Over the last ten years multimedia artist Pat Peltier created and has run Bandulu, the brand focused around his signature hand stitched paint splatter design. Pat was working at a Bodega in Boston when he began teaching himself how to hand embroider in an effort to find an alternative mending process to fix his stained clothing. Cautious to wear his own apparel to work Pat didn’t share his endeavors for a while. When he finally wore his artwork to work he was overwhelmed with support from his colleagues. The Bodega team offered to debut his first Bandulu collection. This served as an impetus to begin focusing more on Bandulu, expanding his skills and inspiration with embroidery. Eventually Pat went to work independently and that is when Bandulu really kicked off.
Each Bandulu piece Pat hand embroiders on repurposed apparel. The genesis of Bandulu came about organically, he says he never intended to make clothes. Pat is a painter and illustrator, he always thought he would be a cartoonist. Pat found his work being received and supported by the communities that inspired him. Conceptually the paint splatter embroidery connected him to his interests in the music, bike, art, and DIY scenes in Boston as well as his passion for nature and sustainability. Bandulu has collaborated with Converse, Nike, Champion and other big name brands over the years. Pat looks at those collaborations pridefully. However, he emphasized the fulfillment Bandulu provides stems from practice of creating the work, expanding his creative process and the community that has formed around Bandulu over the years. Pat’s community cultivated through his artwork has been the biggest reward of this process. His approach to the creative world strengthens the integrity of his work and is most definitely a contributing factor to Bandulu’s success.
Over the pandemic Pat and his partner began using the front yard of their brownstone building to grow flowers, plants, and vegetables. Pat grew up regularly involved in nature and farming. Bringing a taste of that into his New York City landscape was a savior in the low times of quarantine. This served as an inspiration and reconnection to one of his past passions. Pat shared a recent gift, a book of illustrations of tree and plant species. Along with his stacks of Natural Geographic issues it is clear that nature is a huge part of Pat’s output and creativity. Horticulture has seeped its way into Bandulu’’s upcoming collection which includes Nike ACG’s with hand stitched roots adorning the sides of the shoe, trees, leaves, roots and other foliage carefully and meticulously sewn into the repurposed apparel.
Pat’s newest endeavors may be his biggest personal changes over the last 10 years. He and his partner have moved out of Brooklyn to settle in a home they purchased outside of the city. Not only to be connected to nature and live a slower paced life but to focus on positioning himself once again as a fine artist. Recently Pat has been working on embroidering on canvas and recommitting his time to painting and illustrating. When he settles into his new home he intends to dive into his artwork. I was able to photograph Pat on the last day he was in his home studio, the rest of his apartment was all packed up while his studio stayed untouched for us to photograph together.