the Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza train people to set out and protect the Coral Reef from the danger inflicted on it by pollution, climate change, over-fishing, shipping and tourist development. 10% of The Regenerating the Reef Show related sales will be donated to the organisation to help preserve the reef.