What do you do with leftover yarns? Well if you're anything like designer Hellen van Rees you'll still see a lot of value in them.
The London-based fashionista is currently pursuing a master's degree in womenswear from Central Saint Martins where she has just recycled scrap yarn into Chanel-inspired wearable sculptures, Ecouterre reports.
Square One: The Miracle of the Space Age offers a truly unique use of wool, crafted into three-dimensionally woven cubes and stacked to create a postmodern take on the French maison's signature tweeds and straight-line silhouettes of the 1920s.
Her linear, cubist approach to design has earned her plaudits from inside the art and design world, but from a craft point of view the skills involved are really interesting.
Van Rees handcrafted her entire collection using remnant thread from a nearby knitting fabric, which she then repurposed by teasing the yarn apart.
She then wove each fibre directly into the desired shape, making sure not to leave any production waste behind.
"I don't have to weave a square and then cut my pattern pieces. I can weave in the shape of the garment," the designer told the site, meaning each block is completely seamless.
Wool is traditionally seen as a soft material used to make rounded designs, however it can also be used to craft a fashion forward, structured look.
The use of extruding blocks on her dresses turned her traditional ladies formalwear into "something more subversive and architectural," she added.
Van Rees went on to say; "I think the impact is much more powerful because it's a clash of something very rich and traditional with something modern and crazy," with the cubes added to pleats to encourage movement in the garment.
While these looks might be a little daring for everyday wear they show just what you can create with a bit of imagination and a desire to try out your own couture designs.
