Today we’d like to introduce you to Palm Nguyen
Hi Palm, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a senior in high school, I wrote my entire senior project on the harm of the fast fashion industry on the environment and the people who make our clothes. From this project I learned that this industry is the second largest consumer of water and is responsible for a good percentage of global carbon emissions. On top of it, many of the hands who make the clothes — the dye-ing process, the farming of cotton, or the creation of synthetic materials to make the clothes — often ended up with shorter life spans, disease, and are working under extremely harmful conditions.
From this place of discovery, I started diving into intentional purchasing of clothes and removing my dollar from these industries, to starting to sew to up-cycle clothes and giving them new life. By 2020, I started KARMAKLUB and became extremely burnt out that year from working 50+ hours a week, doing a full course load of senior year in college, on top of COVID, and the political climate.
Born and raised in Minnesota, I was blessed to be surrounded with community friends, elders, resources, and my own experiences being queer first generation Vietnamese American, all helping me radicalize my mind from a young age. Therefore addressing social justice issues in my work has always been at the forefront of what I wanted to do with KARMAKLUB from the beginning. After the unjust murder of George Floyd, I started to use KARMAKLUB as a vehicle to facilitate mutual aid fundraisers for the BIPOC Queer community in Minnesota during this time, because I started to see the need for community relying on each other rather than the systems that often fail us like it did Mr. Floyd.
After a few years of successfully fundraising for my community, I realized I was burnt out and pouring from an empty cup. My mental health was not at a good place and I decided to take a step back from using KARMAKLUB for mutual aid efforts, to focus on healing myself (after all I believe systemic radical change cannot be had without radical self-care and self-awareness).
Following a year off of doing community work and healing, I wanted to go deeper with this platform and wanted it to be a more intentional place to weave my story telling through my poetry, fashion, film, and jewelry. This is when I revised my mission of KARMAKLUB to be a multidisciplinary platform rooted in challenging disposability culture. This was with the intention of sharing my journey with un-learning the sinister ways colonization has plagued my mind and life, through all that I create and share on this platform.
I now focus on shopping, creating, and breathing slow, which is in direct opposition of what I and many of us were conditioned to believe we had to do and be. In a world of fast shipping, fast fashion, and quick dopamine rushes, I intend to use my platform as a place for my art to still be relatable, different, and eye-catching, yet still have a deeper message with each piece or campaign that I create.
There is so much more that I want to do with this platform then just be place to shop. I intend to create a space for my community to reflect on what they buy, their relationship to colonization/capitalism, and to simply create my art reflecting my experiences with the world.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road. I think the main struggles as of late is creating and releasing what I create from a place of deep intentionality. It’s really easy to create something that looks cool, but I always want to come back to my why of everything that I do and share with the world. I think as an artist it’s important to be reminded to create art that not only reflects my experience and relationship with the world but also art that reflects the times (honoring some of the words of Nina Simone). So with each thing that I am inspired to create, I always come back to my intention of is it challenging disposability culture? Is it necessary for me or the world to be created and shared? Am I supposed to be the one creating this? Is it authentic? Does it make me feel good? What is the deeper meaning behind this creatioin? and more questions I ground myself in.
The process of owning a business is a challenge in and of itself in terms of all the tax things, keeping track of finances, and inventory. Getting my work out there to a wider audience is another challenge as well. It takes time to create and start to generate enough income to live off it, so not being able to be a full time business owner/creative is a challenge too as I need to pay bills and more.
As you know, we’re big fans of KARMAKLUB LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
KARMAKLUB is a multidisciplinary platform rooted in challenging disposability culture. I use story telling via poetry, fashion, and film, as a vehicle to facilitate reflection in the community’s relationships to disposability culture. I create clothes, jewelry, and film rooted in my Vietnamese culture, the Earth, and what inspires me.
I believe what sets me apart is the aspect that every part of my platform is rooted in challenging disposability culture. My work aims to plant seeds of reflection on the minds of those that come across my art.
I am most proud of my most recent collection, Tinh Yeu, Viet Nam that released in August. It was a 2 year process to start the idea, and turn it into something tangible in the way that I made it. It took many restless nights, stepping away from the project to come back, doubting, and considering the intention behind the message.
The offerings that KARMAKLUB provides include hand made mostly stainless steel jewelry, a poetry book, clothes with my poems or designs on them, and more.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
what has worked well for me is observing all the brands/people that I love and am drawn to, and figuring out what their message is, their audience, their intention, and how they share their work. observing other people in how they run their business inspires me constantly. finding a mentor was difficult and i still haven’t found one that resonates well with me yet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://karmaklub555.myshopify.com
- Instagram: @karmaklubllc
- Facebook: @karmaklubllc
- Other: @karmaklubllc TIKTOK
Image Credits
Directed and shot by Palm Nguyen (birther of KARMAKLUB).
Models: Danielle Wong, Destiny Xiong, Kaylion, Ben Tran, Kim Tran, Malik Jackson, Kim Tran, Mixed Miyagi, Nancy Tran, and Hien Nguyen
