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7/25/2007

Trashion team spotlight - Interview : TrashionMode

TrashionMode

I became enamored with term trashion and wanted to be a part of the whole scene. Following the theme of my YieldToWhim shop I opened TrashionMode on an impulse with trashion being the only focus.

My name is Pat Berry. I've been using recycled materials since the late 60's. Fancy patches on hippie jeans were my first trashion projects.
My use of recycled supplies has always been driven by my compulsive shopping habit and thrift. I supplied vintage and consignment shops for years. It allowed me to work around my childrens' schedules and I was always running across affordable 2nd hand clothing and art supplies for us.
I'm scissor happy. I love to play with paper and fabric. I'm working on patches with screened images using vintage fabric. And I'm also making recycled paper jewelry. I basically take a smidgen of visual information in magazine pictures out of context and make my beads from that. One time I went on a clipping binge for collage images. When it came time to sort thru them I realized that I hadn't taken the images of people, trees, animals, etc.. Instead I had focused on the blurry backgrounds, shadows on walls, reflections on water, grids and such. It was colors, textures and patterns that I was drawn to.

I struggle with A.D.D.. It's hard for me to complete anything because my mind moves on quickly or I hyper- focus and can't stop to make dinner. Yet A.D.D. has a perk when it comes to trashion. I don't censure my ideas for appropriateness. I'm used to being bombarded with overlapping information. It's like taking a pile of unrelated materials and seeing what looks good together. You, normally, would never think to put those two items together.
I think that people should buy trashion because it's often very unique. It shows that you have an appreciation for individuality. And it may remind you that there are simple approaches to reducing waste that you can incorporate into your daily life. Granted ...a smidgen of paper doesn't decrease the waste by much. It's the discussions about what trashion is that will spread the philosophy and spur bigger and better ideas for helping the ecological issues.

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