I co-founded our non-profit, Social Catalysts, with my partner, Ashwin, in 2011 after seeing personally the challenges that individuals with disabilities face. The initial idea for the weaving project began as we were looking for solutions to the high unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities and then discovered there were limited options for recycling our own VHS tapes.

All of our products are handmade here in Massachusetts, the birthplace of U.S. textile manufacturing. But instead of using the mechanized looms that dominated New England mills in the 1800's, we create our fabric with traditional hand looms! Our weavers from the Weavers' Guild of Boston, Barbara Provest and Mara Taylor, create magical patterns with yarn. We load the yarn, either cotton or sometimes polyester, onto our looms. For a typical fabric roll, we thread over 200 needles (called heddles). Our weavers, individuals with significant cognitive, physical and mental health challenges who are located at non-profit partners in Lawrence and Somerville, MA, weave the recycled videotape into the yarn and are paid for their work.

We have relatively short runs of material. I spend a lot of time finding interesting linings, hardware, and embellishments to complement the patterns in our woven material (and have even dragged my husband to the fabric store on a Friday night!). Everything is handmade so dimensions are approximate.

The proceeds from these sales partially offset the cost of our weaving project. Thanks for supporting our work!