At Community Clothing, we’re always inspired by the many ways our fabric offcuts can be reused and repurposed into new and meaningful forms. The most recent examples is ‘The Sanctuarie’, a sculptural textile installation piece created by Manchester Metropolitan’s School of Art MA Textiles student Claire Malley.
Claire explains for her final Synthesis Project she created The Sanctuarie: “using Community Clothing denim offcuts and recycled textiles”. The structure is made from: “willow wrapped with strips of denim, handmade denim rag paper panels and woven sections incorporating all the materials”.
Essentially, it’s a ‘Teepee-like’ space for one, offering visitors a moment of stillness. It’s: “a quiet, mindful space inviting visitors to reflect, reconnect and recircle. It seeks to explore themes of belonging, resilience and journeys, making connections between our human experience, life cycles and circularity”.
Claire first worked with Community Clothing during the 2024 Design for Planet Festival and returned to our material for her Synthesis Project in 2025. This time, she used our denim cutoffs to build the frame, weave panels and even hand-make rag paper for the structure.
The connection between Claire’s practice and Community Clothing's mission is no coincidence. She elaborates: “I was keen to use more of the denim offcuts which Community Clothing had donated… not only because the fabric is strong and good quality to work with but also as I feel their values of ‘people, community and planet’ aligns with the sustainable ethos of my final project”.
She further explained that encouraging the public to interact with waste materials is extremely important: “to try and reeducate people in terms of their buying habits, both in their clothing decisions and what they choose to decorate their homes with”.
Looking ahead Claire sees strong potential for this project’s expansion beyond the exhibition: “it could be something that more people could actually sit inside and really nurture those dialogues to do with textile waste, sustainability and create a sense of community in some way within the structure”.
We are incredibly proud that Community Clothing’s denim offcuts have become part of such an incredible project.
To see more of Claire's work check out her Instagram.
