Lauren Woodward is a twenty-one year old design student from Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Ever since she was a little girl she dreamed of being in New York City for college. Lauren attends Parsons The New School for design and will be graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in May of 2018. Lauren has been an avid volunteer for many years, working with multiple organizations so when she came to Parsons Lauren knew that whatever she ended up creating, there needed to be a purpose in the work; a deeper meaning behind it. It had to be something that would make a change in the world; big or small. This interest in finding a purpose in her work led her to do research in design and manufacturing and discover the big bad truth about the fashion industry. This research gave Lauren the inspiration she needed to design sustainably. Her new found perception of the industry kicked her shopping habits and welcomed a whole new obsession of buying pre-warn (used) clothing and transforming it into new, unique garments and accessories. As of now Lauren’s main focus is cotton because of the endless negativities surrounding it and the seemingly undying perception that it is a sustainable resource because it’s derived from a plant and it’s “natural.” Another material Lauren likes to incorporate into her work is plastic. This is by far one of the worst materials know to mankind. It is everywhere in all forms and will be here for tens of thousands of years even if production of plastic stopped today. Lauren likes to integrate this into her work because plastic, especially plastic bags, hardly ever have a second life after they are first initially used to carry your groceries or other purchases. They are so cheaply manufactured that they can’t sustain another use, often ripping or tearing after their first initial use. Lauren embraces challenge and loves to problem solve when creating a new design. Using pre-warn garments to design allows Lauren to be creative when she’s designing. She believes up cycling adds visual appeal and uniqueness.
