Soft Form Studio
January 12, 2023/ Photo: Courtesy of Alyssa Ciummo
Roused by a “ feeling of disquiet,” in 2020, Alyssa Ciummo found solace in working with her hands – and ended up building a brand celebrating style, color, creativity, and community.
“My anxiety became hard to manage and I needed a soft outlet,” she explained, “I often work in fashion and garment production with brands to help make their products and thought making objects with my own design sensibility at a slower pace, could feel satisfying and intentional.”
Her designs quickly turned into the vibrant collection of hats, scarves, kerchiefs and squishy charm-laden bags that make up Soft Form Studio.
“It's remarkable how an object as small as a hat can express a lot,” she said. “It has become a daily ritual of mine to work with fiber, and it continues to teach me patience and bring me a sense of calm. For me there's something magical about that.”
Before she begins working on a design, Ciummo creates color studies with art materials or discusses clients’ color preferences for custom orders. She then searches for yarns that match the desired colors or have interesting, entertaining textures. Each piece is created by hand in her Bedford Stuyvesant studio.
“Wearability and practicality play a role in material choice,” she explained. “Circularity plays a role as well, I have started to research recycled and upcycled materials and have used upcycled yarn for a few different projects. It's a goal of mine to use more materials with potential for circularity. Repurposing discarded materials and utilizing them in the process of making is important to me.”
Ciummo has incorporated community into her creative endeavors by co-hosting several stoop sales with other local makers and participating in vending events around town. In the coming months she is planning to host a series of craft nights for attendees to find inspiration, work on projects, and exchange ideas together. She is also exploring new techniques to incorporate into her pieces like weaving and machine knitting.
“These processes are slow and it's a lot of making, unmaking, and remaking, which can be exciting and you can learn from mistakes and salvage and reuse material,” she said. “I think it's exciting in general to leave openness and space for what happens in the coming months.”
More about Soft Form Studio can be found here.
