the design journey of Justin Barry
Designing a Makerspace - Nov. 2023 : present
identified a need for a community makerspace in the Flathead Valley
currently collecting data to influence the design
survey is live until Dec. 31, 2023 fill it out with the link below ↓
How might we design a makerspace that serves our community?
Fall RE: APPAREL Workshop Series - Sept. 2023 : Dec. 2023
continued collaboration with ImagineIF Library Kalispell to empower community members with DIY ways of textile waste reduction
we have held workshops on hand sewing, printmaking, and knitting
the last workshop in the series is upcycling a tote bag on Dec. 16th, 10am-1pm @ ImagineIF Kalispell
for more information visit - https://imagineiflibraries.org/events/events-calendar/
the BEAST - Oct. 2023
built a giant animatronic beast with my friend Sienna for Halloween
great reminder to do things for the sole reason of fun
Clothing REWERKS - May 2023 : present
exploring ways to use dyeing and printing to renew second-hand clothing
video
RE: APPAREL WORKSHOPS - Apr. 2023 : present
worked with ImagineIF Library in Kalispell to hold an apparel repair workshop on Earth Day
our goal was to use intracommunity skillsharing to empower people to repair their own clothing
we paired workshop attendees with volunteer skilled sewers and showed them repair techniques
it was a great event with 99 people attending, since then we have held workshops on hand sewing, printmaking and knitting
Handy Packs - Jan. 2023 : present
designed a convertible fanny pack - bike handlebar bag utilizing developed hardwareless closures
made from 100% upcycled & recycled materials
learn from the master - Jan 2023 : present
started apprenticing from Milen Krastev, the Master Tailor of Mad Leather
Milen teaches me the right way to make things and together we've worked on some crazy stuff
the value of rapid lofi prototyping - Dec. 2023
had a great day exploring potential upcycling strategies for a retired wetsuit
dissembled the wetsuit into fabric and components,
ideated on the material properties and new applications,
made five small prototypes to understand the material
Hardwareless Closures - Dec. 2022 : Jan. 2023
developed these hook and loop closures for future upcycled projects
found that a limitation of producing 100% upcycled bags was sourcing secondhand or recycled closures
designed my own closures using recycled poly webbing and upcycled paracord
Kalispell PK Presentation - Nov. 2022
gave a presentation about my story and approach to circularity at a Kalispell Pechakucka event
Fall Clothing Fundraiser - Nov. 2022
organized a clothing fundraiser to recirculate clothing within our community and fundraise for local causes. we raised over $300 and recirculated hundreds of lbs. of clothing in this one event lessgooo
Becky's Bike Bag - Sept. 2022
taught Becky how to sew and helped guide her through the process of making her own bicycle frame bag
this experience showed me how teaching skills can help advance the textile waste reduction mission beyond myself
Whitefish Farmers Market - Jun. 2022 : Sept. 2022
teamed up with my gear repair guru friend Marijke (SuperBloom Gear Repair) to present textile circularity to our local community. She operated a drop-off pick-up gear repair service while I sold upcycled products and recieved donations of out-of-use textiles.
Recycled Plastic Webbing - Feb. 2022 : present
Worked with my good friend and graphic designer Bennett Figueroa to develop artwork to print on recycled polyester webbing to use in FDES products
The Sister Bags - Jan. 2022 : present
designed a commuter style laptop backpack made from collaged offcuts of local textile product manufacturers, other secondhand sourced materials, and a novel upcycled closure
Parapaks - Aug. 2021 : present
designed lightweight packable sling backpacks from retired paragliding wings, an upcycling project
HOW MIGHT WE REDUCE TEXTILE WASTE? - Apr. 2021
Easy answer is that there are a lot of ways!
This question became the focus of my projects going forward, new projects framed as experiments into new areas of textile waste reduction
where is waste generated?
what are methods to converts this waste into new products?
read the book cradle to cradle and got excited about the concept of circularity as a overarching strategy to textile waste reduction
this graphic from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation gave context to my continuing experiments in textile circularity
in textile terms, methods of recirculating materials into the textile life cycle are: repair, redistribution, upcycling and recycling.
ski bummed the winter & made upcycled tote bags - Oct. 2020 : April 2021
thnx to my friend Raskol Ink for donating her misprinted sweatshirts
thnx to Sportsman's for donating unusable unsellable textile based warrantied outdoor equipment
The misprinted sweatshirts and upcycled outdoor fabric became tote bags, eventually dubbed the Frankentotes
this was my first real sorta upcycling project and got me thinking about material sourcing and processing.
quit MCC to live out of my car & ride bikes - Jul. 2020
during that time I designed & made this handlebar bag with a local gear maker, Jam Packs
I also did some sewing out the back of my car for #bikepacking
moved way out to Montana - May 2020
burnt out on working on far out technology
love the outdoors and stoked on designing gear for outdoor adventure
stressed about the climate crisis
worked on a MCC trail crew for a bit and embroidered some t-shirts for my fellow crew members
UMN WTL - May 2019 : Dec. 2019
undergrad researching integrating technology into apparel at the University of Minnesota Wearable Technology Lab
coolest project I worked on ↓↓
b4 that i wuz just a punk ass kid