At the workshop, we like to take different perspectives on the same problem or challenge; to observe it from new angles, to approach it with unexpected methods. Our major textile circularity project began in 2020 with a question: what if our textile waste, the waste we couldn't avoid, became a new medium? Could it enrich our practice?
It was with this ambition that we began developing circular projects. First, with Sophie from atelier retailles, a proof of concept to see the potential of these fibers, inspired by ancestral papermaking techniques. Then, with the help of Recyc-Québec and Sodec, we were able to work with molding and thermoforming with the Innofibre research center. Mobiles and hangers thus began to take shape. In parallel, our end-of-life clothing collection program was also established.
A few years ago, the volume of scraps made us want to work on a larger scale and create small pieces of furniture. Ideas are abundant, but the challenge is to execute them precisely and move them beyond the prototyping stage so they can reach our community! In this whirlwind of potential, I wanted to take a step back and reflect on the entire project, and complete a master's degree in design that I had started many years ago. While atelier b was growing and our Mile End workshop-boutique was coming to life, I had dropped out of school to be fully invested in atelier b with Catherine. But this circularity project presented itself as an excellent excuse to complete this long-held desire. So I spent three part-time years experimenting, shaping, and reflecting on the potential of waste, but also on the importance of research in our practice.
Photo: Jean-Michael Seminaro.
During this period, we were able to explore new potentials of this material, but also reflect on the control we try to impose on it as designers. I wanted to let the fibers guide the results, and create prototypes that would become archives of their memory. Like layers of memories, or a timeline, the artifacts born during this process testify to the history of the workshop, the actions and collaborations that took place there. Primarily created during a residency at atelier retailles and at Concordia University's Spec Life Biolab, their approach is more exploratory than our usual work at the workshop, which is closer to industrial design.
Rather than thinking of prototypes in terms of "products," they were conceived as sculpture-objects highlighting several tensions. Smooth and perfect textures coexist with others that are very rough, even repulsive. The objects have known structures, reminiscent of furniture, but present a strange familiarity, their utility having been removed. A lamp without a bulb, a bench on which one cannot sit, a perforated structure resembling a roof, are some of these prototypes. Some pieces also incorporate the grids and organizational systems ubiquitous in textiles, then deform or break them apart. What was meant to order the material thus becomes unstable and unpredictable. Other tests retain the imprints of the hand and the time spent with the material, leaving visible marks on their surface. We are therefore far from the utility of a hanger or the decorative aspect of a mobile, but closer to expressive pieces.
Photo: Jean-Michael Seminaro.
Another important aspect of this research was the emphasis on encounters and collaborations. Although textile waste is at the center of the experiments, it also speaks of the people who gravitate around it. The scraps bear the traces of the actions carried out in the workshop, but they also testify to the exchanges and friendships that nourished their transformation.
Throughout my master's degree, I became interested in the idea of friendship as a research method. Rather than considering creation as a solitary practice, I wanted to recognize the importance of conversations and shared moments that discreetly guide a project. Several people contributed to this adventure, including Catherine, but also Sophie from atelier retailles and many others, whether by opening the doors of their workshops, sharing their expertise, or simply participating in reflections.
This relational dimension took shape in a book. More than a catalog or an archive document, it brings together traces of the process: photographs, samples, stories, references, and observations accumulated during these three years. Designed as an object to be handled rather than simply consulted, it offers another way of documenting research. It highlights what is often absent from design archives: the hesitations, detours, collaborations, and daily actions that allow ideas to take shape.
Photos: Vincent Royer, Canadian Cultural Center.
Over the past year, we have had the opportunity for these objects to be presented in five exhibitions, and I have also given several presentations in different academic contexts to showcase them. Last fall, the objects traveled to Paris for the Oscillation exhibition as part of the Nemo biennial. This winter, Les Paysages were presented at the Interior Design Show in Toronto in the Prototypes exhibition. This spring, the project was presented twice at the first Montreal Design Week as well as at Angles at Concordia University. All these experiences have given us inspiration, but above all a framework, a structure. We are enthusiastic about what's next! The thesis accompanying this research-creation project was submitted (and accepted!) this month, bringing this academic adventure to an end. It is now up to the workshop to let all these reflections percolate, and we are very excited to see how this will affect our ideas.
I want to conclude with the thanks I extended to Catherine in my thesis:
"Thank you to Catherine Métivier, without whom this project would not have been possible, nothing less. The origin of all my projects is your friendship."
- Anne-Marie
Photo: Jean-Michael Seminaro.