The main focus of denim designers is to make a new garment look old. Enzymes can produce great results, without polluting the environment. In 1952 Carlsberg mapped a protein degrading enzyme for the first time. We shared this discovery with the world, kickstarting groundbreaking progress in technology and industry.
Piero Turk tells
“I like denim. It’s very democratic. Anyone who wears jeans looks neither poor nor rich. They can be worn by anybody.”
“I’m Piero Turk and I’m a denim designer. Denim designer means that I work in all the areas of the denim. I work with denim mills to develop fabrics; with laundries to develop washes; with brands to develop their collections.
I live in Treviso. It’s a small village in North East of Italy. Living in Treviso is not bad – because I’m not really always in Treviso.
I travel all around the world for my work. I like that when I get home it’s not stressful at all – but honestly it’s a little boring.”
When the whole garment treatment thing was born, we started with the simple techniques, adding bleach to water, to make the jeans lighter. Then we added stones, sprayed sand and chemicals in some areas to get contrasts on the jeans. […]”
“[…] Here I develop all my new ideas related finishing and different treatments on denim. All of the different treatments and technologies and techniques – are used just for one thing. To make a new pant look like an old pant.
Of course the big problem that the industry is trying to avoid – is polluting. With enzymes you avoid this. The discovery of enzymes has made a big change in the denim world. The technology is really good – because with spraying the enzymes you can save a lot of water. Using enzymes you more or less have the same effect as with stones – and it means polluting much less.”
“I think the future of denim is finding a way to produce it – one that respects the planet.”
“I started working with denim not because I wanted to. I have no background in design. My background is completely different. At the university I studied medicine. I wanted to be a psychiatrist. But then I couldn’t finish college, so I asked a friend of my family – who had a company in this area, if I could work with him, and he said ‘yes’. That company was making casual jeans collections in the 80’s…”
“Doing that I found out that I love that…”
“…So I kept my passion. I’m still learning a lot. You never stop to learn. I can find inspiration mostly from vintage garments. I love them because I can guess – and try to imagine the life of people wearing them – in the 30’s and 40’s and 50’s. So they have their own life, they tell you a story.
The denim is the fabric of workers. All these garments were used by workers. So you can see and guess the different kinds of work, they were doing. [Mostra un capo] Of course, this one… was a painter.”
