Amacata Design Concepts
Daphne Woo is the natural dye artist behind AMACATA. Her prior experience includes garment development for international sportswear brands, after graduating from KPU in 1995 with a Fashion Design & Technology diploma. Amid more than 20 years in the apparel industry, Daphne steadily grew weary of contributing to mass consumerism. In 2016, she made the leap out of corporate apparel. She craved to contribute towards solving a problem rather than feeding into a capitalistic mindset. Consequently, while AMACATA was born in 2010, it was rekindled in 2017 as a social venture, breathing with new purpose and joining the revolution against fast fashion. Working with natural textiles, and dyeing them exclusively with natural dyes, Daphne feels best equipped to offer her work as a medium to spark further awareness and conversation. She was first introduced to natural dyes and the craft of Shibori in 1991 from then CapU instructor and now dear friend, Yvonne Wakabayashi. Daphne observes regenerative ways of being & creating through appreciation for Nature, transience, and the quality of evolving beautiful things. Her cumulative experience of having lived in The Netherlands for a decade, and then returning to her homeland of B.C., Canada, continues to shape her identity. As Daphne transitions from Product to Art, it seems more so that Art encourages her towards her authentic self.
It seems I am on the continuous transition from: working with product, to working with art. I am steadily evolving as a professional artist through practice of my craft, working exclusively with natural dyes on textiles. The past years, my intention has been to spread awareness towards slow fashion alternatives and reconnection to Nature, as a means to alter society’s reliance on fast fashion. However, with the onslaught of the pandemic, and rising consciousness of power inequity, with its’ direct link to climate emergency, I feel even more compelled to raise awareness of how acknowledging that we ARE Nature can help clue into more conscious choices. Thus, with Nature as my guide, and continuous decolonization work, the hope is to tap into a connected life. Advocating a cultural shift towards learning and unlearning – thus embracing new knowledge with humility, respect, and grace. I support conscious living, and knowing that we are all connected. The return to harmoniously being Nature rather than being against it.
