UPCYCLING CULTURE:
MAKING THE TING
︎ MAKING THE TING
︎
MAKING THE TING ︎
Each Le Tings project begins with a conversation about the effect that we want to make from the creative exchange within that particular project. How to expand, amplify and ultimately improve a situation through the dialect of the Le Tings lens. Revaluing and repurposing aural traditions that have been passed down and utilising the textures and ephemera of our surroundings, to create new stories that ultimately allow us to future proof and sustain cultural value.
1SOURCING
THE TING
We source our pre-used rice bags in West Africa, it starts with an intuitive dialogue with the brilliant guys at Afrodistrictpa in Accra. Afrodistrict have their own fully responsible recycling business where they scour the landfill and collect the garments that we in the West dump on West African shores and repurpose these items into different creations.
Afrodistrict were the perfect company to partner with when sourcing and developing the rice bag collection, their sourced network allows them to be incisive in the sprawling markets and cityscapes. Le Tings briefs them on the preferred colourways and prints and like ninja's they execute with precision. We then have an international facetime conversation whilst they are sourcing so we are fully included in the process.
2FACTORY
Rice Bags arrive in London and we give them a second clean and prep them ready for the cutting process. Each bag is unique and has its own identity and characteristics. Even when combining the same bag designs, the outcome is always slightly different. It is a raw tapestry that has its own agency each time, graphics are really important to us, as the combinations of bags and the different words are what make each repurposed bag special.
3MAKING
Our team in London carefully stitches the different sections of the body and handles together, pairing the best combinations together, often with specific colours and words in mind. Lining and leather labels are then cut ready to be assembled.
We try to operate a zero waste policy using as many offcuts as possible to ensure that every possible scrap no matter how small can be layered or patched together to reinforce the bags visually and structurally.
