We’re delighted to announce that Going Nova has been awarded funding for a new upcycling project that will deliver workshops to various community groups across Moray.

The funding comes from the Moray LEADER programme, which channels funding for innovative projects from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

The workshops will demonstrate techniques of upcycling – creatively turning waste plastic, discarded fabric and used bicycle tyre tubes into items of beauty and value, and in particular upcycling discarded fabric into fashionable items of clothing.

The project is designed to give a longlasting boost to upcycling waste plastic and discarded fabric in Moray.

Upcycling differs from recycling in that it turns material into something of a higher value that is thereby preserved and taken out of the waste stream.

In parallel with the workshops, awareness of the project and ideas from it will be spread online through a new website, and highlighted through the creation of an art installation using waste material transformed into something new and beautiful.

The aim of the project is to keep the technology simple, so that various techniques of upcycling can be accessed by people with no technical background. One of the key skills highlighted will be the traditional one of sewing. Another is simply the way to think differently about waste plastic and discarded fabric – to see it as a potential resource and an opportunity, to be transformed by a creative approach.

There is more information at the project website https://fashionthefuturenow.org/