The Local Cloth Project at Harvest Textiles

Im a Designer-in-Residence' at Harvest Textiles this week and will be beginning my Local Cloth Project, as part of my PhD research.

The residency will explore the concept of ‘local textiles’ where I hope to combine my knowledge of sustainable textile print and dye processes with my interest in new forms of design and community activity that promote ‘home-grown’ knowledge and skills and encourage well-being.

While we live in a globalised world, where most of our clothing, textiles and objects are made abroad, and we are disconnected to the making of most of the products in our lives, how can we re-connect? The idea of ‘local’ has gained prominence in most urban cities with Slow food, farmers markets, the sprouting of an urban agriculture movement and the re-emergence of independent retailers and companies, who offer us trust, loyalty and a sense of community. But what does this mean for textiles?

Historically, all our textiles and garments were made locally or by ourselves. If they were made locally, the distance between the producers and the users of textiles was minimal. If we made our own textiles, we were closely connected to the growing, collecting and creating of materials and plants that were used to produce textiles. Both these scenarios meant we had a more intimate relationship and they created a vastly different dynamic to the fast, shallow relationship we have to our garments today.

Using Harvest Textiles location in East Brunswick, I will explore what a local textile could be. What does a Melbourne cloth look like? What colour is it? Who made it? Where has the raw materials come from?

Utilising a range of techniques and ideas, such as natural dyeing using local Melbourne native plants, sustainable printing techniques and creative upcycling, I will attempt to develop a taxonomy of ‘local textiles’ for Harvest Textiles.