One Bag One World

Launch of One Bag Project

smashingchintz — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:24:09 +0000

Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th October are the launch dates for the One Bag Project at Lewisham Arthouse. Come along, see (and buy) art on shopping bags by resident artists and designer makers.

Buy an ethically sourced plain fabric bag to decorate and personalise with paint, print, stitch. We have a choice of two types – long handled and short handled – at £2 each.

Email a photo of your finished bag to the Arthouse and we will add it to a gallery on our website.

Exhibition of rubbish found on French beaches

smashingchintz — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:15:28 +0000

While on holiday in France this summer I saw the installation ‘Monstres des mers’ in Angers of rubbish collected from French beaches. Many of the items were made from rubber, polystyrene, metal and glass but most were made from plastic.

M&S plastic bag victory!

smashingchintz — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:48:45 +0000

M&S recently reported 80% reduction in the use of plastic bags in their stores through the introduction of a 5p charge. In the ten weeks that the scheme has been running, M&S believe that 70 million fewer bags have been used by customers. It has sold 10 million bags – donating 1.85p profit on each to Groundwork. M&S wants to cut waste to landfill by 2012.

Overton in Hampshire one of the first to go bag free!

smashingchintz — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:48:05 +0000

The village of Overton was one of the first to go ‘bag free’ following the lead of the village of Modbury in Devon. The local Co-op in Overton charges 5p for a shopping bag if customers request one and these are made of GM free cornstarch. The bags are bio-degradable & compostable. They encourage their customers to bring their own bags but also provide re-usable fabric bags. Leaflets are diplayed at each till with the title ‘Why say “NO” to plastic bags?’

Some of the facts listed include:

8 billion plastic bags are used by shoppers in Britain every year
Each plastic bag is used for an average of 12 minutes
They could last for up to 1000 years

Poster in Overton shop window

When I was in Overton last weekend I saw the Co-Op’s policy in practice when they charged a customer for a bag – he wasn’t very happy about it!

Crochet & knitted plastic bags

smashingchintz — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:06:38 +0000

A couple of Saturdays ago I went to Islington to pick up equipment & materials from The Make Lounge where I’ve been teaching mosaic. I wandered around stalls selling vintage china in and around Camden Passage sourcing some china plates for mosaic. I then went to Cass Arts to buy some art supplies & finally found Loop nearby which is a knitting shop (with a difference). I really want to do one of Julie Arkell’s workshops there & dress a papier mache rabbit with knitted & hand stitched clothing!

There was a Good Food Festival on Islington Green where I discovered crochet bags by Plastique Bague. Hand made from recycled plastic bags in a range of styles, they are available to buy on Etsy.

I bought a knitted shopping bag a couple of months ago from a wonderful shop in Brighton. It’s knitted from plastic bags. Apparently they stretch alot once there’s shopping inside so have to be made smaller in size!

Be inspired by Carry a Bags and make your own bag!

smashingchintz — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:39:24 +0000

Why not make your own fabric bag. This month’s issue of Selvedge magazine has instructions for making a canvas bag or check out the Japanese website wwww.lin-net.com for some ideas and patterns to buy (the instructions are in Japanese!). They also sell some lovely linen fabrics and accessories. You can use vintage fabrics, recycled fabrics, unbleached calico….. or buy a plain fabric bag & customize itself yourself.

Hastings Bags

smashingchintz — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:39:17 +0000

I went to Hastings yesterday & enjoyed the music festival & carnival in and around Warrior Square Gardens. There were market stalls too & I spotted some handmade fabric bags made by locally based Carry a Bag. I’ve seen them before – they are made from donated & recycled fabric & printed on or appliqued. I almost bought one but instead added to my fabric bag collection with one sourced from a charity shop.

Giant willow & tissue paper flowers in St Leonards street

There was a really good arts event in Warrior Gardens involving an especially adapted tent. The project was funded by the Arts Council and involved artist Sally Booth. The sides of the tent were made from transparent fabric that could be drawn on. Sally had started the drawing and children were invited to take part drawing what they could see through the fabric.

The Drawing Tent in Warrior Square Gardens, St Leonards-on-Sea

Artist Charlie Pi – Exhibition in September

smashingchintz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:36:40 +0000

Charlie Pi has produced a one-off painted fabric shopping bag for the One Project to be sold at Open Studios on 4th & 5th October at Lewisham Arthouse.

His work can be seen in an exhibition in the Arthouse Gallery from 3rd to 21st September.

SERENDIPITY DOO DAH

Artist Charlie Pi returns to Lewisham Arthouse with an exhibition looking at all his work. Not so much a ‘Retrospective’ as an ‘Introspective.’ A very personal view of work, past, present and future.

Clearing his head by clearing his studio. The exhibition includes work from his previous highly popular exhibitions at the Arthouse such as Angels Descending, Titans and The Tattooed Loverboy as well as work exhibited elsewhere such as Tanglewood exhibited at Adonis in Earls Court and Reverie exhibited in the Crypt of St Pancras Church. A chance to catch up with exhibitions you might have missed and a chance to help Charlie clear his studio by snapping up a bargain.

Gallery Open: Wednesdays to Sundays 12 – 6 pm
Admission Free – Disabled Access

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

smashingchintz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:09:04 +0000

Close up of crochet coral made with plastic bags

A must-see exhibition this summer, The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a large-scale replica made out of wool, textile, fibre and plastic. It is on display at the Southbank Centre until 17th August. The project was initiated as a mathematical piece of research by the LA Institue of Figuring and as a response to the plight of the world’s coral reef from pollution and global warming has become an international and interactive work in progress.

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable Reef, Bottle Tree Grove, and the The Toxic Reef have been made from plastic waste. A team from the Hayward Gallery joined in a search for plastic bags along the Thames. They cleaned up the bags they found so that they could be used in workshops for the UK crochet coral project.

Newington Green goes plastic bag free

smashingchintz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:29:12 +0000

Last Sunday I went through Newington Green on my way to Finsbury Park’s RISE festival. There was a spot of whale building going on (using willow) and free reuseable and fairtrade fabric shopping bags were being distributed with ‘I love plastic bag free Newington Green’ printed on.

Children were busily customising fabric bags with pen drawings and there was a live jazz band playing in the background!

Also, the local Tesco Express had a poster on the window saying that they were going plastic bag free for a week.

Poster in window of Tesco Express, Newington Green

Jimmy Cliff was fantastic singing on stage at the RISE Festival as the sun set over North London!