Sans Soucie

Turning hose into clothes is a specialty for artist + textile + fashion designer Katherine Soucie.

Katherine was introduced to the world of textiles and fashion as a child, creating inventive outfits from hand me down clothing and vintage fabrics. Being the youngest of five children from a mixed cultural heritage (British, French Canadian, Metis;German/Seneca-Oneida), textiles and clothing allowed for her to find her voice and express her cultural identity. An identity she discovered was meant to represent transformation.

Her activism and participation in textiles/recycling began as a child after she participated in a program involved in the collection of waste in a provincial park. After receiving an award for her efforts, this experience shifted into influencing her creative work and led her to study the art of Fashion in London and Toronto, Ontario, before furthering her studies in Textiles and Visual Art in Vancouver, Canada.

It was while she studying Textiles at Capilano University, she came up with a concept that would guarantee her clothing line, Sans Soucie, and developed her signature hosiery textile process. The result was fabric that was not only practical and functional but it was unique and 100% Canadian in its manufacturing.

It was from here that Sans Soucie Textile + Design was born in 2003 in Vancouver, Canada. The focus was to establish a zero waste textile and clothing design studio that specialized in transforming pre-consumer nylon waste hosiery (pantyhose) into new hand made textiles for garment production. The mission at Sans Soucie was to rethink ways to maintain textile production in Canada by establishing partnerships with Canadian mills to obtain their waste textiles. In doing so, this allowed for a unique production of hand made, Canadian-made textiles, garments and accessories.

Katherine is motivated to educate on the importance of local production and consumption of textiles and clothing made in Canada and the USA.

Since her career began, Katherine has been the recipient of several awards, grants and scholarships: North Vancouver Community Arts Council scholarship 2002 for outstanding achievement in a Visual Arts program, Circle Craft Cooperative Scholarship 2003 for outstanding achievement, One of a kind show, Artisan travel scholarship spring 2005, Circle Craft Christmas Market, Silver award, Excellence in Craft 2005, Circle Craft Christmas Market, Gold award Excellence in Craft 2006, 2006 BC Creative Achievement Award (CA), shortlisted for a 2007 Niche Award (USA), recipient of the International Green Design Project, 2008 (USA) and shortlisted for the SustainART Design Competition, 2014 (UK). She has received local, national and international print/television media on her achievements and contribution to the field of textiles, craft, art and design.

To view more work by Katherine Soucie visit www.katherinesoucie.com