Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Agni Hogaboom. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Agni, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?
I work as a vegan designer in the field of custom couture and garment-making. Many of my clients are trans or gender-nonconforming. It is funny to me now to think of what a hard road I’ve selected for myself! Garment-making is one of the most exploited jobs there is – most the clothes we buy in America are produced overseas, and only 3% of global garment workers are paid a living wage!
And while the word “vegan” has been co-opted by diet culture and America’s obsession with fitness and orthorexia, work like mine gets overlooked. Veganism is a social justice movement for all sentient beings, human and non-human alike – and for the planet at large. Veganism is a part of my work ethic, and my justice ethos.
The cultural conversation around sustainability is still getting press, but we as a nation are voluntarily accepting our roles as victims of Capitalism. So when the topic of “slow fashion” comes up, there is instantly a great furor that erupts with many people citing slow fashion’s price points as being prohibitive. Of course, this conversation rarely includes a ‘cost per wear’ analysis, in which it is easy to demonstrate that well-made, well-loved, properly-fitting clothes deliver a far higher ROI than even the cheapest garment you can find on the rack.
What I wish people understood is that we cannot “opt out” of Capitalism – we live in that system. Retweeting thinkpieces and arguing in comment spaces is fruitless. It will take time to change, but we are not helpless. We can make choices – and forgo purchases – to not only emancipate ourselves from the constant cycle of acquisition and discard. but to *meaningfully support* ethical Creatives, artists and Makers . We can support them with our dollars, with our time, with our care.
As time goes on I find myself fatigued with those who only complain about problems. It’s important to discuss the problems. But it’s just as important to invest in constructive action. My work has taught me a great many Americans are scared to invest in solutions. I’m grateful for the brave few who are ready!
Kelly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I came to design as many children of my age have – being taught to sew as a child. I was a creative kid but I also earned good grades. Adults in my life pushed me into STEM, which led me through a university scholarship and an engineering degree.
When my partner and I started our family, I quickly realized the world of engineering wanted forty to sixty of my best hours each week; work culture wanted to own the best of me. I loved the work itself, and I wanted to be employed part-time to support my family in the best way I could, but like so many other non-male engineers, I was not-so-gently rebuffed in my attempt. I walked away from that career to considerable objection by my employers – and then I was snagged in the best career I’ve yet had: raising children.
We unschooled our kids – raised our kids in an autodidactic tradition, eschewing the institution of compulsory schooling and curriculum. This was the best adventure of my lifetime – and I’m still living it although my children are now grown (age 20 and 18). Our years raising children were hard financially – four human beings on one income – but even harder culturally. I came to see how much children are excluded from public life, and I came to deeply know what a loss that was. But during these very hard years I grew into the Creative life of my dreams. During that time I wasn’t just learning how to feed a family on dried beans and a harvest share – I was learning how to keep up with the strenuous creative drives of two unschooled children. Their drives and their creativity and aptitudes reconnected me with design, with sewing – with Creating.
Around 2015 I began to give serious thought to professionalizing. I ate up a few business courses starting in 2019, and Bespoke Hogaboom took root. I began to earn a living wage. I doubled my income during each of the two years of the pandemic! My work has been seen on the red carpet, and I’ve been featured in the Times. I’ve had the best clients I could ask for, and I’ve been able to retain my vision and my ethics.
I think I’m most proud of building an ethical business and eschewing all the pressures of Capitalism – the constant ediccts to cut corners, to hire employees at unfair wages, to partner with Amazon, that kind of thing. The social and economic pressures are vast and cannot be overstated. A long time ago I put my foot down and said, “I’m not playing this game.” It’s harder to do this than you might think!
My work is unique in that I am a custom designer. I never make the same piece twice, and I build garments – from workwear to couture – to each human being I work with. Most people have not had a custom garment and they do not know what they are missing. The garments I make become my clients’ all-time favorites – the special piece they keep for year after year, or (in the case of children’s garments) pass on to generation after generation.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
While I don’t believe you can class people into “non-creative” – everyone has a creative drive and a spark, no matter how muffled or obfuscated – I will say the general population has both an admiration of, and resentment of Creatives. Especially those of us who don’t work “real jobs” – who have the audacity to charge a fair rate for our work.
Especially those of us who are not cisgender men.
I can’t overstate how much the general population wants to pigeonhole us. They want to see us in the most simplified terms: “Oh, you make pottery” or “Ah, you have a food truck”. Creatives are seen as just another commodified entity that spits out goods to purchase. That is why one of the first things the population does, is criticize or complain about Creatives’ price points. This is why the general population loves to “pick our brains’ – without paying or crediting us.
This pricing business is important. I’ve worked – as a mentor and business instructor – with many Creatives and I’ve yet to meet one who was price-gouging. The vast majority are undercharging – and by that, I mean they are not charging enough for products and services to meet their expenses, and to pay themselves properly. Those who truly want to support Creatives will start carefully disconnecting from the Amazons, the SHEINs, all that kind of thing and will invest with care in the honest work of ethical artisans. What is a slight inconvenience to the customer makes a world of difference to the Creative professional.
As Creatives we should be seen as visionaries. Yes, there are some Creatives who will happily paint more or less the same kinds of things in their studio for years. This is wonderful! But there are also many of us who want something more than just to Create – we want to manifest a better, stronger, safer, more joyful world. So when we launch into some new endeavor – what I’d like is for the general population – the “non-creative” – to learn as much as they can about our work, and to provide us the connections and network we need. We have so much to offer – but we cannot do it alone!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I can’t overstate how much my unschooling life with our children, and my Creative-plus-engineering career, have complimented one another. I simply would not have one without the other.
When I say my life was an Eden in raising children, I mean it. Financially this was such a hard time in our lives – many days were spent biking to get groceries and cooking from scratch, taking walks in the park – the kinds of things you do when you have active children and very little funds to support yourselves. A lot of people see this kind of life as drudgery, but this is put down to their lack of imagination and the generalized negative language we have around small children (and caretaking). If we hadn’t raised our children the way we did, I suspect I would have been a miserable worker drone in my previous statused and decently-paying job. Instead they gave me a life beyond my wildest imaginings!
Now they are and college and university and my working drive is firing on all cylinders – all for my own devices! Every day I wake up and feel ready to work. I have fallen in love with work so much that I had to learn specific ways to down-regulate and go to sleep at night!
I have not once been bored in my job – as a designer, as an artisan manufacturer – and as a mentor to other Creatives. My work builds on itself and creates the most connected, meaningful life! I have complete faith in my Creative drive and I know I’ll never lack for ideas, inspiration, and a sense of deep meaning.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bespokehogaboom.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kellyhogaboom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bespokehogaboom
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyhogaboom
- Other: My discord server for Creatives – BASIC BINCHES: https://discord.gg/BXpEcVX
Image Credits
All images; Kelly Hogaboom