Trans Designer Sean Woodall Gives Us a Look Inside “Fencing”
Interview by Co-Editor Riley R. Leight
Q: Can you describe what your business — Fencing — is?
A: Fencing is a fashion and design label currently focusing on metal and acrylic jewelry and accessories. I currently only sell from from our webstore, fencingstore.co, but in the past I’ve done events and many commissions.
Q: As far as I can tell, you design, create, and sell each item yourself. When did you start creating these pieces, and how did Fencing come to be?
That is mostly correct. Everything I’ve sold through fencing I’ve designed myself. I don’t contract out work to have the plastic pieces made. It’s a very hands-on experience that often requires a lot of iteration. There is no rule-book or education for acrylic jewelry, so I’ve had to learn how to make this style of accessory on my own. I use a lot of industrial hardware that was not designed to be worn as jewelry, but I use the acrylic pieces to make everything fit together like LEGOs. The first piece I made that ended up becoming the first Fencing product was the O-Ring belt, which is still available today. I had been wanting to make a chain belt for myself for a while so I went out and bought the parts, threw it together, and posted a picture on my Instagram. About ten people commented, saying, “I would buy that.” I hadn’t considered selling them before that, but it got me thinking about other possible designs. I had a lot of false starts trying to design and sell clothing in the past, but jewelry and accessories seemed a bit easier for me. I ended up tabling at a maker fair where I sold a bunch of earrings and chains and trinkets I had made with my partner only the night before. My friend Katie had the logo tags made that morning, and we ended up selling a ton of pieces. Those first pieces incorporated a lot of strange little bits of metals and colorful zip ties found at hardware stores. The aesthetic was a lot more cyber-industrial looking, but it’s all I could come up with on such short notice. After the success of that event I realized Fencing could be feasible as its own thing, and that people actually liked what I was making.
Q: Like you mentioned, your pieces have a distinctive style, from the unconventional materials you use to the way they’re assembled. Who or what has inspired your aesthetic, and has it changed much since you started?
A: I draw a lot of my inspiration from the aesthetics of toys, and simple plastic household items. I love to see simple constructions and repetition in construction. I think the colors and geometry that Ellsworth Kelly uses and the glass sculptures that Gerhard Richter made have informed my acrylic pieces. My style has moved from what I’d describe as a kind of industrial-cyber-goth aesthetic to a wearable modernist exhibit, at least, that’s the goal for me currently.
Q: Who is your customer base, and why do you think they’re drawn to your products?
A: I’m a transgender woman, and 99% of my advertising and marketing is just done through my personal Twitter. I’m kind of an open book and constantly tweet about my plans and opinions on how Fencing is doing. I regularly talk about my struggles with dysphoria and narcolepsy. The majority of my followers are transgender, and I sell products that give a form of representation to them, in content and context. The dysphoria and euphoria chains I sell have the definitions of those words in the specific context of gender experience. Yes, dysphoria and euphoria are universal human experiences, and framing them as exclusively and primarily describing the trans experience makes cis people angry, but it has gotten their attention. There aren’t that many trans women designing in this segment of the market so my presence here makes people want to support Fencing.
Q: Have you encountered any obstacles in building a brand that cis people might not face? Have you learned any lessons you’d want other trans business-owners to know?
A: Everything about my life is more difficult since I started transitioning. Fencing’s growth was and is at a very critical juncture and most of the time I am in the throes of dysphoria. I experience blatant misogyny and transphobia most times I walk out of my apartment, which makes operating Fencing and running errands stressful, and I’m often too agoraphobic to get things done. I’m lucky I can perform most operations from my apartment; I still make everything in my room. Order volume has picked up to the point that I’ve gotten the assistance of a friend who is now interning for me to help with construction and order fulfillment. I don’t know if it’s transmisogyny, but many seem surprised I design and run this business myself. I don’t really know what to think of that.
Q: What kind of future do you envision for Fencing? Where would you want to see it five, ten years down the line?
A: I want to expand into a full-scale fashion label. I taught myself how to sew before I learned to make jewelry, and I want to delve back into clothing creation and work with soft materials again. I want Fencing to be a design house operated by and for trans people, where it supports my friends and family and we don’t have to suffer the daily traumas of navigating cisnormative business environments. I want it to grow and express my own political and social values.
Follow Sean on Twitter @seanposting.
