Molly Ryan
“I SEE MYSELF AS PART OF A GROUNDSWELL OF UP- AND-COMING DESIGNERS WHO [SEE] THE EXCITING POSSIBILITIES THAT ARISE FROM WORKING WITH THE ANONYMOUS DETRITUS OF MATERIAL CULTURE.”
– MOLLY RYAN
Before commencing her fashion studies, designer Molly Ryan was exposed to the possibilities of using windfallen flora and organic kitchen scraps to create colour on cloth. This initial encounter with recontextualising detritus into treasure continues to inspire her approach to garment and textile construction.
“Unwearable cotton, linen, silk and wool garments and textiles are in abundance in Western Australia, and the plethora of creativity possible from reworking these textiles keeps me awake at night,” shares the designer, who holds a BA in Fashion and is currently studying for her Master of Research in Fine Arts at Curtin University, Australia.
Molly’s Redress Design Award collection, ‘Cloth: Narratives’, is inspired by her recent research into the stories embedded within ancestral laced textiles. Every piece in the collection repurposes unwearable materials. “Worn textiles are palimpsests laden with details of their lives as personal objects,” says Molly.
Repurposed cotton bed sheets make up the base material of the collection as they are ideal for appliquéd and screen-printed textiles. Molly’s zero-waste appliqué technique allows for any minute textile fragment left over from the pattern-cutting process to be incorporated into the surface embellishment. She also creates her dyes and screen-printing inks using garden and kitchen waste.
Working with the vulnerabilities of raw materials, Molly sometimes finds it challenging to obtain the exact outcomes she envisions. However, through years of trial and error, she has been building technical proficiency to better control unpredictable materials and techniques.
In addition to her creative practice centred on valuing textiles, Molly also leads as a co-founding director of the social enterprise Fibre Economy, which works with organisations to redistribute high-visibility or mining workwear to people in need. Whether reusing unwanted clothing to make new textiles or developing systems to collect unwanted workwear, it is her dream to capture and share the value of preloved garments and textiles.
