Cégep Marie-Victorin and Vestechpro, represented respectively by Stéphanie Granger, DEC Visual Art teacher and Ennouri Triki, Senior Researcher, collaborated in 2023-2024 to imagine and implement a creative competition with students. The aim was to raise awareness of the 3RV-E principles applied to the clothing-textile sector, offering them the opportunity to explore the multiple possibilities of using recycled textile fibers as a raw material for the manufacture of decorative objects. Discover a summary of their work.

Summary

On a global scale, clothing production more than doubled between 2000 and 2015, and the industry is still growing rapidly, particularly with the rise of fast fashion (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). In fact, over 100 billion items of clothing are sold every year worldwide (ADEME), and the equivalent of one truckload of textile waste is landfilled every second (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). 

This is the context for this project, whose main aim was to explore new outlets for transformed post-industrial or post-consumer textiles, from an artistic perspective. 

Vestechpro began by giving a presentation to over a hundred students from Cégep Marie-Victorin’s Visual Arts department, to raise awareness of the current textile recycling situation in Quebec, and of the issues and constraints involved in this developing process. Then, as part of their Couleur 1 course, the student group was invited to imagine a concept for a decorative object made from recycled textile materials. 

The two competition-winning students selected to produce their creative concept were able to observe, analyze and understand the following:

  • Steps prior to and necessary for textile transformation activities (mechanical recycling);
  • Selection criteria for an “ecological” binder;
  • Observations and analysis of fiber behavior with the “ecological” binder;
  •  Observations and analysis of the degree of malleability of fibers mixed with binder;
  •  Manufacturing steps and finding solutions to unforeseen problems;
  •  Finishing decorative objects made from recycled textiles.
Figure 1 : Competition winners’ concept boards
Figure 2 : Making the mold for Elsie’s object
Figure 3 : Demolding the object and solidifying the textile walls
Figure 4 : Final result of the object imagined and created by Elsie
Figure 5 : Making the mold for Alissa’s object
Figure 6 : Molding domes on positive forms
Figure 7 : Integration of electrical components and finishing
Figure 8 : Final result of the object designed by Alissa Eva Guerrier

About the project

The ” Reduction and creative recovery of textile waste, social awareness and artistic practices” project was led by Ennouri Triki (Vestechpro), in collaboration with Stéphanie Granger (Cégep Marie-Victorin), with the involvement of Alicia Turgeon (Eastern Bloc) in the selection of the winning students. These students, Alissa Eva Guerrier and Elsie Aubry, were given the opportunity to realize the concept submitted for this activity, thanks to the involvement of José Carlos Ferreira Junior (ÉTS), Adam St-Laurent, Juliette Fournier-Brisebois (Vestechpro), Kassandra Graham, Aurélie Chayer and David Jacques (Cégep Marie-Victorin).

More about the project
The RRECQ is supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec.
Fonds de recherche - Québec