Images above courtesy of Glennis Dolce. All rights reserved.
For me slow cloth emphasizes the fact that making things from fiber is a blissful experience, and that is is ok for things to take time, as long as we cherish the process. On a larger scale slow cloth takes on issues such as sustainable, and fair manufacturing of fashion and home goods, respect for the environment, the importance of making things that last and doing more with less.
The slow cloth group on facebook, spearheaded by Elaine, with the help of Jude Hill, and Glennis Dolce, now has close to 600 members from all over the world, all sharing a love for fabric, fibers, stitching, and handcraft. The slow cloth group has ongoing discussions about varied topics such as artistic process, books for fiber makers, favorite needels, and "ugly" work. There is an adjacent flicker group where members can post photos of their work, and all members are encouraged to post links and comments on topics related to the slow cloth philosophy. I find this to be an increadible inspiring place and I encourage everybody who work with textiles, and who embraces the slow cloth ideas to join the group. Thank you Kit for helping me find the way, and thank you Elaine, Jude, and Glennis for setting things in motion!
Hi Lotte - thank you so much for this! I just want to correct, though, that I was not behind the slow food idea. THat concept and organization was started by Carlo Petrini in Italy and all of his supporters around the world. I am a supporter and worked with them through my own work in organic foods, but absolutely shouldn't be given any credit for slow food - that has been the work of some very passionate people who deserve all the credit. The "slow" concept translates very well to textiles and cloth, though, doesn't it?
ReplyDeletehey thanks for your support with all of this!
ReplyDeleteSo interesting! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for posting about this Lotta. I've spent the last hour linking from one wonderful textile blog to the next -- (Loved Jude's photostream.) I sent a link to your blog, with mention of Slow cloth, to several artists and designers here. :)
ReplyDeleteOops! Correction: I thoroughly enjoyed Jude Hill's blog, but the flickr photostream was at gerdiary.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this. Lots of beautiful work and ideas. The 10 qualities of the Slow Cloth are inspiring and motivating.
ReplyDeleteHi Lotte -- this is a beautiful post, and thanks for the link -- but you have linked to my old blog -- my new blog is now here: http://www.kiteastman.com/silverminnow/. Look forward to seeing you at Slow Cloth!
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for your comments. I apologize for the mishaps. I've fixed everything in the main post, where you now can find a direct link to Kit Eastman's beautiful new blog, and a revised description of Elaine's background and accomplishment. Hope to see you over at Slow Cloth!
ReplyDelete