Loquat
“Loquat is a plum. You could fit a couple in the palm of your hand, it's a yellow plum from China. I know it's popular in Japan, or at least it grows wild in Japan, and in South Carolina and Florida, but it's also a popular fruit in Bermuda. And so the name came from my experiences as a young man. When loquat season would start, it became a big community event. It was never something formal. But you know, I remember waking up in the morning and going outside and finding neighbors on my property, standing on my wal,l picking my loquat trees and stuff. And so after moving to the United States, the loquats became this beautiful metaphor for migration and, you know, sort of displacement really, because they were brought over by the colonizers in Bermuda, but also as a metaphor for like, the fluidity of culture, you know, like the Chinese and the Japanese have a very different relationship with the loquat from what I've understood, compared to what Bermudians give it. We don't really use it for medicinal. It's more like we're excited to enjoy the fruit and talk to our neighbors.” says Jordan Carey, founder and designer of Loquat.
Loquat began while Jordan was attending Maine College of Art and he brought in his friend Madison Poitrast-Upton who is also a designer. They both studied fashion and textiles but they are skilled in various types of art forms that they bring to their business.
“When we were in school, this was before Madison and I had met, but I took a knitting class. I don't even remember why I took it. I don't know, maybe it was just on a whim. That's kind of how I started this whole fashion journey. It was a machine learning class. So the machine looks like a keyboard and it has a bunch of like teeth on it that you sort of have to set. And then you run this carriage across and it creates one row of knits. And that varies depending on how you strung up the yarn or, or set your, your latch hook….I'm half Irish and I have this very obvious African, you know, Island identity because that's where I was. So you know, my relationship with these things are, and, and so that African Island identity is less trackable and more mixed. Because if you know the history of that and how those things occurred, but so I did a lot of research on Aran sweaters and, like, knitting traditions in Ireland. And at that time, I was learning more and more about Afrocentricity and starting that research in a serious way. And so they just sort of collided, you know, how do I and, at the time, I was very interested in batik like African wax print and making those and making those sweaters,” says Jordan.
Photographed by Madison Poitrast-Upton
Madison in one of her outfits she crafted while attending Maine College of Art.
Not only do they believe in bringing in various cultures into their art form but also thinking of comfort and style. Madison has experience in crafting clothes specifically for brides and musicians.
“During school, I was focusing a lot on expanding women's wear. And the first part I really focused on was bridal wear, because I was a bridal consultant at the time and I'd been seeing a lot of what people were offering. And I just felt like there were a couple holes in what there was for people to wear on their wedding day in terms of like, choosing different colors that weren't just white, different silhouettes also, adding in like a variety of, you know, pants as well. You don't just have to wear a dress on your wedding day. And I was thinking a lot about that. And so I designed four pieces that are not dresses but outfits that were dedicated to that and they were very colorful and very different from what I was seeing on a regular basis. And then I moved away from that and I moved on to performance wear for singers and what they wear on stage. And I have a long history of music in my family and, within myself, and I know firsthand what it's like to wear specific outfits that people give you, that you have to wear for each performance. And for me, it was a lot of them were very conforming, a lot of them you know, were really really not easy to move in and very over the top a lot of the time and it was my goal to take these outfits and, you know, not only make them fun and bright but to also make them really comfortable,” says Madison.
The team crafts masks, handbags and other accessories with hopes of expanding their line in the near future.
“We are moving really fast and our products are changing so quickly that and as you grow, you know, you have new favorites. I think for me right now it's the masks. Just because I feel like we're doing something important. They're all similar shape and they're all in different colors. But I think that the pink and yellow masks are my favorite right now,” says Madison.
Photographed by Madison Poitrast-Upton
Madison is inspired by different cultures and diverse backgrounds when formulating a design. Her apparel is geared towards the entertainment industry. Making it beautiful yet comfortable for the musician.
Both Jordan and Madison enjoy living in and contributing to their Portland, Maine community and feel lucky to be able to continue growing their business in such a supportive, encouraging environment.
“My Dad always says, ‘New York’s the place you go to pay a lot to compete with everybody.’ So keeping that in mind, for me it was like, why would I, why would I give up this place? Or this, you know, arena where people have time for you and you can like connect with them? There are lots of people of all descriptions here that really care about us on a personal level that, I know that we can call but also on a professional level. And, you know, maybe I just have a bad imagination, but it was beyond what I was imagining to have these kinds of relationships with Jill and Portland Trading Co., these relations have really evolved and blossomed and we have spread and created new seeds,” said Jordan.