MOLLY EHMER
“I really enjoy co-designing custom garments with my clients and learning from that collaborative process. In this slow fashion model, the customer and I are able to decide which textiles to use and how to best use them. By taking a thoughtful approach to the construction and textile selection we eliminate or minimize any waste.”
— MOLLY EHMER, FOUNDER & DESIGNER OF HUNT + HAMMER
We are loving the whole Harry Styles-esque mood of the moment, and celebrating craftiness in the context of fashion and self expression. Not only are there plenty of vintage quilted jackets for you to choose from in our Edit, there are also plenty of talented quilters using recycled materials to create custom works of art. Molly Ehmer of Hunt + Hammer, quilts, reworks and naturally dyes her handmade creations, charging them with infused plant essences. Her process is truly magical. We hope you enjoy our chat with her below!
What was the inspiration behind starting Hunt + Hammer?
Hunt + Hammer stems from a desire to uncover and rediscover my creativity and connection to my ancestry and the medicine of the earth. My parents were both artists who greatly appreciated nature, self expression and the craftsmanship of handmade objects from eras past. I am grateful for their guidance and continue to pursue the legacy they left behind in my own unique way. I have been studying plant medicine for 25 years and I innately recognize and am drawn to, the energetic nuances of plants. I am especially interested in understanding and developing a relationship with plants that my Scottish and German ancestors would have worked with. About seven years ago I started selling vintage and antique clothing and quickly found that these older garments carried a lot of energetic complexity to them. In an effort to refresh these textiles I started incorporating botanical dyes and reiki charged plant essences. Another challenge I was encountering with vintage garments was that the size of the clothes was restrictive and exclusive because the bone structure and diet of humans has changed over time. So recently I have shifted more to constructing garments of my own design from antique and vintage textiles in an effort to make clothing that is accessible to all.
What are the most gratifying and challenging aspects of owning a sustainable business in fashion?
The most gratifying aspects of building a sustainable business in fashion is working with customers one on one and rescuing forgotten textiles that still have loads of character and life to offer. I really enjoy co-designing custom garments with my clients and learning from that collaborative process. In this slow fashion model, the customer and I are able to decide which textiles to use and how to best use them. By taking a thoughtful approach to the construction and textile selection we eliminate or minimize any waste.
The most challenging aspect of operating a sustainable business in fashion is that I’m still creating new garments. The most sustainable garment is one that you already own. However, I hope that by choosing to reimagine antique or vintage textiles that were already in circulation and thoughtfully constructing them into fresh modern shapes allows my customers to mindfully add to their closets. These unique garments will hopefully not only aid them in their own growth of personal expression, but become heirlooms that they pass on to future generations.
We are so inspired by your artistic and sacred approach to reworking antiques, with hand dyeing and reiki charging. Can you describe what that is like for you personally when working on collections? What is your process?
My process of marrying plant medicine with the garments I’m creating has been extremely healing for me. I spend a lot of time in nature walking the land around me and noticing the plants that are thriving. This act itself is a type of moving meditation and calms and reinvigorates my spirit. I’ve learned to listen to what each plant is trying to teach us and choose to work with plants that are in abundance at that moment. I ask permission from the plant before harvesting anything and only take what I need. It’s a bit like giving the plant a haircut, and if done properly, actually encourages the plants growth. For all of my collections, I create a reiki infused plant essence to work with that only requires a small amount of plant material; a few leaves or flower heads will do. The leaves or flower heads are harvested with intention, placed in a bath of water outside under one pass of the sun and moon. The next day I strain out the plant material and add a little bit of apple cider vinegar to preserve the water bath which now contains the plant’s energetic essence. As I’m washing the textiles and preparing them for garment construction I soak or spray them with small amounts of the plant essence to honor and elevate the energy of the textile. This work is also sometimes done through botanical dyes for specific projects. If I’m creating a dye bath, I’ll often work with a couple handfuls of plant material; leaves, flower heads and sometimes roots or bark. This plant material is then incorporated into the textile through a heated water bath with the assistance of a mordant to help the plant’s color and medicinal qualities bond with the fabric.
When people think about fashion as a whole we do not often align it with energy and its power. In contrast, of course we see depictions of fashion in entertainment as being a cutthroat industry. However, you have taken a beautiful and unique approach by incorporating reiki into your business practice. Can you talk about how you came about weaving sustainability and the power of reiki into your business and the items you make? As well as what you hope the customers experience when wearing your garments?
I am drawn to work with the great beauty in the craftsmanship of antique textiles, but there is also hardship innately bound to them. If you consider the amount of energy it has taken a garment to be created from it’s source as a cotton seed or silkworm to the full production of the garment there is residue of this experience that lives on in the textile. It’s not only the pure labor of this process that exists but the conditions this labor was executed under. Many textiles throughout history and even still today have been and are created greatly with slave labor or by people who are under compensated for work they do in often unsafe conditions. Furthermore, with vintage and antique textiles, the energy of the daily lives of the people who have worn the garments decades or centuries before also remains. The more I worked with these textiles the more I became aware of the intangible complexities woven into their story. I have personally found reiki and plant medicine to be healing in my own practice and wanted to incorporate the gifts that these practices offer to help heal and shift the energy of the work I am putting out into the world. My hope is that through these practices people will become more aware of the nuances of plant energy, that they will be inspired to connect more deeply with nature and pursue its language and guidance. Furthermore, my aim is to encourage people to consider what their personal expression looks like… how many clothes do you truly need in your personal collection, what type of garments do you want touching and protecting your skin and spirit, what colors, fabrics and patterns inspire you and elevate your mood. When people wear my garments, my prayer is that they will feel safe, confident and cherished and that they will reciprocate and vibrate that energy back into the world.
Is there anything you want our reader to look out for in the future (or anything else you want to share)?
I think it’s important for your readers to know that it’s important to keep dreaming and reimagining how we move through this world. We’ve never been right here in this moment before and we can continue to evolve and shift our relationship with ourselves, each other, the natural world- land, plants and animals- and with the unseen world of spirit.
thoughtful questioning by our newest contributing Editor Cassiel Davis
check out the Hunt + Hammer instagram for more info
“For all of my collections, I create a reiki infused plant essence to work with that only requires a small amount of plant material; a few leaves or flower heads will do.”
