Originally born in London, I moved to the US in 1980s, and I’ve been designing eco-textile products for about 18 years. After many years of working in the film business as a music producer, I decided I was ready to make a big change and relocated to Tucson, AZ where I setup shop as an eco-textile company. After a decade of designing home products and soft goods for wholesale businesses nationwide, I moved my focus to industrial waste solutions and the need to recycle and reclaim materials that were dumped in landfills in bulk. It was a combined effort between 2 friends, Jeff & Robin Janson, who I have been working with for many years, and we formed Vy&Elle (a play on the word “VINYL”) as a company to recycle vinyl billboards into useful everyday items for home and over the shoulder. The nature of the billboards made it an ideal material to reclaim. Not only did it come in bulk and was readily available, it was also waterproof and because of the graphic nature, offered a unique fabric for one of a kind colors and finishes. We started the line in 2002 with 5 styles that we introduced at my partners booth (they recycle buildings into furniture) at the NYIGF to see what reaction was. Today with over 35 styles in the current line, and additions made every season, we have a successful handbag and accessories line that offers both wholesale to boutiques around the world, and also custom/private label work to corporations who are interested in recycling their own waste. We sell in boutiques and stores in Japan, Australia, Europe and extensively throughout the US. We also recycle billboards for the Coca Cola Company, Cirque Du Soleil, Sundance Film Festival and many other corporations who produce banners and billboards.

The billboard industry turned to the practice of producing billboards from PVC vinyl about 8 years ago, and the U.S. average number of billboards produced last year totaled 600,000. Each billboard is usually used for an advertising campaign for as little as 3 months and then the billboards are either stored for many years in facilities held by the outdoor companies, or placed in landfills, creating toxic waste pollution that leaches into community ground water. Our decision to do this project was to educate the public about what billboards were made from and how to think of ways to reuse items in a new and different way. It was an unfamiliar story to most and we felt strongly that it offered both a unique recycled product and design opportunity (and a great challenge for us) but also was an educational opportunity at the consumer level. This continues to grow. Corporations are now becoming aware of the waste they are creating and we are able to offer a recycling solution to them. I am constantly working on new ways to incorporate this material. Our Summer line this year includes the use of PET fabrics for all our trim and lining, thereby making the items 95% recycled – which is great news.

I was born in the 1960s in London, where recycling was the norm. When I moved to the States at the age of 23 I started to become aware of the amount of waste and lack of recycling at that time. As I worked in the film business for many years, I saw a prevalent amount of waste with no solutions and it deeply affected me. When I decided to get involved in Eco-Textiles it was in the late 80’s early 90’s and at that time it was a relatively new thing here. Hemp had just become legalized and everyone was under the impression it was a fabric you smoked. I traveled to Nepal and Tibet, bought fabrics from small villages who made the fabrics by hand. I was using Nettle, Hemp and Cruelty Free Silks in my work and while it was a great little business, the items were high end and it had a limited audience. I was really driven by the idea of mass market, because in theory the impact to educate the everyday consumer could be so much greater. When we took the industrial waste effecting local communities it made so much more sense and the fabric was readily available to us. In the early days of Vy&Elle we purchased the billboards by the 100’s. In 2005 we finally teamed up with one of the biggest producers of vinyl billboard printing to assist us in securing an unlimited quantity of billboards that were readily available to us. Last year we recycled approximately 100 tons of raw billboard.

The most common question is how do we make it happen. I think that its important to understand that recycling makes production just that little bit more complicated and adds a whole other dimension to production. I rely heavily on my partners in the recycling process (they own a salvage company). The billboards are delivered to one of 2 of our facilities (one in CA and one in WI) based on the location of the billboards at the time they come down. They are then cut and cleaned and rolled into standard size rolls of fabric for transportation to the manufacturing facility. This in itself is no easy task and it is a laborious process that has to follow strict guidelines and specifications. We manufacture in both the USA and in China dependant on the product and the needs of the piece. We do not treat the billboards other than to clean them with water and biodegradable soap. The scrap from the preproduction process is then collected by our billboard supplier and sent to recycling partners they work with who can convert the scrap into garden hoses and linoleum flooring products.

I have plenty of those – we do about 4 production runs a year just for our boutique line – times that by 6 years! I can only say that all manufacturers in any product experience production nightmares – that is what makes us better at what we do. I currently have 6000 yards of PET dyed in the wrong color at the factory due to miscommunications (anyone need 6000 yards Dusky Rose PET?). We’ve had zippers come in on bags that don’t work, and we’ve had factories use substandard fabrics on goods that just crumble at the touch. However, with all this in mind, it has helped me to be better at what I do. To make improvements in quality control. To communicate clearly. To know what to look for. To know there are always production issues no matter your production manager, your factory, your shippers oversights, your own screw ups. They don’t go away – it’s just how you deal with them that is the most important story. There is always a resolve, there is always a way to fix something and I’ve stopped thinking of them as nightmares, but more challenges!

Simply - it really is that we are in business. Running a business no matter what type is a lot of work –its not just enough to be a designer and be creative (I think that is about 30% of my work), it’s the business it creates and the fact that this is paying my mortgage, supporting my child and my family, and the people who help me every day make it happen – this is indeed itself an achievement. Perhaps seeing the line in some of the amazing art and contemporary museum stores we find ourselves in – that is a pat on the back because its not just about the recycling – its also about form, function and design. It has allowed me to create a vision. I have no formal training as a designer. I’ve never studied industrial design (I went the school of work at the age of 16 and never looked back). So to be now showing my designs in America’s top art museum stores is really something quite amazing. To sell bags to Target.com or through Coke Rewards, or Whole Foods stores. The best achievement I ever feel is when I see one of my bags being worn out on the street or in a subway or at the airport. Or I walk into a store and suddenly realize – hey that’s my work being sold! I remain grateful for all the experiences it brings, for all the great people I get to work with, and the pleasure it is to do it.