The Calico River
How can colour reignite our lost connection with Mayfield & the River Medlock?
Mayfield is the home of textiles and I want to bring joy back to the city. Where Mayfield becomes the home of colour and the river Medlock is the source of the colour. These two elements have a unique symbiotic connection, that both are a necessity for the magnification of textiles in Manchester. Without one another the growth of colour would simply cease to exist. There is a lost art in the beauty of making and crafts that I want to reignite in the memories of the Mancunian’s. My proposal will introduces spaces where people can develop the lost skills of making, repairing and reusing clothes, whilst also proposing new ideas for dyeing and printmaking. This will promote more sustainable habits towards textiles and remove the toxic effects of fast fashion.
The first phase will look at introducing temporary mobile structures around Manchester bringing colour to the city through the colour tanks and floating dye pools. The second phase is about establishing the Colour Labs in Pin Mill Brow, a place where makers and designers alike can come to Mayfield and produce their own pieces of textiles, reducing the need for external import and reducing our carbon footprint. Focusing on a Mancunian way of textile making that has returned home to Mayfield.
