“It’s Very Artisanal and Sensitive Work”—Garbage Core Is Championing the Art of Upcycling in Milan
Giuditta Tanzi buys her clothes and her vegetables from the same place. She’s always had a passion for scouring markets, and the one closest to her in Milan, where she’s currently based, is a treasure trove. Tanzi is a young designer whose clothes are made entirely from upcycled fabrics and found pieces unearthed at that market and from the closets of her friends and family members, as well as from a church warehouse in the small country town of Parma where she grew up.
Garbage Core, which Tanzi launched in March of last year, is a collection of one-of-a-kind pieces made from the materials she collects. She lays out all of her market finds on the floor and drapes them on herself in front of a mirror in her studio. “I believe that upcycling makes the creation of the garments very expressive,” Tanzi says. “I like working this way—it’s very artisanal and sensitive.”
Tanzi received her B.A. in fashion design from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti and went on to intern with Massimo Giorgetti’s MSGM in its menswear department. After working for a few months, she opted to go out on her own. “In Italy, there are not yet many companies that are embracing upcycling,” Tanzi explains. “But there is definitely interest in the practice, and brands are working a lot more to develop new, sustainable ways of creating and manufacturing clothing.” She adds, “I think what we are maybe missing here is a small community of young, independent designers like the ones that I’ve met in New York through Café Forgot, a traveling pop-up and fashion and art collective. There aren’t so many brands in Italy making wearable art through sustainable practices.”
Wearable art is an apt description of Tanzi’s Garbage Core clothes; with their patchwork detailing and uneven seams, they have with an almost painterly, loving-hands-at-home quality. Working alone, as she does, has served Tanzi well over the last couple of weeks of quarantine in Italy. Once the required self-distancing and social isolation is over, she hopes to build her business, but she remains committed to her DIY approach. “I grew up learning about how to combat waste and how to have a respect for goods and nature,” she says. “Sustainability and upcycling were never just trends for me.”
Garbage Core is currently available through Tanzi’s website and at Café Forgotin New York.
Photo: Marta Marinotti1/12
Photo: Marta Marinotti2/12
