The Selvedge Podcast
Image: Rug made from recycled jersey fabric by Multicolores.
Today we launch the first episode of the Selvedge Podcast. The podcast, like the magazine, explores the fabric of our lives - that is, the connection between cloth, culture and creativity. Selvedge’s founder Polly Leonard hosts, interviewing artists, designers, NGOs, co-operatives, collectors and just about anyone who wears clothes; “I will be visiting artists' studios, mills and ateliers, as well as climbing mountains, crossing deserts and setting sail around the world (metaphorically of course at present), to find sustainable textiles that celebrate cultural identity, diversity and the heritage of humanity.” Polly has been making, thinking and writing about textiles for 40 years; “The more you learn about textiles, the more you learn how much there is to still discover.”
Image: Unsung Weavers.
Episode one tackles upcycling. Polly explains, “With the global textile industry a large polluter and landfills groaning with barely worn clothing, there is no better topic for our first episode than Up-cycling. With its roots in the make-do and mend mentality, that for crafters never really went away, upcycling has the potential to make a tremendously positive environmental and social impact.” If the average life of clothing was extended by just three months, it would reduce their carbon and water footprints, as well as waste generation, by between five and 10 per cent. The recycling of two million tons of clothing per year equates to taking one million cars off the roads.
Image: Clothing by Christine Mayer, photo: Billy & Hells.
The episode features interviews with Christine Mayer, a German designer whose most recent collections have been made entirely from recycled fabric. Irma Churunel Ajú, a member of the non-profit organisation Multicolores in Guatemala who transform second-hand clothing into rag rugs that reference indigenous Mayan iconography. And Elina Tseliagkou, a designer living in Athens, who creates one-off coats hand-crafted from woollen blankets salvaged from villages in her native Greece for her label Unsung Weavers.
There will be a new podcast episode monthly, made available on the 1st day of the month.
To listen, visit Selvedge Podcast, or find us on iTunes or your usual podcast app.
1 comment
I’m enjoying listening to the first episode, and would like to suggest that the description of each episode include the names and websites of persons being interviewed. I want to see the work being discussed! Thank you.