Dianne Gibson is a Fashion Designer and wearable artist based in Oliver, BC. Her fashion technology works have been shown on world class runways in Canada, the USA and China, and her bridal fashions have been published in several Canadian magazines and newspapers including Luxe by Calgary Bride. .As of 2017, she is also the Owner of the Maker Place, where she delivers sewing workshops to youth and advanced seamstresses. .

In her long standing career as a fashion designer and educator, Dianne has created a vast profile of wearable art works from many recycled materials. Passionate about the environment, and understanding that fashion production is under the microscope in the worlds conservation efforts, Dianne Gibson says “upcycling is the new black.” Her unbridled creativity, talent for educating and keen eye for design, combined with her mastery of sewing skills makes Dianne Gibson Girl a designer to watch for on the eco-fashion stage.

Stephanie Mould, a 22-year-old designer from Duncan, BC, and a 2022 graduate of the Pacific Design Academy, is the creative force behind Smouldy. Her design philosophy revolves around revisiting timeless classics for younger generations who haven't experienced them firsthand. Drawing inspiration predominantly from 20th-century music and art, Stephanie's work also reflects a commitment to reducing fabric waste. Through Smouldy, each collection embodies sustainability by incorporating deadstock fabric and repurposed or scrap fabric from the marine textile industry. This conscientious approach to materials aligns with Stephanie's dedication to minimizing environmental impact within the fashion industry.

Amped Atelier is the design studio of Sahrye Cohen and Hal Rodriguez. Our art is tech couture: the melding of historical fashion and couture techniques with modern fabrication & electronics. Our pieces have been featured on the runways of Calgary, San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Xiamen. As makers we share our techniques and build community through teaching and partnerships. We are the co-authors of the fashion technology project book, Make It, Wear It: Wearable Electronics for Makers, Crafters, and Cosplayers, published by McGraw-Hill Education.

I am a Fashion educator of a college, expanding our programs in fashion design, and marketing and merchandising, with a focus on sustainability. I am also a fashion designer of Trippy Hippy Clothing, that creates wearable art with slow fashion and the planet in mind.

This collection is a creative collaboration between senior artist/sculptor Alanna Baird and Carol Miller, a cutter/designer with more than 45 years professional theatrical experience. Working together, combining their “material” experience to create 6 art runway creations. The majority of materials used are recycled or repurposed.

Carol has created a variety of interesting shapes that allude to periods in history when humans have advanced their existance to the detriment of the natural world. The garments become vehicles for Alanna’s creations based upon native and invasive species that are adapting and spreading, trying to survive our human species.

This work speaks to the environment, the Atlantic Coast of Canada, and what might happen if we “stick our heads in the sand and do nothing”; what will invade; what will grow. Each piece in their collection has been designed around wearable art sculpture head pieces created by Alanna Baird, and draws from Carol Miller’s extensive experience working on costumes for the Stratford Festival.  This is their first collaboration.

Nadine Arthur, founder of Out of the Bloom Creations, completed The Fashion Apparel and Costume Cutting and Construction Majors at The Fashion Institute by Olds College in 2018 and was the winner of the Télio Scholarship. Since graduation, Nadine has focused on building her brands trademark style, with her collections being featured in fashion shows, galas, and fundraisers, museums and television.

Currently she works in the film industry while working on her personal brand in her off time. Out of the Bloom Creations use comfortable, quality fabrics from sources that believe in an ethical and substantial process. Inspiration comes from nature and movement. Her 360 degrees of design, using patterns, colour blocking, and textures, allows the eye to move effortlessly through the garment. The pieces are fierce and flirty yet still being cozy and comfortable. They can carry you through your day-to-day world, turning heads as you go, and send you off into the night where you can let your wild side free with clothing that flows with you.

Sydney graduated from the olds college fashion institute, majoring in both costume cutting and construction as well as apparel technology programs. She uses fashion to create a “visual journey” and believe that unique personalities can be enhanced with fashion.

“Dead Albatross Pendant”

In Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the lesson of the tale shows the danger of acting without regard for the consequences.

In the tale, the Mariner shoots the Albatross with his crossbow and in so doing condemns the crew to the wrath of God. To punish the Mariner, the crew hangs the dead Albatross around his neck. At the end of the Rime, the Mariner is cursed to walk the earth and tell everyone his tale.

If you google “dead albatross”, you come across images from the tale, as well as modern photos showing dead albatrosses with their stomachs open, revealing an assortment of plastics.

As an avid fly fisherman, I encounter countless bits of plastic along the banks of the river and think that inevitably they will make their way to the oceans and, like the crossbow bolt, in time kill the Albatross. In this way, we are all Ancient Mariners and, like him, we are all guilty and should have the Albatross around our necks.

Who will wear the Dead Albatross?

Surely, all of us.

“Dead Albatross Pendant”
Jeff de Boer, silver, microplastics from the bank of the Bow River, 2024

"Inside Out"

When is jewellery not jewellery? Does materiality, such as surgical tubing in this piece, change the definition? And do gems need to ‘set’ in traditional prongs to be precious?

This quirky piece turns the idea of preciousness inside out by shaping surgical tubing into an anticlastic form. Then scalpel-like incision in to the silicone grab onto each pearl to create colonies of gems over the piece.

In 2008, Inside Out went from studio protype to national winner in the USA, placing first out of 1100 submissions to receive the prestigious Niche Award for Jewellery High Fashion.

Title: "Inside Out"
Neckpiece_recycled silicone tubing, sterling silver, freshwater pearls
Artist: Louise P. Chong, Object Design
Niche Award 2008
Photo credit: Erin Wallace

Nature and Ocean Inspired Silver Jewellery  by Christine Pedersen and Kristi van Kalleveen  

Recycling is part of the natural beauty of working with metals. Our jewellery benefits from the age-old process of working with customers to bring disused or unrepairable metalwork and jewellery back into metal refining, to keep valuable materials in use.

Our metal supplier uses recycled and reclaimed metals throughout their production processes; the Proportions of new and reclaimed silver vary, dependent on the type of new material being made.

Manufacturers help jewellers limit the loss of material by buying back our scrap and all the tiny fragments of metal we generate as we make jewellery: we sweep up everything as we saw, file, and sand our way to the finished piece. We often melt our own tiny scraps and cast them into something new, but sometimes metal has to go back to the refiner. Who knows what all these precious atoms of silver were in previous lives?