
The CSC set of g’ROUND cushions were constructed for the UAAC/AAUC 2024 conference, in response to an interest in soft furnishings for conference seating, to address sustainability and accessibility.
Artist-scholar Lois Klassen adapted her Meditations on Textile Waste – Practices of Everyday Ethics project with support from past CSC Postdoctoral Fellow Amanda White to build these cushions for current and future CSC use. The fabric for the outer shells was sourced from the Textile Museum of Canada’s Textile Reuse Program, and the shredded stuffing was sourced from Goodwill Industries. The CSC cushions are available to borrow.
g’ROUND Cushion materials and construction:
- Outer fabric: sourced from the Textile Reuse Program, Textile Museum of Canada “Re-Use Store” (mixed and unknown fibers)
- Contents: Shredded fabric (mixed and unknown fibers) down-cycled from un-sellable textiles, sourced from Goodwill Industries, London, ON
- Design provided by Lois Klassen, Pattern Available below
- Sewing, Elaine Ball. Project management, Amanda White
Links
Further Resources
Global Issue:
The OR Foundation. The Best Resistance Is an Alternative. https://theor.org/
Ricketts, Liz, and Branson Skinner. Stop Waste Colonialism: Leveraging Extended Producer Responsibility to Catalyze a Justice-Led Circular Textiles Economy. The Or Foundation, 2023, https://stopwastecolonialism.org/.
Podcast: Serumaga, Nikissi, and Bobby Kolade. Vintage or Violence. project about fast fashion waste from a pan-african perspective https://www.vintageorviolence.com/
For Makers:
Podcast: Check Your Thread. a podcast about sewing more sustainably https://checkyourthread.com/
Fabric Sustainability Index & Fabric Life Cycle Assessment EXPLAINED | Core Fabrics. Directed by Core Fabrics, 2024. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALfq_QynRpo.
Canadian Fibreshed network. https://www.canadianfibreshed.org/
Lois Klassen, Practices of Everyday Ethics, Volume 1: Yoga Bolsters and Dog Beds“ (2022) and “Practices of Everyday Ethics, Volume 2: Meditations on Textile Waste” (2023), Vancouver: Light Factory Publications. Both are also available for free download here – https://lightfactorypublications.ca/title/meditations-on-textile-waste/
Social Enterprise “recirculated textiles”:
- https://www.goodwillindustries.ca/commercial-solutions/
- Our Social Fabric (Vancouver) – https://oursocialfabric.ca/
- Textile Museum: https://textilemuseum.ca/education/our-textile-reuse-program/
- Maker space in Hamilton:https://empiremakespace.com/