With Alicia Valdés

Hello Alicia, I'm so excited to unpack all things Alicia Valdes, art, and Biodesign with you today. Thanks so much for making the time to chat with us.

Hi! Me too, very excited for this :)

What have you been up to today? Tell us a bit about what your life looks like at the moment?

Today I mainly prepared some of the supplies for my Biomaterial workshops I'm holding today and tomorrow by shredding the dried food waste into powders, sorting them by colours and putting them into little boxes. Also, I created some tinctures from berries and flowers to bring to the workshops.

I'm currently visiting my family in México. My dad is from Guadalajara, but my mum is from the south of Germany, and I grew up with my parents and my sister in the north of Germany.

My day-to-day in the last weeks consists of a mixture of creating Biomaterials, textiles, and jewellery, giving workshops, and exploring local waste options, all whilst travelling in the US and México…and making content around it.

México, how amazing! What is the bio community like there?

It isn't as big as in Berlin, London or New York but it is definitely growing. I held my first panel talk in Spanish yesterday and 95% of the people who came were around 17-25 years old. I think it's definitely the younger generation who grew up with TikTok that is making the moves.

That’s cool to hear, you just were in New York right? What was that like?

New York was a rollercoaster ride. I feel like I haven't yet recovered from it. I went there very spontaneously without anything planned besides giving a workshop, and I think it's too overwhelming and a big city to do on your own. I definitely want to go again with more of a plan and cute people to hang out with, that are interested in the same things…I also accidentally went during fashion week (not knowingly) and the hotel prices were insanely high.

Can you tell us a little about your practice and what biodesign is for those who may never have heard of it before?

Yes, Biodesign describes the practice of designing with and for nature, biological systems, and organisms. It is like working for one client only, which is Mother Nature.

The starting point for every idea or project I have is always the materials- they need to be biodegradable. That is the mandatory baseline for all my designs, be it a food waste jewellery pendant or an algae yarn bag. All objects need to be made with natural ingredients so they cannot harm the environment when they come to their end of life/use.

How did you first discover biodesign, and what inspired you to merge it with fashion design?

I took a Biomaterials and Feminist Speculation class in 2020 at my university by the amazing artist Petja Ivanova. I knew about Biomaterials before, but it was this class that introduced me to the practice and started my passion for it. I was studying fashion design in a more conservative sense but was always very interested in biology and sustainability. I think that once I took this class, I could finally connect my personal beliefs with the work that I was creating. It all just made sense after finding out about Biodesign. I knew I was never going to stop loving fashion and textiles, but I knew I needed to do it better, newer, and in my own way.

You have such an experimental approach to design—have you always been someone who thinks outside the box? Where do you think that comes from? Is there a history of design in your family?

I think it's very much due to my family. My parents, for example, travelled a lot when they were young and lived in different countries, speaking different languages. I grew up travelling a lot and experiencing different realities. My dad is a very creative person, he studied chemistry and tourism. He built a lot of the furniture in our home and knows how to build a bike and a computer from scratch. My mom used to sew all of my costumes as a kid, and they are both very musically talented. Visiting my family again this year I realised how similar I am to some of my relatives. One of my aunts has a creative business, and we speak a lot about materials together. I think it runs in my family and I'm kind of the result of all of what has come before, as well as having access to the internet and learning about the climate catastrophe and combining all of today's problems and communicating them through my creative practice.

I read that your latest exhibition in Paris 'Crafting the Future with Nature' drew inspiration from your Mayan ancestry. I'm interested in how you think this and if your cultural beliefs influence your design practice.

I visited ancient Mayan temples and sacred spaces during the last time I visited México, and learning about Mayan signs and calendars inspired my drawings and the forms for my jewellery pendants. Learning about how my indigenous ancestors used all-natural and local materials has inspired me to go local and use coffee, eggshells and burnt food waste for my jewellery. My very first sculpture that I exhibited in Paris was inspired by Mayan God figures made with oyster shell powder from a Parisian restaurant.

Beyond biodesign and fashion, what other passions fuel your creativity?

Music and dance. I used to be a dancer for a lot of years. It is like moving meditation, bringing me back to my centre. Travelling is definitely always fueling new ideas and opening me up to really look at my surroundings again. I always find myself in a more explorative state of mind after coming back from a trip.

I can so relate. I always feel the most inspired after coming home from a trip.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in holding space for the art and fashion you create?

I think acceptance to new innovations. There is only a small percentage of early adopters of new things. Creating something that might not last forever can be difficult to sell because people are so used to having everything available quickly at the tip of their fingers and are used to having things made from materials like plastic that never disappear.

That's really interesting. So, for some of the garments you create, the materials may break down over time?

Not all, but all of them would degrade in soil meaning if you give them the right conditions. I'm researching how to make my garments last for 3-4 years so that when the trend is over, they can be discarded without harming the environment.

So incredible! It really makes me feel ill when I look at the statistics of discarded clothing waste around the world.

How do you envision the future of fashion evolving towards sustainability and the use of biomaterials in the mainstream?

I envision the future of fashion being a more conscious one, decreasing the amount of clothes we produce and manufacture with more natural fibres + materials and with longevity in mind. This does not have to interfere with and decrease our creativity - I think designing with nature can actually fuel it. Adoption to a broader audience can only happen if the bio-fashion is not only eco-friendly but is cool so that people actually really want to wear it.

Looking at your years of practice, what have been some of the most meaningful milestones in your career so far?

Moving to Paris in 2024 and having my first solo exhibition 6 months later is definitely my highlight of this year. A big milestone is also being self-employed for a month now with my own practice and being able to sustain my artistic practice without having to force my hormonal cycle (30 days with ups and downs) to work on a testosterone based 24 hours schedule aka. 9-5 hell patriarchal hell.

And final question - what’s next on the horizon?

On the horizon is finding a permanent studio in Paris where I can work on my designs. I am planning to give more workshops and bring out my first completely biodegradable bio-bag early 2025.