Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)

pROJECTS 2024

Terra-Domus

Finalist Project

Emma Davis, Lena Man

Terra-Domus creates sustainable and affordable housing with the Brooklyn community in mind. Construction materials come from experimentation with rammed earth and cellulose fiber bricks, mycelium insulation, and green walls to provide low-energy temperature regulation and reduced carbon emissions in the building process. Gray and black water systems allow for water recycling, and social support is provided to connect residents with resources and create an inclusive environment with community outreach.

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Scraps2School

Ashley Caccese, Lillian Svoboda, Elle Ferenc, Kassia Engelmann, Vaibhavi Mittal

Scraps2School is an educational origami activity kit made completely from leftover food waste and packaged in biodegradable mycelium material to teach students in underfunded primary schools about the importance of composting. The kit not only motivates children to interact with their local communities, but also provides them the opportunity to participate in a mental de-stressor during the school day.

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Wooly Well

Bridget Seagren, Yasmeen Shad, Andrew Chen, Oliver Connolly, Hadassah Fisher, Maddie Bialek

Wooly Well, uses the traditional healing properties of the Wooly Lamb‘s Ear plant, Stachys byzantina, to infuse a compostable bandage with antimicrobial oils that will help heal wounds and not pollute the environment or irritate skin. Although they are healing, adhesive bandages contain harmful, possibly life-threatening, chemicals. Along with their risk to human health, they also contribute to the waste crisis on our Earth, as they are made of plastics that will not break down. Wooly Well aims to address issues regarding unsustainable adhesive bandages.

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FlyBy Community Quilting

Kimberly Tatarka and Yili Zou

FlyBy Community Quilting is an annual drawing event to encourage artistic creativity and environmental action. This event utilizes biodegradable art supplies such as paints made from natural pigments and sodium alginate, along with muslin fabric patches. These patches will then be sewed together into a quilt. This quilt will be temporarily displayed for educational purposes at a local public institution before being buried and returned to the Earth. The project is designed with the intent of bringing artistic resources to people who may not usually have them, hence its staunch principle of being a free and accessible event for people of all ages, working class backgrounds, and other marginalized identities to build an art-making community.

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Kelp Keeps Us Dry

Nathaly Krzesiczan, Nyla Kirivong, Mimi Greenberg, Elias Cherrier-Vicker, Olivia Koh

Kelp Keeps Us Dry provides a sustainable alternative to umbrellas, addressing the common situation of forgetting an umbrella at home and resorting to buying a cheap, unsustainable umbrella in a nearby store. Almost all textiles used to make cheap umbrellas are made with unsustainable materials and chemicals that pollute our environment and harm the health of the people who make and use the products. The project’s goal is to make a biodegradable one-time-use umbrella free from harmful PFAS using properties from kelp.

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EarthTone

Massiel Cabrera, Adam Allam, Melvin Vargas, Lucas Allen, Kevin Santana

Mental health struggles affect everyone, reminding us that prioritizing mental well-being is not just a passing trend but an essential aspect of daily life. EarthTone is a coloring book kit made from recycled, plant-based paper. The pages of the coloring book have seeds and fertilizer within them. After you finish coloring a page, you simply tear it out, put it in dirt, and watch it grow. The crayons in the kit are made from beeswax, cocoa butter, and natural pigments. All three of these are not only plant safe, but also provide the soil and the plant with nutrients.

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Instructors 2024

Evelyn Rynkiewicz (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Ecology at FIT. Before coming to FIT, she earned her PhD from Indiana University and subsequently conducted research as a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Edinburgh (National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow) and Columbia University. At FIT, Evie teaches classes in ecology and biology. Her overall goal is to increase science literacy among non-science majors.