Do you have an idea for a textile based project? Do you want to integrate natural dyes, locally sourced fibers, weaving, or felting into your practice? LET’S COLLABORATE.
Explore the threads that connect us through the Fiberhouse Residency. We hold space for individuals interested in creating cloth that heals with us in our Asheville based live/work studio.
We collaborated with Aurora James, for BROTHER VELLIES Fall 2016 collection. We developed and handcrafted socks, a sweater, and a special hand woven poncho that combined Brother Vellies old scraps and shoe laces with local wool and Paco Vicuna from Liberty Farm.
The YAYAYA Scarf is a collaborative piece from Casa de Coco’s 2020 How To Turn Poison Into A Meal collection. Half the scarf is constructed using wooly scraps from Battenkill Mill that we felted into a marbled textile.
In collaboration with Mimi Prober, for her zero-waste Fall 2017 collection, we developed custom textiles. Combining Mimi’s antique lace remnants with locally sourced wool and hemp we used mud and flowers to create a naturally dyed gradient. We also hand felted a cruelty free fluffy ‘faux-fur’ and knitted pieces inspired by Mimi’s lace library.
The first SUCCURRO Festival took place July 2019. We came together to honor and rediscover artist as healer and healer as artist. Nica, as a representative of the Fiberhouse Collective, was a Succurro FELLOW for two years. For the festival, she created a clearing and held space in a tangible and intangible way through the creation of a Fiberhouse Sanctuary. Participants were invited to move together and individually creating felt and healing as a collective.
film photography by Maryann Conneely
In collaboration with Eric Alexanders and BUSHWICK PRINT LAB we developed a mud-based screen printing ink. Eric drew and collaged the “Magic Mycelium” print and Nica used sky blue indigo shades and botanical imprints from resist and bundle dyeing explorations to develop a small run of hand printed reclaimed shirts. The printed motifs are inspired by mushrooms and their symbiotic relationship with the plants around them.
Ritual is a proof of concept collection from Nica Rabinowitz's thesis. This 10 piece collection was created using materials sourced and foraged from within a 150 mile radius from Brooklyn, NY. Techniques include felting, saori weaving, crochet, and knitting. The naturally dyed collection showcases local color – hibiscus, red onion skins, mushrooms, and the occasional purple carrot.
We collaborated with creative technologist and founder of LOOMIA, Madison Maxey, on a piece commissioned by the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Madison created the print using computational design. The woven belt uses remnant wool, excess hemp fabric scraps, and old wires from broken headphones and chargers – criticizing and proposing solutions to planned obsolescence and wastefulness in the tech and fashion industries.