On Sustainability And The Art Of Dinner: Krystal Frame

This summer, in light of our own rebirth, we’re catching up with Future Front Texas members and friends to explore vision.

Today, we’re chatting with one of our resident small business owners, creative and Sustain Frame founder, Krystal Frame. Krystal talks her favorite dishes, the environmental impact of the service and fashion industries and manifesting her own conscious lifestyle brand.

*Photo of Krystal Frame by Jinni J for Future Front Texas*

ABOUT KRYSTAL AND SUSTAIN FRAME:

Meet Krystal Frame! Originally from Hobbs, New Mexico, where she spent some of her childhood, Krystal has relocated to various cities over the years, such as Odessa, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, New York City, and finally landed here in Austin in 2018. Her career background is split between working in the fashion industry and multiple service positions which has ultimately led her to create Sustain Frame. Before moving to Austin, she lived in Brooklyn, New York and ran the grind in Manhattan, where she worked for multiple fashion companies like Creatures of Comfort, Anthom, and Maryam Nassir Zadeh. Moving to NYC was a pivotal moment in her career, so that she could better provide herself with the tools to launch her own clothing line. To her surprise, while living in New York, she received news that she would be expecting her first child. Taking some time and consideration for her decision, she landed on the idea of moving to Austin, Texas to make a new home for her little one.

Currently, she is now building and developing her own company, Sustain Frame, and on the side, she works full time for a non-profit, Tankproof, where they provide zero-cost swimming lessons to underprivileged youth. Of course in her spare time, she enjoys taking time for her little one to make the most of the time they have together.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and Sustain Frame.

My background is predominately in the fashion and service industry. Working in both of these industries, I found myself constantly looking for ways to do better. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to find a way to support people. I believe that seeing the good in people and believing in them is the most intentional way of living, and to say that way of thinking fed into my work life is an understatement. I’ve always been the person fighting ideas of consistency, so once I started to focus my attention on environmental issues, I felt like life went full-speed. Some issues were being left unnoticed.

So, Sustain Frame is almost like my alter-ego superhero character—here’s me going into the phone booth as Clark Kent and coming out as Superman “Sustain Frame.” SF is basically everything I’ve done in my life, as far as work goes, and leveling it up to be a company that focuses solely on environmental and racial justice issues through events, workshops and product assortments.

*Editor’s Note: Sustain Frame is a conscious lifestyle brand, built to sustain and support community through goods and services. They’re currently our resident studio-mate, which means that for one month, they get to use our space free-of-charge to host events, experiment with retail and start conversations around their work.

Photo by Riley Banks of Woke Beauty — *Photo by Riley Banks of* *Woke Beauty*

What inspired you to start Sustain Frame?

A moment I’ll always recall is closing a bar I previously worked at and noticing I had tossed 10 empty bottles of liquor in the trash. From that point on, I started noticing more and more how much waste I was throwing away during my shift, and I was so surprised we didn’t have recycling. Then, I began to notice the accumulation of food waste the restaurant had been taking out every night. It started to become surreal that no one was noticing the environmental impacts that the hospitality industry was having on the world. Of course, let's not forget my life in fashion—I could write essays about the number of problems I would see in my day-to-day.

With this weighing on my shoulders, I couldn’t stand by any longer. About five years ago, I started plotting the idea of creating my own retail/restaurant space that could be a template for a sustainable company that was more thoughtful. I wanted to create something that would think about the big picture, what a business does for its customer, its employees and the environment, while taking it one step further by acknowledging the domino effect of what a company can actually do for people and the planet.

Although I am currently not ready to launch a physical space, I realized when I was furloughed last year that I finally had the time to focus on developing a game plan for how I was going to get to that physical space. That was when I thought of a dinner series that would be a locally sourced three-course meal for two, centered on a theme, with a playlist, florals, movie recommendations and sometimes highlight local small business vendors. All created by me! Now fast-forward to one year in, and we are finally able to do in-person events!

How would you describe Sustain Frame in three words?

Storytelling. Community. Perspective.

What’s your favorite dish?

Hm, tricky question for me. I find my taste buds change with the season. Currently, I really enjoy a robust salad. For the hot days, I choose refreshing and light options to make it easier to manage the Texas sun. I also really enjoy the seasonal produce Texas agriculture has to offer; such as tomatoes, fresh herbs and radishes.

What do you want people to feel when they attend a Sustain Frame experience?

I always want people to take away what they connected with most at my events. I’ve never wanted Sustain Frame’s offerings to feel like a forced experience. Even if I choose to create something that is strictly educational, I don’t want to bore someone so much so that they completely forget the experience ever happened. I feel like it’s important to create an immersive experience that can connect with all of your senses, so you can feel a personal connection or a sort of fondness towards the time you spent with us.

With most of my events I want to do three things: support, educate, and explore.

I support by choosing to work with partners who I believe in or feel strongly about.
We live in a world where topics and people have either been left unsaid or unheard. So, I believe we need to educate ourselves on topics of the earth and people to foster new growth and development that will ultimately be a win for us all.
Lastly, I focus on creating a beautiful event that gives you a safe space to explore your thoughts or feelings.

What do you want the future of Texas to look like?

Texas is such a beautiful landscape; I lived here when I was younger, and for some reason, it has always felt like home. Currently, with the changes happening here in Austin, I haven’t felt as connected to the land. So, my hope is that we can all come together as a community and support our connection to the land and not forget where we came from.

What’s coming up next for you?

Coming up next for Sustain Frame is a program possibly centered around memberships, so that we can grow in a constructive way, focus on one topic at a time and really dive into what they mean. Also, we hope to create a resource hub of information and tools.

*Editor’s Note: Sustain Frame is also hosting a pop-up dinner, Guelaguetza—a three course meal featuring two traditional Oaxacan courses and one course honoring the Juneteenth celebration and the Afro-hispanic community—at the FFTX HQ on Saturday, June 19. You can learn more and RSVP here.