Meet 4 budding designers making face masks for NYC first responders
On Thursday, New York City announced that residents should wear some kind of face covering when out in public. These crafty locals, however, have been far ahead of the curve — and are determined to flatten it.
They’ve not only sewn masks for themselves and their loved ones, but have donated hundreds of masks to hospitals, clinics and other essential services. Some are even taking commissions — with contactless delivery, to boot — for those New Yorkers daunted by the prospect of DIY-ing a face mask.
Darius Brown
When he was 10 years old, Darius Brown started making bow ties for shelter dogs looking for homes. Now, the 13-year-old is using his sewing skills — and his surplus of donated cotton and silk for his pet project, Beaux and Paws — to make masks for medical workers.
“I was getting so many comments on Instagram saying, ‘Darius, you should start making masks for people,’ ” the seventh-grader tells The Post. So he and his mom, Joy, investigated how they could send masks to New York hospitals in need.
Brown learned a simple pattern through YouTube, and in between his online schooling, he’s been churning out masks. He aims to have 100 done this weekend, which his mom has arranged to send to New York state as well as to local hospitals near their home in Newark, New Jersey.
“I just really want to help in any way I can,” says Brown.
Clarissa Hurst
Clarissa Hurst is an art student at Pratt who shares her various art and sewing projects on her Instagram, @castleism.
She’s crafted masks out of fabric scraps for herself and her partner, as well as her two brothers. So when sustainable-fashion company Alternew contacted her about lending her talents to its NYC Face Mask Initiative, she responded enthusiastically.
“I signed up last week and have been making masks ever since,” says the 21-year-old Bed-Stuy resident. She’s whipped up almost 100 out of a tight woven cotton and elastic sent by the brand — all in a sterilized area. When she’s done, a car comes and collects them and sterilizes and ships them to hospitals for high-risk patients and caregivers.
But she’s also taking commissions through Instagram for some of her more creative coverings, which she will ship herself. “I don’t want to charge money unless it was just for shipping, so I can afford getting it to them,” says Hurst of her prices. And the masks are beautiful: “They’re almost like art pieces.”
Danica Pantic
Danica Pantic is a scenic and costume designer who had serendipitously landed an entire bolt of polypropylene — a nonporous, heat-bonded fabric that’s effective for surgical masks. So she thought, what better way to use her talents and resources than making face coverings for essential workers at her local supermarkets in Bushwick?
Ever since, the 32-year-old has been inundated with requests on Instagram for her creations — particularly since she covers the polypropylene with a cotton layer that’s often flashy. Pantic herself sports a covering embroidered with the words “Stay Away.”
“Almost immediately after I posted [the masks on Instagram], a friend of mine, who is a pediatric nurse, hit me up for some, because her clinic didn’t have any protective gear to give to people,” says Pantic. She biked over, wearing gloves, and left the package in the foyer for contactless delivery. She’s done handoffs like that a few times and mailed packages when dropping them off wasn’t possible.
She tries to donate what she can to medical professionals and essential workers, so she charges individuals who commission her through Instagram DM $7 per mask.
“It seems kind of a fair price for the amount of time that I have to put into it, and I haven’t recouped all of the expenses yet,” she says. “But it’s not something I want to profit from.”
Sew4Lives
Fashion designers Caroline Berti, 35, and Karen Sabag, 36, first met while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Their first class assignment together: “making papier mâché masks,” says Berti.
Now the duo — along with fellow FIT alum Lauren Holovka, 26, of Lé Lauriér Bridal — are spending nearly every waking moment sewing masks for medical workers as part of the nonprofit Sew4Lives.
The group, which Berti, an adjunct professor at FIT who lives in Gramercy, and Sabag, a wedding-dress designer based in Roslyn, Long Island, now has hundreds of volunteers across the country, though it’s particularly focused on New York. Just last week, Sew4Lives donated 2,565 home-sewn masks to hospitals and to essential workers (such as the NYPD) throughout the five boroughs and Long Island.
“It’s the easiest way for us to help,” says Berti. “We’re anonymous non-famous people who can’t work right now, so we can spend all our time doing this.”
Berti says that they arrange contactless car deliveries with the organizations that receive their donations. Each hospital has its own method of sterilization, so the sewers don’t sterilize the masks themselves, but keep their work areas disinfected and wash their hands after completing each item. The masks are made of polypropylene, which is nonwoven and effective at blocking microbes.
“When would we have ever thought that we would be able to make something so small that could have so much meaning to others?” says Berti. “It really shows the power of fashion and what we do.”