Line Art: Finding Home in the Clouds with Zoe Kosztala

A theme in Zoe Kosztala's work is the concept of home—the journey to find it and the idea that it may be everywhere. Specifically, that it may be in nature. As a snowboarder, this concept resonates. Where else do we find home but out in the silence of nature, with our board and our friends? That’s home to so many of us. Zoe’s work for Burton is on the softgoods side, a cloud print to grace the clothes that keep so many of us warm throughout the winter. Her work gives so many of us the resources to go out into the snow and realize we belong there. That it’s our home.

"My work is a lot about home and finding home, and I always gravitate towards images of the horizon and landscapes of the earth because I feel like it's very familiar to all of us. Clouds connect all of us. We all see clouds, even as a child, we all see clouds."

Norm: Could I ask for just a quick introduction from you:  name, what you do, what kind of art you create, if you're willing to categorize it, and then what your connection is to Burton.

Zoe: My name is Zoe Kosztala, and I'm originally from Ohio. I just moved my studio out here to LA. And I'm a textile artist, seamstress, and clothing designer. I do a lot of treatments to fabric, fabric dyeing, cut and sew. I'm inspired by the landscapes and horizons of Earth, and I integrate that into my textile designs. And for my connection to Burton, well, there's two connections. There's, the personal connection, through Steven (Senior Product Creative Designer). I've known him for a while. And also I've just loved Burton as a brand. I've always loved Burton as a brand since I was in early high school, and I've always loved the bags. Mostly the backpacks have always been my favorite. 

Are you a snowboarder yourself? 

No, I'm not. 

How did you get involved working with a snowboard company then? 

Steven introduced me. He's been following my work for quite a long time, and he wanted to use my cloud print. He just loved it so much.

You kind of described it a little bit in your intro, but would you be able to describe your style for people who aren't familiar with you? 

My work is a lot about home and finding home, and I always gravitate towards images of the horizon and landscapes of the earth because I feel like it's very familiar to all of us. Clouds connect all of us. We all see clouds, even as a child, we all see clouds. We look at them, and we look at shapes in the clouds, and it's something that ties us all together. And I think that that's a perfect place where we can find home, we can find home in nature, and we can find home in the horizon because we can all relate with that one thing, these sunsets and sunrises along with these shapes. 

And how did that, those ideas, fit into the final piece? 

One of my prints I use is a cloud print. So I dye fabric, and I do a gradient effect to it. I use non-toxic dyes, and then I hand cut a stencil of a cloud shape. I put the stencil on the fabric, and I spray this dye remover on top of it, then I heat-set it, and then it removes the dye from the fabric, creating these repeated cloud effects. And Steven did his magical work, he tessellated it so that it would work with the all-over print.

"I feel like the symbol of the cloud is definitely associated with air, the element of air, and it's associated with letting go. And as soon as I let go, the universe provided me with the perfect shape... I traced it, and then I used it, turned it into a stencil, and now I use it for all my cloud prints. "

Do you have a favorite detail or maybe a hidden reference, something that you can see in this piece that maybe others wouldn't? 

Actually, when I was first exploring my landscapes—the cloud print is my staple that I use now, but the way I came about this specific cloud shape is funny. I was exploring different—I was like, "You know, some of my landscapes need a cloud in them." I spent all summer trying to draw the perfect cloud, and none of them worked. They all sucked. And one time I was out eating dinner with my friend, and I spilled soy sauce all over my pants. I was like, "Crap," I was wearing all white, and there was this stain. I looked down, and I was like, "Oh, my God, that's my cloud print. That's my perfect cloud print." So I took my pants, I went to my studio, and I put tracing paper over it. I had been like, "You know what? I'm so over trying to find a cloud shape. I'm just going to let go." And I feel like the symbol of the cloud is definitely associated with air, the element of air, and it's associated with letting go. And as soon as I let go, the universe provided me with the perfect shape, spilled onto my pants. I traced it, and then I used it, turned it into a stencil, and now I use it for all my cloud prints. 

That's crazy. That's the most perfect happy accident I've ever heard.

It felt like a spiritual lesson too. I was just like, "Wow, got it. Thanks, universe." 

Do you have any parting words or closing thoughts? 

I feel like we're all on this journey to home or to find some kind of sense of home and I think we should remember that home is everywhere, and especially in nature you can find home anywhere, and in shapes and in the horizon and in experiences.