Each year, Dunedin sends 4 thousand tonnes of textile waste to the Green Island landfill!
These textiles makes up 5% of the total waste, and 8% of the carbon emission produced by the landfill.
With awareness growing about the need for us to re-think how we produce and manage waste, and reduce our carbon emissions to slow global warming, we have created a project that takes these heavy issues, and makes them... a little lighter!
These textiles makes up 5% of the total waste, and 8% of the carbon emission produced by the landfill.
With awareness growing about the need for us to re-think how we produce and manage waste, and reduce our carbon emissions to slow global warming, we have created a project that takes these heavy issues, and makes them... a little lighter!
Our Elephant Family taking a stroll through the Octagon, with the Dunedin Railway station in the background
With special thanks to the Dunedin City Council for their support through Te Ao Tūroa – The Natural World, Dunedin's Environment Strategy,
and Dunedin Dream Brokerage, we are launching the 4KT Elephants Project!
Over the coming months, we will be holding workshops to help people upcycle old clothes and textiles, into cute soft toy elephant companions, which you can keep, or donate through local charity Tedz4Kidz.
Workshops will be open to everyone, and provide skills in working with fabrics, cutting, sewing by machine and by hand, stuffing, and much more. Plus we will provide lots of additional tips on how we can all reduce our textile footprint.
We are beginning the project with a community pop-up; transforming an empty shop in the central city for three weekends of fun and very colourful workshops. Any member of the public, group, business, school... is welcome to drop in, learn more, and get involved.
and Dunedin Dream Brokerage, we are launching the 4KT Elephants Project!
Over the coming months, we will be holding workshops to help people upcycle old clothes and textiles, into cute soft toy elephant companions, which you can keep, or donate through local charity Tedz4Kidz.
Workshops will be open to everyone, and provide skills in working with fabrics, cutting, sewing by machine and by hand, stuffing, and much more. Plus we will provide lots of additional tips on how we can all reduce our textile footprint.
We are beginning the project with a community pop-up; transforming an empty shop in the central city for three weekends of fun and very colourful workshops. Any member of the public, group, business, school... is welcome to drop in, learn more, and get involved.
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Join us in 'Elephant Central':
343 George Street (next to Modaks cafe, halfway between Hanover and London Streets) Queens Birthday weekend (Friday-Monday, May 31st - June 3rd), plus the following 2 weekends: Friday-Sunday, 7th-16th June. Open 11am - 4pm each day. Free and open to all ages and no previous experience needed! Experienced sewists will be there to help. |
You can get involved in a number of ways!
- Join us to upcycle an elephant (optional registration here)
- Sew elephants for us from home from your old items or fabric off-cuts
- Download pattern and instructions here: for Small Elephant Pattern; for Medium Elephant Pattern; for Large Elephant Pattern
- Volunteer (wide range of options, click to complete our easy sign-up form for more info)
- Share the love (click to download our poster to print or email, or simply share our event on facebook)
- Take an elephant on a local safari! We're keen to showcase all the things we love about our city and surrounding natural environments, by collecting and sharing photos of our elephants and the environment they help us to protect. (Tag and follow us with #4KTelephants on Instagram)
Ultimately we hope to make 4 thousand elephants, 1 for each tonne of textile waste. We don't expect to achieve this in just 3 weeks. To help us fund the ongoing development of this project, we would be incredibly grateful for any donations. You can do this through our 'koha' box at our studio or pop-up, or through our page on Give-A-Little
