Making is an essential tool in allowing objects to continue to be. It needs to be considered not only at the front end of the object’s life but at regular periods through its lifecycle. This assertion was one of the main premises behind the design object Compose it_ 11 fellow students, 4 professors, 1 collaborator, and 3 family members who had influenced my master’s studies were asked to contribute several used cloth articles - things they were willing to let go of. Among the objects donated was a computer satchel that once ported and protected, well-loved bunny slippers, alma mater T-shirts, worn dress pants, a quilted vinyl jacket with a fake-fur trim that “would not breathe”, a lacy pink scarf, a mended skirt, a bedside rug, pieces of tulle from a movie set, a hand embroidered tea towel, a great grandmother’s petticoat and a frayed hand knit wool sweater acquired by the owner while backpacking in search of their roots. With the objects often came stories - told, shared - holding me responsible. I set about carefully segmenting and cutting the cloth-based objects into identical 7” x 7” units. These squares were layered one on top of another creating sets of stacks which were then arranged and placed between larger 14” x 14” units of plywood. Resembling a flower press - clothing pulled apart, reassembled, compressed - a strata of experiences set into six idiosyncratic stools. My MDes Collective catalogued, preserved and transformed into a set of new objects, unrelated to their previous functions but linked materially.

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