This exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum shared works by Christina Kim, Luisa Cevese, founder of Riedizioni, and Reiko Sudo, co-founder of Nuno, that use garment manufacturing waste to create more. Christina exhibited “the life of jamdani”, tracked from initial fabric through multiple layers of use and creative reuse at dosa. In 2002, Christina was invited by the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India to work with artisans in the earthquake-affected area of Kutch. During her travels, she was drawn to the color palette of jamdani, a traditional plain weave sari cloth from West Bengal, which is woven in a pit loom using a supplementary weft to create the designs. Since 2003, jamdani scraps from dosa clothing production have been saved and sorted, and repurposed for first and second generation clothing, textile panels, and amulets, all shared in this exhibition. Inspired by the ornamentation of the Carnegie Mansion’s breakfast room, site specific recycled jamdani window scrims were installed with designs echoing the ceiling tiles and color palette drawn from the gardens outside. See life of jamdani

Coinciding with the Scraps exhibition, Christina created an installation in the conservatory of pink stone pillows and Spanish moss. The pillows were made with Redaelli and Uzbekistani velvets, and fabrics naturally dyed by Adiv Pure Nature using annatto, lac, madder, and sappanwood. Visitors were invited to interact, rest, and linger, while recycled paper beads reminiscent of Spanish moss hung from the ceiling. Christina collected National Geographic magazine pages in blue and green as part of an ongoing collaborative project with artisans at El Taller Arte Papel in Oaxaca, Mexico. Recycled pages were cut into triangles, hand rolled, and strung as garlands to recreate the textures and colors of the Spanish moss she encountered in South Carolina.

www.cooperhewitt.org

exhibition locations:
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
September 23, 2016 – April 16, 2017

George Washington University Textile Museum
September 2, 2017 – January 7, 2018

Palm Springs Art Museum
Architecture and Design Center
October 1, 2018 – January 14, 2019