Interview: Of Nothing
We hosted Brooklyn-based designer Jack Fullerton at the shop two weekends ago where he debuted his stunning menswear line. For our online shoppers, here’s a little taste of what you missed at our sweet pop-up…
SB: Hi Jack! First of all, thank you so much for joining us earlier this month. We have a few questions about your collection and your general design ethos.
SB: Independent menswear designers (and customers) are fascinated with fabric - sourcing, fiber content, weaving, dying, etc. Of course, as Shop Boswell’s buyer, I love beautiful fabrics, but I think that silhouette and cut are equally important. Does fabric or silhouette come first in your design process? Do you find yourself gravitating more toward one of the two?
ON: I was thinking about this same balance recently. I think I stand pretty squarely in the middle. I've been adding a couple of new garment designs each season for a while now, which feels like a nice pace. Developing new styles is a part of the work I really enjoy, but it's also a big time investment — so when I do make a new design, it needs to work across different fabrics and come back for at least a few seasons. The Dress Pants are great in the super drapey and supple wool gabardine from last winter, and I love them in the much more structured linen/cotton buff cloth from this season. So, in that sense, I often start with a pretty versatile silhouette — but sometimes I work in the opposite direction. The Crane Pullover came about because I was seeing all these great midweight fabrics that felt a bit heavy for a button-front shirt but a little too unstructured for some of my jacket styles. I wanted a design that could split the difference.
Whatever the design, it needs to be made from something beautiful that feels special. The hope is to create something that feels greater than the sum of its parts.
SB: As a follow-up, we believe that when cooking, you have to start with good ingredients, but also you can't mess up the preparation to turn out an amazing dish. We know you worked in food prior to starting this line. How did your previous work as a cook and farmer prepare you for your current chosen profession?
The through lines between the two worlds run thick. In both cases, you're cultivating something from the earth, you're processing it, passing it through some kind of creative lens, and then putting out the finished product. I think establishing this way of thinking in a discipline that can be so stripped down has been very helpful in making clothes. I lived and worked on a farm. I'd then put on the apron and cook what we grew at the restaurant, sometimes in the same day. That's just about as simple as a supply chain can get.
In the world of clothing, everything gets much more opaque — and it can be easy to lose sight of what matters. I think having that simple, pared-down roadmap drilled into me is a huge asset. Because if you lose that core process, there's no amount of branding that can save the final product. People are getting really good at seeing through this. If I don't have great materials, a thoughtful idea for what to do with them, and excellent execution, nobody should care about the worldbuilding, the photography, the "brand." Those are really fun, creative aspects of the work, but they need to be earned — built upon a sound core. We've all been to a super slick looking restaurant with mediocre food!
SB: It was really special to have you visit the shop so our customers could meet you in person. For those who couldn't make it to the pop-up, what would you like them to know about your clothing?
It was so great getting to visit Portland for the first time! Huge thank you to everyone who came by, and an especially huge thank you to Brookes for being such an amazing host :)
I'm really just trying to make the most beautiful items that function well over a long lifespan. These are the clothes I want to wear, and I hope others do too. I could go on about the ideas that go into this work, but ultimately, I chose a tactile and visual medium for a reason. If I do my job well, all of that shows up in the clothes and their presentation. I'm sure this is a dissatisfying answer — but my hope is that if you take the time to look through them, and ideally try them on, that they speak for themselves.
SB: Especially for small clothing lines, I find that so much of the designer’s personality comes through in the final product. Can you tell us a little more about yourself outside of fashion and design? How do you spend your time when not at work?
ON: That's a scary thought! Hopefully, of — nothing is my best foot forward. I like to bike around Brooklyn. I read a lot of fiction. Honestly, my work is very isolating — I spend a lot of time alone in my studio. I've always considered myself more of an introvert, but these days I have very little appetite for downtime alone. So when I'm not working, I like to be around other people as much as possible.
Find Of Nothing on our website & in-store.