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Christopher DeWolf

How did you get started?  Katarina Evans: "In 2003, we were working on a project called Do Redo, where we made accessories out of woollen sweaters. This was a travelling exhibition; we published a book and we held workshops for thousands of people. That experience and our background in the textile industry led us to this."
Katarina Brieditis: "It's also the sustainability issues that we find interesting."
Evans: "The more the textile industry grows, the more waste products there are. Large pieces, like a rug, consume a lot of material."
Brieditis: "We also wanted to develop craft techniques. We wanted to see how we could challenge the old way of thinking in crafts. And we wanted to create jobs for people in the craft industry."
What techniques did you use? Brieditis: "We did everything but weave, because a Swedish rag rug is always woven. We wanted to give it a facelift. [Theirs] are stitched, embroidered, knitted, crocheted, braided, pleated, threaded, layered. [Except for one], we haven't dyed any fabric, we've just used it the way we received it."
Evans: "That was a goal - that we should not add any chemicals."

What aesthetic resulted from this? Brieditis: "It's not a pattern in the normal sense, but we were very inspired by textile techniques. Some of them are plays on scale; we blow them up and scale them down and see what happens to the structure and texture."
Evans: "They have so much individuality. Each has a personality."
How did the craftspeople you worked with in Sweden and India react to the project? Brieditis: "In India, I don't think they thought of [rug making] in terms of wasted materials before. They never would have [used an old] cotton jersey because they don't wear them; they wear saris."
Evans: "In Stockholm, we work with a social enterprise that gives jobs to people who have been burned out by work. Now they are back at work, training for three hours a day. Reproducing our crocheted rugs gives energy back to them. They find it joyful and creative. It gives them self-confidence when they see the work they made in an exhibition."
What's coming up for you? Evans: "Our next step is to take our experience and put it into rugs and products that can be produced in places where waste and excess materials are generated."
Christopher DeWolf
 
The "Re Rag Rug" exhibition runs at the Hong Kong Design Institute until March 23. Visit www.hkdi.edu.hk/hkdi_gallery.
 


Design file: Re Rag Rug

Katarina Evans and Katarina Brieditis. Photos: courtesy of Re Rag Rug

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Swedish textile designers Katarina Evans and Katarina Brieditis produce rugs made from discarded fabric. Their first 12 are being exhibited at the Hong Kong Design Institute


Swedish textile designers Katarina Evans and Katarina Brieditis produce rugs made from discarded fabric. Their first 12 are being exhibited at the Hong Kong Design Institute.
