Play of Patch and Touch of Re-fabric

The world already has enough exceptional created products so we can enjoy our life.  However, our desire for owning better and newer products never ends. Even for solving our problems and overcoming inconvenience in our daily lives, we continuously create new products in the pursuit of a more comfortable lifestyle, and increase more waste anyway.

"Play of Patch and Touch of Re-fabric" with upcycling suggests that makers can be more creative to reuse materials and step back from consuming new materials as much as possible.  Upcycling only requires your own imagination, creativity and elbow grease, and then you remove items from the global garbage stream. We provide jobs for women who work in the informal cottage labor market of sewing with upcycling scraps. This is a simple business model that creators can do in any country. 

There are already huge quantities of reusable resources located everywhere. 

One of the most common  reusable materials is fabrics.  For the art project, “Play of Patch and Touch of Re-fabric”, the focus is on the disposal of offcuts from clothing suppliers. 

The scraps are collected and put together to recreate bigger pieces of fabric which can be used for other products. The rebirth of upcycling the leftover fabric is that there is less of an impact on the environment. Scraps destined for the dump are rescued and remade into something useful and enjoyable. Nowadays, disposing of waste is fairly costly. So clothing suppliers can avoid to pay for disposing of their scrap materials.

We are providing jobs for women who work in the informal cottage labor market of sewing near Chiang Mai City, a museum, as well as people who want to enjoy textile art and our clothing/products, especially so blind people can experience art.

Scraps are collected from the sewing ladies who work in the informal cottage labor market of producing and cutoff fabrics are bought from some fabric stores. Then the fabrics are sorted based on colors and patterns. 

Either the  ladies or Yoko-Sonya patch the scraps together to make one long length of cloth which can be rolled  up according to each of the general colors. This is “re-fabric”ing. This process makes the scraps easier to sew for the ladies without considering shapes and color combinations. So they can earn money with this simple sewing work. Another good benefit is it could be a unique patterned fabric depending on what is sewn from the scraps.  

Once the re-fabric is made, it can be used like regular fabric to make clothing and/or products. Also it can be sold cuts by meter increments. By using just the re-fabric, the customers and product itself will be creative and unique. 

The art pieces with the re-fabric are touchable to exhibit at galleries and museums. And the exhibition is accessible to everyone, including people with vision loss. Our textile art project “Play of Patch and Touch of Re-fabric”  is a universal sustainable process.

Using the re-fabric process  will not only support the local sewing ladies who want to earn extra income to support their families so they usually accept orders requiring simple sewing. However, the re-fabric process could give them the opportunity to use their creativity and engage with an audience as creators. We provide the re-fabric for sale in cuts as a raw material to general consumers who come to our events. Also, we make our products and art pieces with the re-fabric and sell to them. 

When the art pieces and products are made tactile, the gate of experiencing art is open wider for the blind, who are often excluded from experiencing art in museums and art galleries. Experiencing this kind of art through the texture of all different kinds of materials, seams and embroidery with touch rather than just seeing it. This event can help audiences and customers  become familiar with a solution to the environmental problem through touching the actual art.They would be exposed to the problems of waste and be involved in positive actions together wherever the exhibition and events are held.  Physically experiencing something is very often much stronger to understanding it than just seeing pictures. 

We believe that the movement on the whole process that start from choosing materials and starting the process with the sewing ladies to the audience through this art project, is an innovative solution from us as an artist and the team who want to share the joy of creativity with everyone.

The core technology of “Play of Patch and Touch of Re-fabric” is the use of social media, such as Instagram, the Facebook event page of where our exhibition would be held.  We always choose the exhibition place which has a strong connection to the local community. People regularly check the page on social media. Then, once our show starts, the information goes viral online. We put up a sign that says “Photo OK”   to encourage the audience members to take photos of this art work. As a result, more people are coming to our show.

Importantly, general technology such as computers, smartphones and cell phones, GPS devices and using social media with accessibility skills are essential communication tools for people with vision loss or who are  visually impaired. So it is an open door for people to be connected to art and to be aware of a creative solution.

We believe that it would be impactful if people from the local community start upcycling on their own. In fact, there are a local community, an individual fashion brand and a fabric brand that they currently started own upcycling for their event and products with their people after experiencing our art show and project.   Our solution is to start a whole movement by letting the audience become aware of the problems and encourage them to upcycle through the show, workshops and by using our product. Solution for this problem is reducing fabric waste. It is nonsense to increase other waste to produce something to solve this problem. 

 Therefore, we could be an example for showing how you could upcycle fabrics and reduce waste with the way that makes living fun.  Just telling people the positive logic doesn’t lead them to do an action. On the other hand, inviting people to be involved with the solution by experiencing something fun and creating something beautiful will take root in people. Our solution with art takes on this role.

For the process of making re-fabric and products, four of the sewing ladies are from the Hmong Hill Tribe. They have been sewing clothing/products that Yoko-Sonya designed for the past five years. They normally work in the informal cottage  labor market of sewing for souvenirs during the high tourist season (Oct-Feb) in Thailand. During the off season, they get less income. So we place orders with them during the off season to help fill the gap in their income as much as possible. We plan on placing orders for them since most of our shows and events have been held outside of Thailand. 

From our previous art shows and events over the past two years, around 1000 people are currently served with our solution.  Most of them are the audience members at our shows and workshop participants, and customers who buy our products. 

Currently, we are working on our art pieces with the re-fabric. Yoko-Sonya will exhibit our work as one of the invited artists for a special Universal Art exhibition at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan Sep-Dec 2020. This show will be held at the same time as The Olympic/Paralympic games 2020 in Tokyo. The museum and the curator of the art show expect more visitors than in regular occasions (about 200,000 people per year). So we believe it will be lots of people who we would be serving for next  year.

Our goal within the next year is to reach as many  audience members and customers as possible and gain more attention to our solution art pieces from people through the exhibition at the museum and some workshop and events. And hopefully, each different audience will take a small action to step to the upcycling on their daily life.  Furthermore, we want to connect with other museums, public spaces and organizations which have an innovative vision for the touchable art within two years. So we can spread this upcycling idea from the local to the world step by step.

Currently we have opportunities to sell our products through our exhibitions, pop-up stores and workshops only a few times a year. For supporting  the sewing ladies financially, it is not stable enough.

We need more opportunities to sell our product consistently so that we can place constant orders with the ladies. And when there are constant orders, we can expand the sewing ladies group in another village or even another country for the next five years.

Most of them want to sew something that is only easy and simple at their house in order to earn quick income to support their families.  So producing our clothing has a limitation of design depending on their capacity.

Another issue between the Hmong women and ourself is that there is a cultural gap in terms of communication. I may specify a certain design for a product but the Hmong women will add their own ideas to finish our products. They have the best intention but they change the design without prior permission.

Our plan to overcome the financial barrier is that we will make more connections at the symposium this year. We will meet people who are curators at the other museums, artists who challenge the universal museum model, people from organizations for the blind and researchers from universities.   We will introduce people our art project Play of patch and touch of re-fabric with upcycling there. Also, We will seek more exhibitions and retailing opportunities for next year with our event proposals during our visit in Japan for the symposium. 

To overcome our technical barrier of designing product,  we divide a simple work such as "re-fabric"ing and advanced work for clothing depending on their skills. In addition, provide equipment if necessary.

In order to overcome our communication problems, I stress that they should contact me by phone BEFORE they make any changes to the original product design. I tell them to not hesitate to call me if they are unsure about anything in order to double-check how something should be done. This way there are no wrong assumptions on both sides.
And with "re-fabric"ing, I don't need to give them any specific and detailed directions about the design. Because the scraps are already sorted based on colors and patterns. So letting them do "re-fabric"ing the sorted scraps makes nicely unique fabrics. It will be a perfect solution for both of us.

Our solution team is part of art projects of Yoko-Sonya from Japan and Mhong Tree in Thailand. Also, Yoko-Sonya herself  is now in the process of the registration for her organization in Japan.

Anuson Noppuchararuk is the founder of Mhong Tree.
Yoko-Sonya is the the team leader of this solution project.

Our solution team consists of three people.

Yoko-Sonya as a maker, designer, artist and director.

Anuson Noppuchararuk as a conductor and interpreter for Hmong Hill-tribes in Thailand.

Janice Pono as a distributor in the United Stats and editor. 

We had been trying to make a fair-trade system with Hmong Hill tribe women who have been struggling to improve their quality of life in the city of Chiang Mai with a business project. After five years working with them, we stopped the project. We had failed. We made a careful analysis of the problem, then we decided to focus on the art. Since then, we have gained some more supporters, and connections for our current art projects. We still work with some of the Hmong sewing ladies who we pay a fair and livable wage so that they still prioritize our projects. Art is an effective tool to make a change in society with smiles. We do not  just send people a message, but also to give them an opportunity to be involved in an action through our art and products. At this stage, We have this unique idea as an artist and the team, then we need more technical and academic support to develop the work. It is on growing path. That’s why we are best-placed to deliver this solution. For solving problems, sometimes we need to approach from different angles.

• Currently, we are partnering with a restaurant which is run by the Non-Profit Organization "ENABLE" which is based in Tatsuno. This organization support people with disabilities to be able to work in the local community. ENABLE gives us an opportunity for holding events and for making connections to the potential people.  In April 2019, Yoko-Sonya held an art exhibition, a pop-up store and two workshops there. Both ENABLE and our art team, had positive results from the events. The restaurant gained more regular customers on this occasion. So we are seeking for the next opportunity.

• The national museum of ethnology in Osaka, Japan will hold a special exhibition “Universal Museum - Travel to the
  primitive intellect (provisional title)” Sep-Dec 2020 with invited artists.  And Yoko-Sonya was chosen as one of the exhibiting artists With Mr. Kojiro Hirose (associate professor and a curator at the museum), we currently are in the process of organizing a symposium at the museum in November 2019 which is relevant to the special exhibition in 2020.

This art project aims to serve to people who need  support on its producing process, and aims to expose to everyone beyond the languages and disabilities, and aims to reduce a part of the fashion wastes with upcycling.

When we collect scraps, we get them free because the giver can avoid paying for the disposal of the scraps. Alternatively, we can get scraps as a donation from people. In that case, we can pay back the donors a part the product or art piece’s sales from the show when it is sold, if they want. If not, we could donate the money or buy something needed anyway. 

 We buy offcuts from some fabric stores if it’s reasonably priced. And some are actually  from our own production line. 

During our art exhibition, at the same time , we open a pop-up store and we sell clothing and products that we produced with the Hmong sewing ladies. Our distributor, Janice Pono sells our products at her pop-up fundraising parties when she is in the United States.  It is a good opportunity to introduce Hmong culture and life to others outside of Thailand, and let the customers know who made their clothing. Also, we give workshops and participate in talk shows when we have an opportunity. So we run our art for the next event.

Currently, we receive some in-kind support  for our accommodation and for part of our travel within Japan when we have shows in different cities. So we earn income for our art project by the sales of our products at our shows and at places where our workshops and pop-up stores are held, such as book store's gallery space, restaurants and cafes occasionally. Also, we have  some direct dealings with regular customers for clothing and products.

And another case, if we aim not to sell our art pieces, for example:  exposing art at a museum, then the museum provide our accommodation, full transfer fee, transit cost for our art and daily wages if we needed to be the place.

In the long term,  we need more sponsors/museums to exhibit our art. Because we started to create a growing art piece with the same concept by reaching out to  audiences from each exhibition. This art piece will not be for sale for a while. But for each exhibition, the piece will grow and change in appearance, and gain value. 

The museum can expect more audience and earn incomes from the entrance fee.

We believe that there are people who have a positive perspective for art as a tool for solving problems in Solve, at MIT and through Solve because it’s an innovative team. Art is not often considered as an important area of urgent necessity. However, our solution could be a practical practice to have a creative and critical mind for all of us to find a solution from a personal level.

We gained opportunities to sell our clothing/products through the art. But still it is not enough to support the sewing ladies during the off season. To expand our solution, we need support from Solve and MIT Networks to make connections to experts from different areas to receive technical advice and to obtain opportunities to expose our artwork to more people.

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• It would be great if fashion brands such as ISSEY MIYAKE and Gudrun Sjoden can partner to share their off-cut fabrics with our art project or do a workshop together. Because the fabrics they create are magnificently colorful and textured for both our eyes and fingers. Their positive attitude towards environmental issues inspires me and potential audiences. Their eco thinking is reflected on their fabrics with its beauty.

• We are seeking support from museums, companies or universities such as The Art Institute of Chicago,Microsoft art collection,Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum or MIT Museum, which can offer us an opportunity to expose our solution as a special exhibition, and also technical support and advice for a system of leading /guiding people without using their eye-sight in the exhibition space.

We will not apply for this prize.

We will utilize the prize by making a community working space for upcycling  which is well ventilated with air-conditioning, two industrial sewing machines and a computer with access to WiFi for the sewing ladies and our team. Dealing with the scraps and off cuts of fabrics creates lots of fibroid dusts which are harmful for our health.  They need a safe working environment for their long-term health.

We also will provide a healthy lunch or snacks at the community working space at a reasonable price for them. All of them are mothers , and work at their own house everyday, so the priority in their house is always their family members. The Hmong women are the lowest priority in their traditional culture. They also need to have a separate working space so they can concentrate on their zero-waste craft and our upcycling project.

Creating a community working space which allows the sewing ladies to have a little distance from their families helps them to talk openly as a woman. We believe that this kind of space and time away from their family can support the Hmong women to educate themselves and to value themselves as women, and their health. In addition the women can fully develop their original products to sell in local markets and to buyers in Bangkok and other regions. And this space will be open for visitors who want to learn about upcycling and what we are doing, too.

We will utilize the prize by offering the sewing ladies opportunities to learn  basic mathematics, English language communication and for improving their tailoring skills. Importantly, we will provide a daily allowance during their education period so they can continue to financially support their families.  This security can encourage the ladies in their career choice. They did not have access to primary education when they were young and living in their village in the mountains. They need training in upgrading their tailoring techniques and learning business negotiation skills with customers. Being able to calculate helps the sewing ladies to make their own patterns for clothing, and also to avoid getting ripped off by middlemen. Being fluent in the English language helps the sewing ladies to reach foreign customers in the sightseeing district of Chiang Mai.

This educational support can help them to be independent in the near future and will enable them to be good role models for the other women in their communities. Eventually, supporting these women can boost regional economy.

We will not apply for this prize.