The Circle of Thread activation features a striking installation—a towering mountain of unsellable clothing that invites the public to engage in hands-on, creative repair.
This interactive event encourages participants to take garments from the pile and work alongside designers to mend and repurpose them, breathing new life into discarded textiles.
Emily of Emipeli Design will lead a series of workshops, teaching techniques for sustainable fashion and garment repair.
The activation also showcases installations and artwork by Emily, Lazarus, and Kate, adding an artistic and thought-provoking dimension to the event.
Through these collaborative efforts, the Circle of Thread activation highlights the importance of sustainability in fashion and promotes a circular economy, where clothing is not wasted but repaired, repurposed, and cherished.
This event serves as both an educational experience and a creative community gathering, bringing together art, design, and sustainable practices.
Emily Rastas
Emily Rastas is the founder of Emipeli Design, a brand rooted in sustainability and inspired by the beauty of found objects and repurposed materials. Guided by a philosophy of “making more from less,” she carefully selects eco-friendly, locally sourced materials to create pieces that bring new purpose to what might otherwise be discarded. Through Emipeli Design, Emily promotes a mindful approach to design that respects the environment and celebrates what already exists.
Her work is known for its vibrant use of color and bold pattern clashing, creating pieces with a playful, eclectic spirit. By combining unexpected textures and hues, Emily crafts unique designs that add character and warmth to any space. Emipeli Design reflects her belief that sustainable practices and creative expression can coexist beautifully, inspiring others to see value in both.
Kate Sylvester
Sylvester is a conceptual fashion artist who uses recycled t-shirts & hoodies as a readymade art object. She has developed a unique practise whereby garments are meticulously de-threaded by hand to reveal the masses of material in a single item of clothing. The t-shirt & hoodie are both globally recognisable, iconic pieces of clothing that represent our commodity fetishises through self-branding, utilised as a marketing tools and as a worn activation of social and political reference, their use continues to evolve within our society.
By deconstructing the garment, Sylvester has enabled a new perspective on these mass-produced fast fashion items. Void of its utilitarian function as a garment, the clothing is elevated into the realm of conceptual art. The weave of warp and wheft are seemingly ethereal yet the construction can withstand extreme manipulation. Morphed into extraordinary installations, sculpture, performance, video and painting, Sylvester investigates the potential of every thread within the weave. This transformation allows a new perspective on our clothing and the items that we take for granted. To consider the universal structures that bind the materials within our environment. Influenced by Deleuze and the fold, Sylvester navigates the metaphysical bonds that envelope our existence within the pleats of matter and the folds of time.
Lazarus Gordon
Lazarus Gordon is a Queer designer currently based in Geelong. A finalist in We The Makers- Emerging Artists in sustainable design at the National Wool Museum, their work centres around the use of sustainable and unconventional materials in clothing and costume and design.
Lazarus' path to sustainable design was fostered by their own journey of self discovery; using costume design to alter and explore their identity and how they saw themselves. Now Lazarus invites others to muse on their own identities, ideas, and the world around them and the potential of it all; right down to materials people would often overlook or discard as having no value given new life as wearable art.
You can follow Lazarus' work and vision on instagram @queerythis