DiscarDisco 2022 Roundup
DiscarDisco 2022 was a smash! The WasteShed’s Third Annual Trash Fashion Runway Show took the stage in front of a small audience on February 10th; we were absolutely stunned by the vision, craftsmanship and variety of the 27 looks that our designers conjured out of their boxes of mystery materials.
Check out our gallery of the 2022 DiscarDisco Runway Show!
Congratulations to our first prize winner Morgan Csejtey, our tied second place winners Madeline Stage and Miranda Barrett, and our third place winner Chris Willliford! Thank you to our photographer Eric Michael Clarke for capturing this dynamic event.
Thank you again to our co-organizers AIBI, and to our sponsors, Ette Tailor, Excel Displays and Packaging, VS Printing, and Letherbee Distillery!
Vote for the People’s Choice Award!
Our People’s Choice Award Winner will be announced March 1st. To vote for your favorite: select or enter an amount to donate in the donor box below, select “Write us a comment” and enter the name of your favorite designer. Donation amounts are not limited, and each donation before midnight on March 28th counts as one vote, no matter the amount. We haven’t gotten very many votes, and yours could make the difference!
We have some incredible prizes on offer in our raffle and silent auction!
Prizes include a professional lighting kit, movie tickets, a carpet from Vintage Quest, paper dolls, Jeni’s ice cream, a distillery tour from Koval, gardening supplies and other growing prizes from Christy Webber Landscaping, glamorous accessories, and more!
DiscarDisco 2022: Detritus Danceteria, now Serving Looks
The WasteShed’s 3rd Annual Trash Fashion Show competition is back with a vengeance this year, with 27 fantastic artists and designers presenting their unique upcycled looks on the runway (and streaming online). The live event, with a runway show, dancing, a silent auction and raffle, make-and-take crafts, and snacks will take place at Beat Kitchen on February 10th at 7pm.
The show is 21+, consistent masking and proof of vaccination are required.
Tickets are sold out, but the streaming live show kicks off at 8pm on Youtube!
DiscarDisco 2022 Work-in-progress shot by Chris Williford
Our Artists:
Morgan Csejtey @morgancsejtey
Katie Schweitzer @katienanna
Amy Jahnke @aj_makes_stuff
Mary Miller @marymiller6101
Paige Humecki @paiges_knits
Madeline Stage @GoheenDesigns
Moizza Khan https://chirpradio.org/dj/473
Alyssa Parlier
Adilene L. Villalpando @adilenev_disenos
Theo Shuler @official.hot.cheeto
Lindsay Heidenreich
Jocelyn Weber @vocelyn
REDEAUX Clothing @REDEAUXclothing
Emily Piff @dagen.made
Su Killelea @dollylava
Jessica Sidelko @bringing_the_bright
Chris Williford @cwilli
Dede Downs @wackywindyweather
Miranda Barrett @whatmirandamakes
Mary Tapia @o_bitty
Marie Wohadlo @fodopro
Avery Chang @OKXKXO
Hila Geller/STAM Apparel @stamapparel
Karen Earl and Betty Scott/Mi Fibershed
Marissa Croft @sinistra.marissa
Jess Crane @JessCraneFashion
Blair Goldman @blairs.wear
Cast your vote for our People's Choice award by donating here and commenting the name of your favorite artist! People’s Choice Award voting will continue until March 1st when we declare the winner.
Our Judges
Iyomi Ho Ken (she/her) is a fashion, fibers, and photography artist studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her current work is focused on self, race and the effects of the two. Using fashion as an art form is the basis of her approach. Working primarily through fashion, creating garments that tell a story- while using fibers to communicate through the made fabric, and photography to capture her vision.
With this came a whirlwind of exploration, involving race and color theory in a majority of her undergrad work. Her junior year collection landed her a finalist place in 3 different CFDA award categories. After going through a judging process, she won 2 awards from the CFDA, The Covid Relief Fund and the Coach Dream It Real Scholarship.
Her work has been shown through in person and online exhibition’s and will be featured in SAIC Fashion’s Show in the Spring of 2022.
Lauren Lein Cavanaugh (she/her) is a 25 year Chicago Fashion veteran, her wearable couture ensembles and masks are owned across 35+ states in the U.S., as well as seven different countries. Some of her finest designs are worn by her muse, Sherrill Bodine, as well as many other Chicago notables such as Cook County Treasurer, Maria Pappas.
Whether designing for a store collection or a custom client, Lauren’s fashions reflect an artful, feminine aesthetic. Each design highlights the individual’s unique personality and beauty, and her recent collections are composed of repurposed and eco-friendly fabrics. Lauren is a five-term president of the Apparel Industry Board, Inc. and a proud member of The Service Club of Chicago and the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum.
Lauren and team are honored to be included in the top fashion Chicago fashion shows of this season, Day on the Terrace for the Service Club, The Chicago Lighthouse Flair Fashion Show, and RevUp Chicago for AIBI.
https://laurenlein.shop/
Leah Andrews (she/her) is a 32 year old jewelry designer based in Chicago. After her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology at DePaul University, she completed a jeweler’s apprenticeship with BCD INC from 2015-2018. She is a certified jewelry appraiser through the GIA and is currently studying with the Gemological Institute of America to become a Graduate Gemologist.
Rose Mae Turner (“Rosie”) (she/her) is a sustainable swimwear designer and textile artist who started her career in Chicago, she’s currently based in NYC. She is the founder of Rosina~Mae which takes you from “the beach, to the street, to the party.” Ethically produced on demand using recycled, regenerated, vintage, or deadstock fabrics... each collection features patchwork, weaving, and other fun techniques. For more check out www.rosinamae.com
Rosie is also a climate activist involved with Extinction Rebellion, Votes for the Planet, NoNBKPIPELINE, and Remake. She is represented by EcoModels Agency in New York and represented by Ethical Influencers in the UK. She participates in slow fashion initiatives with Fashion Revolution Week and Slow Fashion Season. Rosie loves to share resources on sustainable brands and upcycling techniques; she runs regular chats on upcycling, low waste living, sustainable design, and vintage fashion via the Clubhouse audio app. @rosiemae27 @rosina_mae
Our MC
Kalpita Chakote is an actor and a screenwriter based in Chicago. She was recently in the Season 2 premiere of The Haha Hour at the Hairpin Arts Center.
She won the first place prize $5000 for her dramedy pilot Assimilated in the senior undergraduate screenwriting competition at Northwestern University.
She will be graduating from Northwestern University as a theatre major with a creative writing concentration this Spring.
OUR DJ
The dance party goes late with tunes by DJ BrutalRuby of Birds and B-Sides DJs
Our Sponsors
Ette Tailor
A stylish, modern approach to wedding day dressing: alterations, heirloom revamps, custom design, & accessories perfectly tailored for Your day, your way.
Additional thanks to VS Printing, STAM Apparel, and Anna Jo Beck! Stay tuned for our raffle and silent auction.
The WasteShed's 7th Anniversary: We're Expanding!
On September 4th, 2021, the WasteShed celebrated its 7th anniversary. We are so grateful to our incredible community, staff, customers, board and volunteers for helping us achieve this milestone, and especially for your support in the tumultuous last year and a half. The brilliant makers and teachers we have gotten to know in the last 7 years of running Chicago's only art materials thrift store, and the wonderful work that has come out of the city's excess and discarded materials, are truly awe-inspiring, and we are lucky to be a part of it all.
Between 2014 and 2021, The WasteShed has:
received over 46,000 visitors at our Humboldt Park store
provided over $13,532 of free materials to teachers through our Free to Teachers section, and an additional $79,524 of deeply discounted materials to educators since we started counting in 2018
diverted over 160,000 pounds of reusable materials away from the landfill and back into Chicago's creative and educational communities.
This 80 tons of materials is equivalent in weight to a family of sperm whales, and represents an estimated $1.45 million value to the city's makers and teachers.
A family of whales, illustration by the inimitable Anna Jo Beck
In the spirit of spawning cetaceans, The Wasteshed is delighted to announce a new member of our creative reuse family: The WasteShed Evanston! The WasteShed has partnered with Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse (ERW), with the aim of opening a second WasteShed location in a corner of the ERW's building materials reuse center in West Evanston. This ambitious expansion recognizes that these nonprofits' common environmental and social mission present a great opportunity for collaboration and mutual support (and a lot of really fun projects). Many thanks to ERW’s incredible staff for their support and encouragement during this process.
With your help, we can bring The WasteShed's creative, collaborative, and sustainable community resource to a new neighborhood in November of 2021!
Donate Today to Help The WasteShed Expand!
Donations will be matched up to $15,000 until October 8th, 2021!
Thank you to Dana M Pearl for this generous matching gift.
Recurring donations are especially helpful
Checks can be mailed to 2842 W Chicago Avenue, Chicago IL 60622.
Deeply rooted in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, a racially and economically diverse neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, The WasteShed's 10 year plan depends on establishing multiple locations around Chicago. Many of our customers make regular pilgrimages from the North Side, and we anticipate a boom in participation as our programs become more accessible to the people who can't easily travel 10 miles to our transit-underserved primary location.
Between 2018 and 2020, The WasteShed’s materials were in use in over 350 schools and nonprofit organizations in Illinois, with teachers visiting from as far away as Oklahoma, and from every zip code in Chicago.
This heat map of the distribution of 247 organizations that make the trip to our West Side location reflects a deep need for the resources The WasteShed provides throughout the greater Chicago area:
TBT: The WasteShed's 50 Ton Nickel Fund
CELEBRATING 50 TONS OF RAD STUFF
The WasteShed: The First 50 Tons — Video by Tiffani Bauer
—— The following was originally posted in May of 2019——
The WasteShed's 50 Ton Nickel Fund
In June of 2019, The WasteShed will take in our 100,000th pound of donated creative and educational materials, bringing us up to a round 50 TONS of art and school supplies that our amazing staff and volunteers have processed and redistributed within the Chicago community. At the same time, we are looking at a budget shortfall for the summer, just when we are hoping to jumpstart some amazing programs and start working towards expanding our organization into other neighborhoods.
Just for kicks, we calculated what portion of 1 year of Chicago's total waste production this represents, if 365 days equals 13.7 million tons.
The answer is... just under 2 minutes. 1 minute 55 seconds, to be exact.
Is this discouraging? Sure. But, aren't you glad someone is doing this work?
We have estimated the value of the materials we have diverted from the landfill during our first 5 years of operation at $896,800; and in 2019 alone, we are slated to divert 48,000 lbs (another 55 seconds) of materials, nearly 50% of our total to date. Those 55 seconds will provide Chicago's schools and arts community with $432,000 worth of materials. This map shows the distribution of 247 Chicago-area nonprofits and schools that use The WasteShed as a resource:
Because we keep prices accessible for our community, the portion of that value which comes to us as actual income is much smaller, however; we cover about 75% of our expenses through sales, but we rely on grants and the generosity of our friends to fill the gap.
In celebration of our 50th ton, we are asking our friends and community members to donate just one nickel (5¢) for every pound of materials we've kept from rotting forever in a greenhouse-gas-producing landfill, for a total of $5,000. Any amount we receive over this goal will go towards assuring that The WasteShed is a bounteous, accessible, friendly resource for Chicago's artists and teachers for years to come.
Thank you for all the love! — <3 WasteShed