What's in a t-shirt?

During our residency at The Australian Tapestry Workshop, also travelling from the other side of the world, we decided to experiment with material sourced on site. We were donated post production yarn from ATWs tapestry weaving and also t-shirt waste from Textile Recyclers Australia. We worked on combining these two very different materials; one exclusive, the other worthless. The t-shirts were sliced into a stretchy warp for a tapestry weave with the already blended colours of wool as weft. 

We came home with an experimental tapestry with a jersey warp and wool weft. The colors blended in perfectly with the Autumn colours outside our studio. The idea of tapestry weaving with these materials still need to be explored further.

In the meantime we've continued experimenting, partly by using t-shirts as warp but the t-shirt as a raw material has led us into exploring many more possibilities the t-shirt offers us. 

 

So What’s in a T-shirt?

A t-shirt is typically made of cotton in a jersey knit and has become a large part of fast fashion. We buy them and we waste them in a fast pace. The production processes include heavy impact on the environment. They have very little or no second hand value, except those with attractive retro- prints. As with some of our previous projects, Do Redo and Re Rag Rug, we explore how we through craft techniques can add value to a worthless material. We have worked with the t-shirt as material for creating rugs, but not with keeping the archetypic shape of the T (shirt).

 

Looking at creative makers at social media, many cut- and re-shaping ideas have become viral. We want to transform the t-shirt in our own way by using sometimes very time consuming craft techniques, to see if we can load it with new value. Still being a t-shirt. 

Our work is challenging ourselves to be as creative as possible with a specific material. However, when working with t-shirts as material you cannot avoid talking about the invisible things that are in a t-shirt before it ends up in our wardrobes: from growing the cotton and all the following steps in a manufacturing process often exploiting both soil and labour. All for our cheap t-shirt. It is such a shame to waste them and a general question is if we make them more sustainable and valuable?

A more specific question is posed to ourselves: can we (Katarina Brieditis & Katarina Evans) come up with 100 new t-shirts, made out of old t-shirts by adding design and craft techniques? 

In the AIR exhibition at ATW we are showing six t-shirts made out of old t-shirts. In each one of them there is more than one t-shirt. They are multi-layered or made into yarn. They are made in a variation of craft techniques: knitting, crochet, weaving, running stitches, needle lace, layering etc. 

We believe the answer is yes so stay tuned, there's more to come! 

Back in office

Tillbaka på jobbet och vi jobbar på med slipsarna. 

Vi flyttar in på Almgrens Sidenväveri den 14:e september. Där kommer vi under att ha vår tillfälliga ateljé  och skapa en gestaltning i beredningsrummet bestående av massproducerad och överblivna slipsar. Vårt arbete pågår publikt under museets öppettider och utställningen Slipsfabriken öppnar den 3:e oktober under Stockholm Craft Week. Utställningen pågår fram till den 31 oktober. Planen är också att en matta av siden, Re Rag Rug nummer 15, tar sin skepnad under utställningsperioden. 

Back in office and we keep working the ties. 

We will move into Almgrens Sidenväveri 14th  September. That is where we are going to have a temporärt studio and create an installation out of massproducerad and discarded ties. Our work will be going on during opening hours and the official opening of the exhibition is 3rd October during Stockholm Craft Week. The exhibition stand until 31st October.  Our plan is also to make a silk rug, Re Rag Rug No. 15, during this time.

Slipsfabriken

Innan semester kan vi berätta att vårt nästa återbruksprojekt blir Slipsfabriken på Almgren sidenväveri.  En donation av ett hundratal företagsslipsar i 100% siden ligger till grund och för att berika det enahanda materiallagret har vi under ett år utökat samlingen och har nu en rik och brokig skara exklusiva sidenslipsar att, kanske inte sätta saxen i men göra något av. Fortsättning följer. 

Re Forest at Open MUJI Singapore

The past couple of weeks we have been busy working on the Christmas spirit. Commissioned to create a Christmas exhibition for MUJI in Singapore. Also to design it so that visitors can participate in the creating process. We have made a Christmas tree covered with white rags and during the period up to Christmas the Open MUJI space be will Re Forested with more trees dressed in white.

The material used is textile scraps from MUJI factories. Off cuts of different white fabrics and in fact the same as we used when creating the 'Cloud' in Tokyo in 2017.

So, if in Singapore 14 November - 25 December, join in and Re Forest with MUJI fabric scraps at

Open MUJI Singapore. 

A walk through a Nordic forest, in Christmas time, where snow lies heavy. When snow covers the trees like a quilt, transforming them into white sculptures it creates a special sound. It is so very quiet. All you hear is the crunching of snow underfoot. It is dusk and time to go out and search for this year’s Christmas tree.

MUJI off-cuts Re-designed

Our MUJI Cloud has been well featured but in our collaboration with MUJI we were also asked to design cushion covers out of their production waste.

MUJI, Mujirushi Ryohin, translates as "no-brand quality goods" and the company’s socially motivated philosophy of mottainai (don’t waste) is well known. MUJI’s products, are already born from an extremely rational manufacturing process. Even so, all production generates some 'waste' or surplus. In this specific case we were given a selection of textile off-cuts in a variety of qualities and where each quality had a specific size (the off-cut/waste).

In our assignment we should also bring into account that the cushion covers should be re-producable in the same factory where the fabric is manufactured. 

One year and a half down the line, after having experimented and sent our prototype samples out to the factory in China, the first two designs in three colourways were launched in the MUJI Yurakucho Store in September. With two more designs to follow in February 2018.

 

Reiko Sudo och ReMUJI

Vi fick fint besök från Japan i ateljén bara ett par dagar efter att vi kommit hem från Tokyo.

Reiko Sudo, textile designer and co-founder of Nuno, visited us in the Studio only a couple of days back from Tokyo. She was invited to Sweden by Iaspis as part of the expert visit program. Sudo's works are part of 'Trådvandringar/Threadways' at Växjö Konsthall 21/9-29/10 and with 'Nuno' at Fiber Space until 14/10.

Reiko Sudo is also a member of the MUJI advisory board, which provides strategic direction for MUJI’s product development and environmental practices. Little did we know that she had been at the Swedish Embassy at our talk the week before!
When getting involved at MUJI she noticed that many of the clothes returned to Muji were perfectly wearable and, keen to avoid unnecessary waste, she initiated ReMUJI, a project of recolouring the donated clothes with indigo, before selling the “new” garments in-store.

Muji has been a long-time participant in the Fuku-Fuku Project, a nationwide effort by retailers inviting customers to drop off their unwanted clothes for recycling. Fuku means both “clothing” and “happiness” in Japanese.

“Through these ReMUJI ventures we’ve taken a closer look at the relationship between people, lifestyle and textiles,” Sudo says. “In a sermon, Buddha once said, ‘Never waste what has been given; do not discard even the smallest scrap that can be used’. This speaks to the heart of what I have always tried to do.” 

Molnet är färdigt

Molnet är så färdigt som det har kunnat bli på de här dagarna och vi känner oss nöjda.

Sju dagar har det tagit att göra och lite hjälp har vi fått av de frivilliga som gillat att bara vara där, för att både hänga lite och jobba tillsammans med oss. Det har varit lite svettigt men väldigt roligt.

Så här ser det ut nu, molnet. Det kommer att hänga på Atelier Muji fram till sista oktober.
Välkomna dit, ni som har turen att få besöka Tokyo i höst!

 (photos: Leo Brieditis)

 

MUJI YURAKUCHO ATELIER MUJI Exhibition「Handscape」

Friday, 1 September 2017 - Sunday, 29 October 2017

‘Handscape’ is coined from combining the words ‘hand’ and ‘scape’. A landscape created by human hands; it is not something focused on a specific part but an overall view from a distance. 

For this exhibition, we invited two Swedish artists to work with gallery visitors, in a project to create a large rug using remnant materials left over from MUJI’s production processes. Combining design, ideas and the power of the human hand, the ‘waste’ material will transform into a beautiful piece of artwork. This project also allows you to experience the pleasure of engaging with sustainability and exploring new values with your very own hands.

What is it that we choose as customers?

What is it that makes us challenge ourselves to create something?

There are many ways to enjoy this exhibition: join the project, watch the process and imagine the completed piece. ‘Clouds’ were the inspiration of this rug piece and with your hands this art piece will change little by little everyday.

Please join us to create this rug and see a world that you have never seen before.

ATELIER MUJI

Finputsning

Centre of Innovative Material and Technology

The grand opening af CIMT, centre of innovative material and technology, at HKDI

'Islands' arrived in Hong Kong

The rug Islands has arrived in Hong Kong, with 'Tailor', 'Grid' and 'Archipelago'.  

It is made of selvedge waste and is part of the exhibition that inaugurates 'The Centre of Innovative Materials & Technology' at HKDI where we had our large exhibition in 2014-2015.

Stadkantsmatta 'då' och 'nu'

Det dags för oss att hitta tillbaka till några tidigare igångsatta matt-idéer med spillmaterial från textilindustrin.

'Då' på besök i en vävfabrik i södra Indien där vi ägnade några dagar åt experiment och mattpussel.

'Nu' tillbaka i ateljén och tid och tid avsatt för att ta itu med de lådor med stadkanter i bomull företaget Emperor Textiles i södra Indien skickat till oss. Vi börjar med att experimentera med det begränsade material vi har i mängd och färgskala, och så kommer en ny matta att vara klar i slutet av månaden för att skickas till en utställning på HKDI i Hong Kong (där vi 2014-2015 hade vår stora utställning Re Rag Rug, men mer om det senare.