TALKS & WORKSHOPS

The Fibershed ethos is rich with storytelling opportunities. We are available to develop talks or workshops for your conference, guild, company event, or community gathering. Talks are typically 45-60 minutes, delivered through online platforms or experiential, in-person events, and will be tailored to your audience and purpose. Some ideas are noted below.

Who might benefit from these events? Architecture and design firms looking for information and inspiration related to material usage and sourcing, e.g., hemp, biomaterials, wool as insulation, 3D printing wool; fashion brands exploring alternative design and economic models; professional and craft guilds looking for information about natural fibers, natural dye, artisanal making; and colleges and universities with courses in sustainability, fashion, and materials science. We can deliver our own content, or work with you to develop custom programming. We are available to identify and invite authors, artists, and maker-manufacturers in the eco-regenerative space to a shared panel or presentation. Previous speakers and panels include Rebecca Burgess, Elisabeth A. Cline, Daisy Gonzalez (Garment Worker United), Kamea Chayne, Aditi Mayer, and Kestrel Jenkins, as well as artists Janice Arnold, Tiffany Loy, and Katherine Pogson, and biomimic and soil nerd Anne LaForti.

We also offer workshops and are happy to create a hands-on skill-building event for your community. Please reach out via email to discuss.

  • Fibershed in the Local Ecology

    Let's talk about how Fibershed principles show up in our local ecologies and economies. Principles of regenerative agriculture are at play in theory and in practice; sheep and goats are grazing for fire mitigation and healthy soils; we can forage for natural dye materials. The opportunities abound to recognize where and how we can apply these practices in our own lives.

  • Fibershed Essentials

    This talk offers a background in the Fibershed ethos: why it matters, what it involves. We explain the soil-to-soil circular production system, and tie it to soil health, environmental justice, worker rights, creativity and human agency, and ultimately the clothing we wear and love.

  • New Paradigms and Enchantment

    Using textiles as lens, this talk is a journey through fairy tale, mythology, power, transformation, identity, culture, assumptions, color, protection, belonging, and waste, ending here in Southern California asking us to consider what stories are embedded in our clothes, and how we can challenge each other to design a better future: more hopeful, healthier, vital.

  • Regenerative Agriculture: Benefits, Challenges

    Regenerative Agriculture addresses climate change, soil health, more efficient ecosystems, and even food and water security. This is an intro review of the ideas and science supporting the practice, as well as some of its challenges. This talk could pair with a Farm Tour.

  • Alternative Economic Systems

    Bioregional ecologies are inseparable from local economies. If we want to build new, resilient ecosystems we must also build new systems of exchange. We must understand the nature of our current models, and explore what alternative models are available to us. These ideas are accessible, are practiced in communities all over the world (including in the U.S.!) and can open our eyes to new ways of co-habitating with each other and with the land.

previous speaking engagements

 

Why Textiles Matter, LA Textile, California Market Center, September 2024

Fibershed Essentials, CA Product Stewardship Council, Santa Barbara Textile Recycling Seminar, speaker, March 2024

Color: Soil, Flower, Food, speaker with Anne LaForti, Seeding the City, April 2023 (Earth Day)

Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis’s course: The Lifecycle of a T-Shirt: Sustainability and the Eco- System of Fashion, UCLA Copley Center for Costume Design, speaker, March 2022

Dr. Tracie Tung's seminar, Textile Waste, CSUN’s Sustainable Fashion Program, panelist, November 2023

San Diego Fiber Fest, keynote speaker, June 2024

Casa Dumetz, Fibershed in the Local Ecology, Los Olivos, speaker, June 2024

Writing with Purpose, UCLA Writing Programs, speaker, April 2022

Regenerative Rising, Women in the Wardrobe, panelist, November 2018

Future Insights: The Future of the Creative Economy, American Craft Council, panelist, December 2021

ModeDurable, cohort presentation about local fiber, supply chains, and sustainability, 2020

New Paradigms, Agency, Courage, and Enchantment, Santa Barbara Fiber Arts Guild, 2021

New Paradigms, Central Coast Weavers, 2021

Inside the Studio, CSU Long Beach’s Duncan Anderson Design Lecture Series, Nov 2018

“How Empathy Creates Extraordinary Experiences,” OMChats, organizer and moderator, Oct 2019

Dr. Nurit Katz’s course: Principles of Sustainability, UCLA Extension, speaker, Fall 2019

LA Design Festival WellnessxDesign Event, hosted by Modern Luxury and Interiors California, Summer 2019

The Craft of Marketing, Textile Arts LA Professional Development Series, March 2019

UCLA Anderson Evolve Conference, The Changing Consumer, “Doing Good is Good Business: The Motivation Behind Mission-Driven Brands,” moderator, 2020

Poster Exhibit Celebrating 100 Years of the Bauhaus with Gloria Kondrup, Art Center professor and director of Archetype Press, moderator, Fall 2019

Elise Preiss in Conversation with Lesley Roberts, Material Curiosity, Fall 2020

Ferne Jacobs in Conversation Lesley Roberts, The Source of Ideas, Spring 2020

 

upcoming talks (open to the public)

Speculative Futures with Fibershed, Textile Society of America, Shifts & Strands Conference, Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 1:30 pm Pacific

Plus, something exciting in the works, also for mid November! We can’t wait to tell you more about it!