I recently started following textile-based artist Llane Alexis on Instagram (@llanealexis) after a tip from @jenhewett (you know), and I’m kind of stunned that I never knew about him while I was still in San Francisco, where I would for sure have shown up at his studio wanting to see his work in person. Born and raised in Cuba, he’s been living and working in SF for almost 20 years and made a shift from painting to textiles when he became aware of the level of fashion industry waste. He now uses industry scraps in his work, which ranges from fabric wrapped objects (furniture, chandeliers) to tied-rag orbs to dolls and assemblages like this dress made entirely of waistbands. As we talk about repurposing and refashioning, and about what to do with garments that are too far gone, this week for Slow Fashion October, his work seems especially relevant and inspiring. Go check it out on his website and follow him @llanealexis.
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PREVIOUSLY in Maker Crush: Natalie of The Tiny Closet
Photos by Peter Vanderpast (@pder), used with permission
I can feel my mind’s stuckness, for lack of a better word, start to loosen up just looking through his website and Instagram. My own new ideas started leaping in. Thank you!
can’t stop looking at these! (and thank you for the work you do in spotlighting the tremendous genius and diversity in the fibre-arts)
Oooo Lllllane can you come to my classroom (Richmond CA, art program) and do a project with my students?
My husband is a teacher, and one summer, he and his mom took the big pile of old jeans they had saved and turned it into a quilt like that. We had so many extra that we donated a big box of denim to a local organization that used crafts as healing for injured vets— they too made quilts out of denim. We have pieces with pockets and other details— it’s this big, heavy queen-bed-sized quilt that makes a great blanket for the park or the beach. Just reminded me of that.
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