Cotton fabric

The cotton fabric was the first material to be removed from the couch, as it was the upholstery. Beneath the first layer was another one, so in total I had quite an amount of white cotton fabric to use and design with. The first thing I noticed were the worn out spots in the fabric. That’s why I figured it would not be possible to use it entirely, I needed to find a way of using as much as possible, without compromising on the appearance of the end product.

That got me thinking, because, what does compromising mean when working on a recycle project. Shouldn’t I embrace the imperfections of the materials? Shouldn’t I work with the parts that are considered ugly too? To show how these imperfect parts are perfectly usable as well and to start a conversation about what to use and where to draw the line between usable and actual waste. That’s why I decided to use parts of the cotton fabric that were colored by the wood it was stapled on for almost 40 years. At first I considered it ugly or filthy, but now I see the beauty of it, and how less regular looking things still can be purposeful.