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Ecological Design Graduation Award — Honourable Mention

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TIDETOSS

^{a series intertwining bodies and seas}

_{Merging an awareness of our ever-shifting ecosystems with tossed materials from the intertidal zone. Weaving processes in materiality to propel presence throughout play, joy and reflection in noticing our plastic impacts to our precious planet.}

_{Through continued material investigation, this project aims to provide alternative ways of upcycling gathered plastic marine debris from British Columbia’s vast coastline.}

INITIAL DESIGN INTENTION

_{To design a system that encourages movement, connection and care in one’s self, that reciprocates in their community and natural environment.}

PROTOTYPING

_{What I created was a large loom. A loom to foster closer connections to my local ecosystem, to my own body and to my community.}

MATERIAL EXPLORATION

_{After much reflection, a period of deepened material research then took hold of my project brief …}

_{From one loom of play to the next, I lead my making next through a variety of weaving techniques, this time in traditional and explorative looms. I noticed that this material was one I was not familiar with, and in not understanding it fully wasn’t able to imagine it’s full possibility. My focus became my personal relationship of play with this material.}

_{My connection to the sea brought me to the Ocean Legacy Foundation. Here I’ve been able to cultivate bonds to people, to ocean, to environment and to play. Walking into their non-profit for the first time was like a playground. Mounds of collected ocean waste was roughly sorted into large bags. It brought me horror, and coincidentally an explosion of inspiration.}

_{With weekly semi-truck loads of debris, a rope mountain forms at their Steveston, Richmond facility.}

_{In this jungle of nylon, polypropylene, high density polypropylene and polyester mooring rope, fishing gear, crab traps and buoys, I gathered pieces that sparked joy for me and began an in-depth hands-on connection.}

PROCESS, RESEARCH AND REDIRECTION…

GATHERING

_{In this next phase of making I first collect from source…}

_{The Dorothy Leclerc table loom became an investigation into the up-cycling possible through this well-known loom. In creating these textiles, I placed my value in regenerative practices, understanding that these plastics will outlive everyone currently on this earth and generations afar. In knowing that, there’s the obligation to continually care and re-work these forever materials. The loom becomes a device to undo textiles and remake them. As I weave my story throughout this piece, there’s possibility later for one to untie and redo the textile into their own.}

LOOM PROCESSES

_{^{When I think of the ocean, I think of ourselves. They are bodies of water and so are we. Plastic has made its way into every minuscule aspect of our world. This project acknowledges the immense amount of microplastics that are increasing in our bodies, our waters and life itself. My goal is to reveal that we are responsible for this plastic age and obligated to understand and create with it.}}

_{^{The patterns I make seem to resonate with the home and places that I’ve always been most fond of, being near the sea. I realised the way plastics have created havoc for both the sea that I call home, and the body I call home.}}

TROUBLE SHOOTING TENSION

_{In the deformation of plastic rope, came an irregularity in tension. As I learnt about the loom, the most important fact is to keep the strands at an even tension. With a partial bit of the woven made, and with Jen Hiebert’s help and expertise, we tried for the first time to re-wind and used planks of wood through each layer of the winding operation, allowing the threads to stay as even as possible.}

_{Weights and unconventional tools brought us through. The tool making of this work was as essential as the textile making.}

LASER CUT LOOMS

BACKSTRAP LOOMS

CARDBOARD LOOMS

_{Through this cardboard process a vessel was made. Seeing that the translucent quality of the thinned-out rope creates a bioluminescent aura when combined with light, I took the all the creations to light sources. The TIDETOSS series revealed the dark depths and dark truths of the ocean illuminated in this medium.}

BAG MAKING

FINISHING/SEALING

^{This project has opened an understanding of the labour and the love put into a fabric. As my weaving has been quite a solitary process, in reflection I know community is a network I’ve relied on and reciprocated with persistently.}

_{^{This process notes to all the ways we make relationship with ecosystems, biodiversity, plants, mammals & microorganisms…}}

_{^{the ocean, the land the tidal realm in between…}}

_{^{with the fishers, for our food…}}

_{^{with the ones functioning the ships out in our harbour, for our supplies and our goods…}}

^{_{with the ones who had allowed the plastics to be cut and released in our oceans…}}

_{^{with the ones who collect waste along our beaches…}}

_{^{Recognising that we are all responsible. All connected and reliant on each other.}}

_{In knowing how much plastic we are exposed to now, the TIDETOSS series propels an awareness and a spark of hope in our treatment of plastic, and therefore our endless treatment with our bodies and our seas.}

EDEN EISSES 2025

^{_{I acknowledge the land and waters that I continue to weave, make, gather and play on as unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations}}