Neighbourhood Cloth

Eco-localism and Permaculture

Neighbourhood Cloth is an holistic community project, focusing on the temporal dimensions of growing fibre, food and dye and the connections that can be made between these systems to create a regenerative future. With the community I am exploring how we can create a pair of jeans and food that are grown, harvested, processed and dyed entirely from an allotment in Nunhead, South East London using more equitable, healthier and more regenerative design principles.

Growing your Own

In growing your own materials and seasonal colours, there are not only opportunities to make and to wear but also opportunities to eat. To disregard and separate food from fibre is perhaps part of the problem; by eliminating this we can create diverse food systems, stop monoculture landscapes, create resilience for growers and raise awareness that locally grown organic clothing is as important as food.

Slow Design

Combining growing your own textiles with ‘slow design’ and ‘practices of care’ has created opportunities to slow down and connect to the process of growing: the waiting, the harvesting and the slow process of weaving, and creating in a fast world. ‘Growing your own’ has made visible not just how much nature offers us but the time it takes to grow these crops, an understanding of the labour that is involved in processing them: the effort, the gruel, the emotional investment, the true cost of the things we take for granted. Through the act of growing and the sharing of knowledge and skills, people are encouraged to think more deeply and re-evaluate what and how much they are consuming, as well as care for and nurture of the land instead of buying, wearing, binning.