I'm Katie, a buildings engineer by day and a hobbyist maker by night. I've been knitting since I was a kid, and as an adult I've become increasingly interested in exploring the concepts of circular economy and creative reuse through textile and fiber work. Some of my ongoing projects include:
- A series of baskets and vessels made from discarded lobster rope
- Some sculptures, bags, and installations out of yarn I made from old textiles
- A series of useful objects (aprons, bags, clothing, etc) made from discarded umbrellas I found on the street in NYC
Until now, I have documented all of this on my Instagram (@katierowe_makes). However, I've recently found myself wanting to provide more context and more thorough documentation - hence this blog! My plan is to use it to document not only finished projects but also process. Working with found materials can require a lot of care and attention before they're used, which is not only really fun but also an important part of the creative process. In my experience it is often that pre-processing period, when you really get to know what it is that you have, that generates the ideas for how the materials can be used.
I love working with trash. I love uncovering the potential of something that has been discarded. I love thinking about the previous lives something led and using that to craft utility in a future life. Not to mention the obvious: as our landfills and oceans fill with trash and temperatures continue to rise, it's time to divert absolutely everything we can - ideally, in a way that prevents the consumption of something new.
I also think it's important to acknowledge that, while having some form of fiber/textile making is pretty universal to human civilization, some of today's popular techniques are derived from traditional practices in Native American and African cultures. This is certainly true in basketry and weaving, where centuries of skillful and important work have been relegated to the history museums of colonizers, and overlooked (and undervalued) by the "art world". I'll be doing my best to untangle these influences in my own work as I continue to educate myself.
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