Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse

Exhibition Website

Sep 2 2017 - Jan 7 2018

Showing at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, Scraps presents the work of three designers who have pioneered creative approaches to recycling textiles: Luisa Cevese of Riedizioni in Milan; Christina Kim of Dosa in Los Angeles; and Reiko Sudo of Nuno in Tokyo. 

The textile and fashion industries produce millions of tons of solid waste every year through the many processes used, from yarn production, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing, to apparel construction and quality inspection, generating waste at each step. Typically, this waste is sent to landfill, incinerated, or, at best, recycled into low-quality fiber used for industrial applications. Scraps will present three designers’ alternative approaches to the shockingly high human and environmental costs of textile industry waste. Luisa Cevese (Riedizioni, Milan, Italy), Christina Kim (dosa, Los Angeles, USA), and Reiko Sudo (NUNO, Tokyo, Japan) all share a profound respect for scraps as repositories of raw materials, energy, labor, and creativity. Inspired by the long tradition of using handcraft to give new life to scraps and cast-offs, each takes an entirely different approach to contending with textile waste. But all three agree that there is much to be gained—aesthetically and financially, as well as environmentally and socially—by making recycling an integral part of their design practices.

The delicate beauty of the fabrics , garments, and accessories featured in Scraps create a seductive visual experience the exhibition space. But the concept also provides a unique platform for exploring many facets of sustainability: using materials and resources efficiently, promoting meaningful labor practices, sustaining local craft traditions, and exploring new technologies as integral to the recycling process. The exhibition will focus on a single project or concept from each designer, each utilizing waste generated at a different stage of the manufacturing stream. Christina Kim is customizing a recycled jamdani , an extremely fine, hand-woven figured cotton muslin used for saris in West Bengal, India, especially for the A+D Center presentation of the exhibition and is using the special environment of Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs as her inspiration.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether or not you go, the accompanying book by the same title  Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse: Three Stories of Sustainable Design, presents three designers’ alternative and beautiful approaches to the high human and environmental costs of textile industry waste. 

Christina Kim, founder of Los Angeles–based brand Dosa; Reiko Sudo, cofounder of Tokyo textile firm Nuno; and Luisa Cevese, founder of Milan-based accessories and home goods company Riedizioni, all share a profound respect for scraps as repositories of raw materials, energy, labor and creativity. Inspired by the long tradition of using handcraft to give new life to scraps and castoffs, each takes an entirely different approach to contending with textile waste, but all agree that there is much to be gained--aesthetically and financially, as well as environmentally and socially--by making recycling an integral part of their design practice.

The delicate beauty of the fabrics featured here ensures a seductive visual experience, framing the exploration of sustainable design practices: using materials and resources efficiently, providing meaningful labor, sustaining local craft traditions and exploring new technologies as integral to the recycling process. Each copy of the book is bound in its own unique discarded Indian woodblock-printed textile with foil stamping.

Click here to add this volume to your library: Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse: Three Stories of Sustainable Design

  • Fiber Arts
  • International
  • Luisa Cevese
  • Christina Kim
  • Reiko Sudo

Exhibition Venues & Dates