Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacqueline Canterbury.
Jacqueline, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in the Central Coast of CA in the 70’s and 80’s. We learned vocational things. Auto, metal, wood shop and to sew and cook.
As a lover of all things textiles from a long line of women who were also involved in at least sewing, I learned to sew, knit, crochet, and embroider early.
Clothes were expensive and my parents were careful of being indulgent-we got what we needed for sure but what we wanted was our job to figure out.
All of the styles in the entire world-was my goal.
I loved all fashion-the weirder the better. There was not a lot of room for self expression yet in small town USA. Combined that with the fact that the economy tanked and not for the first time. The answer-economics.
Everyone’s parents were divorcing, money was tight and me and my punk-rock friends had to be original and DIY if we were to be true to ourselves- we were cool, just ask us. Besides, Vivianne Westwood and Gaultier copied us. Computers were for the government. We were resourceful, relentless, patient, and good at remaking. We looked awesome. Think, Andy and Duckie from Pretty in Pink-the John Hughes film- only cooler.
College- San Francisco 1989
I majored in fashion-naturally. Disillusioned by how cheap, back stabbing and dirty the fashion industry turned out to be, I quit and went to the illustration department of a Bay Area, Bauhaus School. My senior year, Photoshop launched. We would be disqualified from illustrating unless we wanted to sit behind a computer for the rest of our careers-no one wanted to do that-right? Ha. I was out of time and money so with Illustration and general design under my belt, I did the next thing- started a family.
I became an Earth-mother (naturally right?) Still DIY, up cycling, cooking, gardening, making. Add spinning, dying and weaving. I would teach this stuff to who ever would sit still. I found the meaning of life-domestic bliss! My new ambition when my daughter was either sleeping or occupied was to become all knowing in all of the ancient practices of home economics.
It’s only 1994.
Well into a realistic adulthood, I decide-My illustration degree translated to conceptual art perfectly and was able to engage in a bit of artist expression that was larger in scope than knitting sweaters and gardening. One project was a civically disobedient installation called The West Broadway Beautification Project in Seaside, CA. I and a crew of 5, early on a Sunday put scarves and sweaters on the trees on the neglected main street where I ran a successful coffee company. This act becomes known as Knit Bombing.
In another conceptual piece I spent a day a week for a year making 46 illustrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a fashion model in a bound color book which got me invited to speak at the Galleria Tonantzin on why I would take this view on Our Lady of Guadalupe. I am still participating in an incomplete attempt at a fully artist life
Move forward to 2010.
Distracted to death by self employment, problem solving, internet, fast fashion, consumptive but cathartic retail hauls, constant personally tailored advertising and no reason for economy is the new norm for all. What others think and checking out of reality and having anything over and over and freedom to click over and over matters. We can green wash our way out of our first world problems because donation stations are everywhere. Synthetics are so good now-we buy them at REI. I can go green and get back to nature with them as soon as I find a free moment.
I’m doing the best I can, right? I need to get back on track. I start making again. I learn and then integrate Permaculture, everywhere,- a design science which teaches it’s lessons backward, like this: See the problem…integrate the solution as a natural step in controlling the problem before it happens-not after. Build your environments- what you need most, closest to you and the things you need least, farthest away. This system applies beautifully in every aspect of my life and an incredible sense of peace and purpose emerges. I now know my way and aim to share it.
Permaculture principles say, the time to have gotten in that fashion fight for me was 25 years ago. The next best time? Right now. The current fashion paradigm has poisoned my favorite place in the universe to live. Navigating garments is confusing on purpose. The solutions have nothing to do with acquisition and consumption, and everything to do with self control and preservation of what we already have. The way out, again, is thru home economics which is another design science. I want to share how, with you- it’s SEW simple, creative and fullfilling to learn personal style, care and economy, while also moving forward in a perminent solution for the planet and our kids.
https://www.slowfiber.com/our-founder
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I opened 5 days before the pandemic shut-down, finalized a divorce and then survived the death of the best person I know all in the last 6 years. My community steps up every time. DIscipline and agency carry me.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What slowfiber is about
Community building is what. Sharing maker skills, supplies and time. Like the sewing bee’s of the past, we get together around our textile needs and we share ideas and hearts. Be a teacher, a student or simply a giver. Isn’t that what we are all craving? To belong and be supported in our maker community.
Here at slowfiber, the classroom is available for your ideas. The shop is full of sustainability treasures. You bring what you don’t need and then get what you do need in the BUY SELL TRADE program. Your environmental foot-print is so much smaller this way. slowfiber is full of pre-owned supplies as well as new-sustainable-only maker-goods.
Did you knw, that after oil, the biggest polluter on the planet is
TEXTILES? We so need a slowfiber movement!
Textiles are everywhere- and often, we don’t even see them. Quality is hard to find and synthetics are taking over. The planet is taxed.
Upcycling and second hand shopping isn’t enough. Big industry leaders are still just discussing circular economies in the textiles world. Education and outreach will continue to expose the problem but we have to be still enough to hear. Donating unwanted items to thrift stores has reached “Peak” and needs to be handled more creatively. Did you know that 80% of donated items go to the landfill, globally.
Join me in the street fight for change, teaching the intrinsic value of cloth, clothes and the people who are the makers. We are getting out of the “fast-fashion” and “fast-home goods” cycle.
Learn additional textile skills with one of the slowfiber teachers. (or come teach) We can mend or embellish what we already own. Learn to knit, crochet, quilt, machine or hand-stitch. These skills connect us to the past.
Let go of your hoarded and unused stash of fabric or/and yarn so others can use it. slowfiber buys your natural fiber yarn, fabric, notions, and maker tools and may be able to help you get rid of the balance responsibly.
Host a Garment, Yarn or Fabric Swap with your friends. We have enough “stuff” on the planet, let’s just re-circulate it. New manufacturing takes natural and not-renewable resources to make more of what we don’t actually need more of.
Learn about the supply chain. Ask, who made this item? Change your own buying habits. From seed to stitch, so many people are involved in the textiles and garments you use. Slave labor is alive and well all over our planet in the name of cheap and plenty.
At slowfiber we have our hands in it all. Explore the options and relearn the skills and values of the wonderful and ancient world of textiles.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Discipline. agency – a voracious sense of my rights as a creator/artist separate from the confines of the “rules” laid down by others. I put money second in business after the mission and I don’t believe in competition.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.slowfiber.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slowfiber/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakicanterbury/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jacquelinecanterbury7070
