circular design

i'm still sick, just not as sick, and well enough to appreciate both just how long my not as young as it used to be body shakes off its troubles but just how deep set was my assumption that i lived in a society with access to health care. those concerns being set i was interested (as i'm fit enough for making, more or less) in the following podcast via garmology about the notion of circular design.

it throws up some interesting issues. moths for one! but, for me, along with all the stuff about sustainability, like the healthcare above, just how grounded in capitalism and consumption, everyday decisions are. it's not so very long ago i realised that not everyone had the advantage that i did as an island child of being able to sew, darn, stitch, repair, knit and crochet. but also, having had a textile business, as the podcast points out, these very simple things, for a community at that time, have now become a pastime of access and privilege*. 

further, that question i'm unfailingly asked about my visual art - why don't i sell it? because i don't want to. because i want to share it, the means of making it, the joy of doing. and also, because i got off that wheel of selling/exhibiting/publishing i really started enjoying my practice again. then, the interactions i've had since have been so lovely - not arty types, nor poetryland - where i can gift my work, or better yet, show someone how to do it themselves. and music! art/literature collaboration always seemed like such an effort, so much talking and so much ego, but music, despite my awfulness, brought an instant kinship, a communication of play.

and all because i wasn't feeling that well! it's a bit of a listen it's true (and i'm not going to lie, i've been reading a fair bit of montaigne recently) but it's an interesting entry point into the question of how to live.

*a case in point. watching bernadette banner the other day and thinking i could fair give a go to making a waistcoat for myself when it struck me just how much such an endeavour would cost, even assuming i got it right first time - reasonably likely but not guaranteed. currently i have scissors and pins and that's about it (not forgetting i actually have space to work!). no thread, no button stash, no measuring stuff, no chalk, no sewing machine! and that's before buying cloth. if you can't get into clothes making consider joinery. i'm not a complete idiot when it comes to working with wood but currently, given the cost of materials, project work is just prohibitive