Designer Manuela Buxer of good morning midnight in Vienna suggested that we meet in her lively, multi-cultural neighborhood to take a stroll through the Brunnenmarkt - a colorful open air market selling everything specialty foods to clothing and household items.
Manuela was very friendly and enthusiastically described what she loves about the 16th District in Vienna, "Lots of artists and designers live and work here because the rent and cost of living is not so expensive. I love the lively, multi-cultural atmosphere."
After our walk, we had a lovely Turkish inspired breakfast at the very cool, minimalist Cafe An-Do, and Manuela told me more about her creative process.
Manuela and her design partner Lucas Eckhart at good morning midnight create full collections of clothing for women and men, playing with colors, textures, geometrical and asymmetrical forms. The titles for the pieces are phrases taken from songs, and she told me that many of their designs are inspired by independent music and film.
Manuela explained, "We want to stay small, in the spirit of DIY, and we make everything ourselves - from the labels and the tags to our photos and our homepage. We want to sell what is from our heart and not just do it for the money. Our design work should remain pure and not just be focused on the marketing."
She told me that they start the design process by making sketches and keep drawing and drawing until the finished design evolves. "We are starting to use ecological, organically produced fabrics, but it is sometimes hard to find good suppliers."
"Our color scheme is mostly monochromatic, but we are thinking about possibly adding a bit of color to some of our collections in the future."
"Our focus is on creating classic styles rather than trendy collections. Our collections are always works in progress, and the next things we'd like to do are make scarves and buttons."
She went on to share, "This year our big focus is to do more fashion and handmade shows and markets. We'll be participating at the design exhibition Blickfang in Vienna and at the hello handmade Markt in Hamburg this fall."
Manuela is delighted with the development of Etsy and many designer blogs, "Etsy brings the whole world into your living room. Nearly all of the blogs I read are people I found via Etsy - people who have interesting lives and exciting photos. Sometimes the blogs make you feel overwhelmed. I wonder "How do they have the time to make so much?"
She gave me the links of a few of her favorite blogs (and they are all inspiring, I've already checked them out!)
mustard and sage
calivintage
16 house
bookhou at home
hello handmade
rennes handmade
graceful lady
hpunktanna
mustard and sage
calivintage
16 house
bookhou at home
hello handmade
rennes handmade
graceful lady
hpunktanna
I find good morning midnight's clothing collections so dreamy and beautiful - while preparing this post, I have been falling in love with their designs all over again. You can find all a large selection of their designs for women and men online in their Etsy shop. Enjoy gorgeous photos and Manuela's musings on the good morning midnight blog.
Thank you so much for your time and hospitality Manuela! I truly enjoyed meeting you and I adore your designs :)
xoxo
Stephanie