Crawly Couture | GreenWay Art Prize

In 2024 we introduced our first GreenWay Art Prize wearable art/eco-fashion commission. Six designers were invited to create their unique brand of Crawly Couture from 90% recycled, repurposed or natural materials.

These garments celebrated the role insects play as the foundation of all of our terrestrial ecosystems - recycling nutrients, building healthy soil and pollinating. And at the same time, were a timely reminder of the environmental damage done by our over consumption of fast fashion.

Curated by Danielle Graham
@thevintagemerchant

Jeff McCann

Geordie McCormack collaborator/performer

This wearable artwork takes inspiration from moths. I wanted to create a piece that celebrates the colour and patterns of their wings while also referencing the textures of their body with the two often blurring together. The base of the piece is created from repurposed fabrics and the details are made from cardboard that have been cut, painted and attached by hand. This cardboard fabrication technique allows the focus to remain on the patterns created in the piece and showcases the beauty in the shapes it creates.
I wanted the piece to create a feeling of elegance and playfulness.

@jeffmccann
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Jeff McCann

Jeff McCann is an artist, illustrator & maker living on Gadigal Land in Sydney.
He strives to create inclusive work that celebrates the making process while encouraging his audience to step into his world and get involved. Exploring themes of play, childhood nostalgia, world building, games and the natural environment. His work can range from murals, public art, community engagement projects and artwork licensing; through to wearable art, illustration, collaborations and small batch products. Jeff has created work for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), City of Sydney, Reverse Garbage, Twenty10 and Heaps Gay. And had his wearable pieces worn by Montaigne, Thelma Plum & Haiku Hands.

Adelash Parsons

Whenever I face the trials of life, the image of the moth especially, with its beautifully dark, multicoloured wings, appears. I imagine it fighting its way through the vast urban landscape, a reminder that my ancestors are with me. The moth, for me, embodies endurance and the potential for renewal, no matter the challenges we face, watching flowers dry up and embrace another part of their journey.

@adelashparsons
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Adelash Parsons

Adelash Parsons finds inspiration in the natural world and sees every aspect of it as art. Whether it’s the resilience of bark that pulls apart or the strength and possibilities found within every material. She is fascinated by the ways in which nature teaches us about survival, adaptation, and the interconnection of all things. Everything, in its own way, plays a role in the vast ecology of life, and through her work, she aims to capture these complex and beautiful relationships.

Nikita Majajas

Hive Body, pays homage to honeybees, creatures vital to our ecosystem and symbolic of nature’s delicate balance. Crafted from recycled materials, including cardboard, wire coat hangers, and offcuts of acrylic and plywood, Hive Body is inspired by the intricate architecture of beehives. Its composition echoes the bees’ efficient and harmonious way of working, while the use of repurposed materials reflects a commitment to sustainability and environmental consciousness.

@nikita.majajas
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Nikita Majajas

Nikita Majajas’ design journey began during a two-year stay in Japan in the late 90s. Back in Australia, she studied fashion design and shoemaking, working in TV production and wardrobe departments. In 2014, she founded Doodad and Fandango, creating pop art jewellery and accessories that have adorned celebrities worldwide and featured in major editorials, runway shows, and exhibitions. In 2023, her designs appeared in the Absolutely Queer exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum during Sydney World Pride. Now based in the Blue Mountains, Nikita is expanding into art, decor, and homewares.

@nikita.majajas

Nelia Justo

Bottle Beetle is a beetle-inspired garment made from re-used fabric and off-cuts leftover from other projects, as well as recycled plastic bottles and other recycled plastic film.

Synthetic fabric production in the garment industry is at an all-time high and has one of the biggest impacts on the natural environment. It’s becoming more common to see garments made from recycled plastic bottles where the plastic is shredded and heated before spun into yarn to make the fabric. An attempt for the industry to appear more responsible. In this instance, the garment uses plastic directly without the shredding and heating process.

@nelia_justo
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Nelia Justo

Nelia Justo employs a range of methods and materials in her work to produce sculptures, installations -- and more recently wearable-tech garments -- that engage in a dialogue between the East and West; between the language of decorative arts and electronic technologies.

Nelia obtained her bachelor degree in visual arts at Sydney College of the Arts and master’s degree at University of Western Sydney.
Over the years, she has participated in international exhibitions in Thailand, UK, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Singapore, NZ and locally across Australia. She has participated in art symposiums and artist-in-residency programs (China, Thailand, NZ, France, Australia). Additional related pursuits have included collaborating with other artists in developing exhibitions, producing costumes and designing graphic work, teaching art through discussion tours in galleries and conducting sculpture workshops.

Bella Louche

The Beetle Gown explores Bella’s particular niche interest by using upcycled and unconventional materials to create the look, texture and movement of bygone fabrics.

Reclaimed wire and beads reshape the bust and hemline of a secondhand sequin gown and silk scarves with added boning channels create the symmetrical and curved silhouette of a Christmas Beetle spreading its wings. A combination of gold and bronze materials have been used to evoke their metallic shells.

@bellalouche
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Bella Louche

Lisa Walker aka Bella Louche (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist traversing the worlds of burlesque, immersive theatre and the queer underground.

Since graduating from the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts with a Bachelor of Performance in 2011 Bella has worked in a wide range of creative roles for an even bigger range of companies including Sydney Festival, Jean Paul Gaultier, Underbelly Art Festival and Caldera Festival. She was also a City of Sydney grant recipient for her Neo Burlesque revue – LA FEMME (2020).

Her practice explores the absurdities of gender constructs and sex through the lens of popular culture. Her designs are informed by mid 20th century lingerie and traditions of feminine handicraft with exaggerated silhouettes and maximalist embellishments.

Ash Kok

Risako Katsumata collaborator/performer

Inbetween the Foliage is an exploration of camouflage, inspired by the survival strategies of insects that blend seamlessly with their environments, both embedded and dynamic.

Ash extends the dialogue between garment and environment through performance. Together, they explore how the wearer can engage with their surroundings in ways that echo the camouflaging strategies of insects. This collaboration invites viewers to consider the garment not only as a static object but as a living extension of the environment, capable of shifting and adapting in real time.

@sookstudio
Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography

Ash Kok

Ash Kok (they/them) is an Australian born Chinese artist, living and creating on unceded Gadigal Land. Their practice as a sustainable textiles artist, involves utilising found materials to create garments that evoke a sense of playfulness, experimentation, and offer challenges to perceptions of the material world. With a fondness for collaboration, especially with movement artists, Ash enjoys the push and pull of what is possible when fabric meets body, unravels onto body and becomes one with body.

Risako Katsumata

is an artist currently living and creating on unceded Gadigal Land. Their mediums include movement, choreography, image making, music and performance. Interweaving their passion for community-building, learning and healing through play, their works explore intersectional relationships between diaspora, intimacy, memory, environments and sense of belonging. Risako’s movement practice is
informed by their background in improvisation, Hiphop, Contemporary and traditional dances and music like Kabuki and Bon Odori.

Inbetween the Foliage is their latest collaborative work with Sook Studio/Ash. Through the intricate interplay between movement, garment and performance, they seek to inquire and embody the breathing relationships between play and survival.