Fabric and yarn waste are inevitable parts of a textile studio practice: thrums, yarn clippings, fabric scraps all pile up in the process of making. However many alternate uses we might come up with for these trimmings, there comes a point at which they are simply not very useful. However: disaggregate any material enough and it becomes a raw material in its own right. It is in this spirit that we began work on an in-house fiber recycling program. Working with designer/builder Erik Newman, we have developed a people-powered-fiber-shredding machine to process the scraps, off-cuts and fiber waste of our studio into a usable fluff byproduct: our goal is to develop infrastructure that deals with waste at the scale at which it is produced and to find a meaningful life for the materials that fall off the table in the process of making.

Note: we are NOT accepting donations of any scrap fabrics. For now, the shredder is only processing the material we produce here in the studio.

Interested in getting involved? We host regular shredding days and love volunteers. Please send a note to info@theweavingmill.com if you’d like to learn more.

Project support from the 2021 Design Impact Grant, Designing a Better Chicago (the Design Museum of Chicago, NeoCon, The Mart, DCASE)