Sweet D Labs: Finding Time and Space

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

It’s not uncommon for creatives to move to the Big Apple in search of new career paths, community, and experiences. Delaney of Sweet D Labs moved to New York City six years ago. Starting out in film and television, she’s shifted toward her own creative inclinations. Currently located in Brooklyn, Delaney’s works can be found primarily at independent fairs/ markets around the city. Her products are also stocked at many shops like Retail Pharmacy, Delco, Bedford Vintage, and otherwise.

We sat down with Delaney to discuss her background, the steps which brought her to create Sweet D Labs and the many ways her creative process is impacted by her environment. Delaney is a conceptual artist, she describes her works as a Wearables Project rather than a clothes brand. No different from an acrylic painter, her medium happens to exist as it interweaves between a vinyl cutter, heat press, and repurposed garments. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

There was much insight to gather about her artistic conception all the way to some of the project's first garments, and where she plans to go from here. All of her works are printed on what she can find at thrift shops. Delaney only prints on second hand garments as she believes “there are enough clothes in the world already”. 

For anyone who knows anything about New York, they know it’s not the easiest city to simply notch into. Finding your community can be a bit difficult. In Sweet D Labs’ case, it came down to in-person markets and events which helped her find her people. Originally going freelance, she found this process to be incredibly draining both emotionally, and financially. Working for clients in the city who were much older than her, often left her feeling isolated. Living in Brooklyn and commuting into work left her with few opportunities to meet similarly minded people and creatives in general. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

We met Delaney at a BK coffee shop, after which we then travelled to her studio to get up close and personal with her many ongoing projects. Read more to understand the ins and outs of Sweet D Labs, and what it means to trust your process.

Sweet D recommended we come to this coffee shop - where are we?

Chez Alex! 

Great coffee. To start a little casual, what is your go to order?

Well honestly, I don’t drink it out. I make it at home, Trader Joe’s drip coffee. 

Nothing too crazy, just some milk.

I'm particularly anti a certain type of milk and I just want to ask, are we pro or anti oat milk? 

I'm against oat milk. When it first came out, I was drinking it a lot but I drink whole milk now. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

Amazing! I knew we were going to get along. I just love to ask because I feel like “being the other woman” is less of a shocker than if you don’t like oat milk these days. 

Yeah! That’s true, I know exactly what you mean. 

So you live in Brooklyn, tell us about that, what initially brought you to the city? 

Yeah, so this is my sixth year. I used to do set design, art department stuff for TV and editorial but I've kind of left that world since.

Were you already working on your brand intermittently or did you start after you left?

I did it intermittently, I started doing it back in school a little bit. I would hand make my stencils with sticker paper and an exact-o blade. I was using any paint I could find at the time, leather paint which makes no sense but it's what I could use. 

I upgraded to my vinyl cutter, my Cricut, which I'll show you later. I got it five years ago, during my second year in the city, either 2018 or 2019.

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

Delaney walked us through a nearby park on the way to her studio. Along the way we talked about the city, its particular type of chaotic energy, and what it means to be constantly “plugged into the data board of it all”. There’s much to be said about giving your creative inclinations serious thought. It’s a whole different thing to build out a brand in a city as big and bustling as New York. 

There is little proof that one’s creative inclinations will succeed until they do. Creating time to rest is not only necessary, it’s part of the steps Sweet D Labs took in order to keep moving forward with the project. When we arrived at the studio, we got into the nitty gritty of her work and how she recently achieved finding “time and space”. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

So you were telling us earlier about a residency you did in Nebraska? 

You live on site and it's a work trade. Working in the morning - you’re responsible for helping with tasks and general infrastructure upkeep.

You were telling us earlier that as much as you’ve gained from BK you’ve also been feeling like you need to slow down. Is that what drew you to the program? 

Yeah, I wrote to them saying that I'm really just looking for time and space. These are two resources that don’t really exist in the city. It's what you need to really know how you’re feeling, and what you want to do in order to recalibrate to make decisions. 

Being in the city is being plugged into the data board of it all, you have to leave that to decompress now and then.

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

So we’re in the Sweet D Labs studio now, tell us about what we’re looking at.

Yeah! So right here we’ve got my trusty ole heat press. She broke earlier this week so I've got an allen wrench in her joint. I’ve been trying to decide if I should upgrade her, but she still heats and presses so I'm undecided as to what I should do. I've been kind of ignoring it.

Next, we have my beautiful Cricut, my vinyl cutter. She does a lot more than just cut vinyl, but yeah, that's where all the magic happens. Then I make all the designs on my trusty laptop. I just use photoshop - working in png which is pretty simple.

Where do you gather inspiration for your brand?

The humour sometimes overcomes the little manifestations. The sayings, even in an ironic way, can be worn to act like you’re working toward them in your life.

This one (Sweet D Labs currently wearing), “listen 2 ur body” is a slight example of that. I also made one that says “be smarter and wiser next time”. They’re fortunes that are kind of a joke but are also still serious. Like a “manifestation” or something like that.

I like to be mysterious with it too, and never serious. People are too serious and I don't like it.

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

Can you show us your funkiest piece? 

I like to ask a question to the viewer (holding up a t-shirt), “All Work & No Play???”, because then the person seeing them may be like “wait what” and think about it a bit. Especially in NYC which is built around capitalistic gain, people are realising they need to play more, so I wanted to include that.

I first started printing things on thongs because my heat press is tiny as you can see, and I felt like the medium is the message. So I wanted to put philosophical things on something inherently sexual and feminine, if you will.

This is one of the first things I ever made (holds up a dress), back in the day when I was first making the brand. I don't know if I had a name for it yet. I started looking up thong whale tale images and I found this forum which is kind of defunct now. It’s called “Whale Tale Forum”, and it’s actually cited along the dress here.

I just collaged all the stuff I found. I thought it was funny - most of the pictures were taken never to share. They had a “back history of the internet” vibe. Some pervy guy, you know, probably found them and uploaded them. A lot of them have this sweet sleepover vibe of “we’re just being ourselves”, “we don’t care who sees”, “we’re not presenting ourselves” and that's what I liked about the pictures.

It’s creepy and mysterious, a lot of them don't have faces - but the dress is weird. I could never sell it, so it’s just become a relic that hangs in my room. I used to use it as a flag at my first couple of markets. It’s from when I didn’t know the best processes yet, I just used transfer paper. She really holds her shape. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

How old were you when you started? 

Like twenty, twenty-one.

What advice would you offer to your 20 year old self? 

I would tell myself, relax, don't push anything, it’ll all come. I was so worried about the speed of things, career wise. I used to really fry my brain with stress. 

I used to freelance and it just sucked everything I had, all my savings. It really did a number on my confidence. I’d say it's okay to get a steady job and just make it work, free time is everything. You can't play without free time. 

It's important to work hard, but I find it so annoying when artists who have full control of their own schedule constantly complain about being busy.

NYC is known for its many quirks, what's your most wild New York story? 

I don't even know. I think I've gotten desensitised to all the crazy shit. I think just all the synchronicities we’ve been talking about. There's always random people that are one link away and you actually know them.

Stuff like that is always happening, NYC is like a bubble and a vortex, especially the neighbourhood I work in. If you think of someone too hard that you haven't seen in awhile they will show up in 8 hours. You’re always running into someone, like “weren't we in 8th grade together?” 

Everything is fleeting but it makes things happen more. You know like… atoms… everything is ricocheting off of each other all the time.

You’re always manifesting seeing someone just by the thought of them and it can be kind of dangerous… but mostly beautiful. 

Favourite dingy dive bar in New York? 

Oh I don't want to blow up the spot of my favourite place… 

You don’t have to, just give us another place you like instead?

Oh great, then I’m going to say Birdie’s in bushwick proper. I don't really go out that much but Birdie’s is a close second when you wanna meet people. Easy for everyone to get to, cheap drinks, you can sit outside.

People often talk about how big cities can be quite lonely. How did you find your people? 

Definitely the markets, in-real-life markets. 

When I was freelancing I was always working for people older than me and I was quite lonely. My community came from my markets, and working at the thrift store I work at now. 

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)

All in all, photographer Kiera Simpson and I left Sweet D Labs with a different perspective on NYC, feeling inspired. A bit different than the romanticised renditions of city life, there are many pitfalls to overcome as a creative person. In Delaney’s words it's important to find “time and space”, two "currencies" of which are constantly lacking in a city as chaotic and fast paced as NYC. 

Though there are obstacles to finding your niche in a city like New York, there are so many creative pockets where you can discover your people. It’s all there, you may just have to dig for a bit. Sweet D Labs wants you to question your positionality in your creative process and try not to stress yourself out too much over a schedule that you build yourself. There are ways to find balance, you just have to seek them out. 

Sweet D Labs makes her products “with love, joy & passion”, asking wearers and viewers alike to take themselves a little less seriously. It’s important to remain intentional, but operating with a bit of well-placed irony didn’t hurt anyone. If anything it allows us to be more active participants in our world and the lives of our surrounding communities. The works include impactful conversational quotes and thought provoking manifestations like “may all beings everywhere be happy and free” alongside “follow the pleasure”. 

TheWearables Project provides many an opportunity to not only start a conversation, it may also present an answer to all of one’s fleeting questions. Follow Sweet D Labs on instagram to discover what lies therein, it's all waiting for you.

Image: Kiera Simpson (@kiers)