Groupsports

Groupsports is a Los Angeles based design studio that specializes in playful, tactile objects for interior spaces. Founded by SJ Naim + Annie Render in 2019, they design and create limited edition-based collections as well as custom commission work, with a focus on developing circular practices.

All materials aside from thread and trim are sourced from post industrial waste streams in LA. These brand new materials would end up in the landfill otherwise, but they deserve a time to shine.

We love the design of their body pillows made with remnants of our precious natural Talalay offering style AND comfort. Upcycling at its finest! : )

Check out Groupsports here

Alejandra Cazarrubias

Stuffed with our plein-air wool this gnome is extra cuddly

‘Tis the season - check out this adorable gnome made by the talented Alex stuffed with our wool remnants.

Not limiting herself to textile crafts, Alex also swings the paint brush and creates beautiful holiday signs from our wood waste. It does indeed bring joy to our hearts when any wood cut-offs don’t land in the trash container but get upcycled.

Alex just started out and is planning to offer her creations at craft fairs and holiday markets in the future.

Artist Yumeng (Yuki) He

Coil packaging paper as background and sculpture material

Yumeng He’s recent art installation at the Claremont Graduate University Peggy Phelps Gallery really hit the nerve of our times.

Like many businesses who import components, we were (and still are) impacted by endless delays in our congested ports.

Containers that used to take 4-6 weeks to arrive from Germany and The Netherlands, now take up to 3 months at triple the cost compared to earlier this year.

At the peak of port congestion there were over 90 container vessels waiting outside the Los Angeles/ Long Beach ports to be unloaded that’s easily 2 million TEU’s - a backlog volume that was not even conceivable before it actually happened.

The result of on-line shopping

We love how Yumeng He illustrated the increased shipping volume during our ongoing pandemic by collecting the shipping boxes from all the on-line orders in her dorm and piling them up into a tower - just think this is from just one dorm….

Where all this paper come from…. Upcycling and Recycling is NOT just an option

We either reuse the packaging material our pocketed coils come in for wrapping outgoing pallets or recycle the strong paper.

We were thrilled that this time some of it was not just recycled but UPCYCLED into a multidimensional artful story and message.

Artist Heidi Schipper-Hill

Heidi has always been an art maker and has a background in many types of media. She has a Design Degree from the Art Center in Pasadena, which she uses to teach and do freelance commissions including painting, mosaics, and sculpture.

Her colorful collection of dogs and furry critters are made using dyed wool (from Berkeley Ergonomics) which is needle felted over a wire armature. Heidi is a native California gal and currently lives near Camarillo, California. for more of her fabulous artwork visit her at http://bit.ly/HeidiSchipper-Hill

Trash 4 Teachers T4T

The concept of Trash for Teachers T4T began in 2004 when Steve and Kathy Stanton started taking their own manufacturing byproducts and overruns to their son’s preschool to be used in class projects.  These were things from their specialty packaging factory, like die-cut cardboard hearts, ribbons, and long cardboard tubes.  The children loved the materials and found many creative ways to use them.

Tito Guillen has been with Trash 4 Teachers from the early beginnings. Starting out he would drive around town picking up unwanted items from the warehouses. Tito is their fabricator and master craftsman, as well as the goto guy for items in the warehouse. In the last few years Berkeley Ergonomics has donated many tons of remnants, discards, and off-cuts from our mattress factory.

T4T is now under the umbrella of Two Bit Circus

Artist Judy Lue

Judy is an art explorer, fashion designer, and self-taught graphic designer. She is native of Taiwan and has shown her art throughout the United States and in China.

Judy has created dynamic art pieces using remnants of Berkeley Ergonomics luxury Merino Wool. She can be seen in galleries and shows creating wool sculptures throughout Los Angeles.

Her deer featured here is titled “Baby its Cold Outside”. We have also included a photo of Judy’s costume-design for an awards-winning Art Short-film “All Seasons Become One”, released in 2015.

Artist Zi Zhuang

After 7 years of creating Chinese paintings, the talented artist Zi Zhuang decided to expand her talent as a fine art student at the Claremont Graduate University in Southern California.
DC gallery, a small upstairs studio of the CGU art department, displays this magnificent installation by Zi.

We are thrilled that this installation is made entirely from Berkeley Ergonomics mattress production remnants:
- 100% natural Talalay strips
- Off-cuts of pocketed coils
- Spools from our cotton tape

Zi describes her work as the “connection between human beings and society”. She believes that “people are inevitably more or less manipulated by society and we all have to try our best to grasp the opportunities life offers in order to control our destiny. “

Title: Manipulate
Zi Zhuang
2019
Mixed material
Installation

DAN REES: WOOD ARTISAN

Dan has been making objects from wood for a long time. Recently he has created some pieces from our wood and brought us two of his treasures. He can be found selling his beautiful handcrafted wares at the Claremont Farmers & Artisans Market or Village Venture.

Tawnie Osejo

Fiber Artist

Known to most who follow her on Instagram as knottietawnie, Tawnie is a fiber artist extraordinaire who works on a larger scale than most felt artisans. She has been needle felting since the fall of 2015 and competed 2015-2017 in fair and won best in show 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the LA and San Bernardino county fairs. Tawnie dabbles in felted paintings, toys and wool art toys. Tawnie enjoys creating pieces that make people stop and smile.

We have donated to her art by giving her large bags of our 275g and 500g wool. She turns them into the most incredible critters by felting them to a wire form she makes herself. Tawnie calls herself a So Cal crochet and needle felting artisan, we call her fabulous.

This is a pair Tawnie recently felted. “Grasp” on the right is modeled after a Capuchin monkey!

Better known as “Ice Cream the Unicorn”.

Meet “Treble” who seems to like the recent snowfall in Southern California.

This is “Fable”, after completion, he will be a whooping 10 feet long and approximately 4/5 foot in height.

Find Tawnie at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, Melrose Trade Post, Torrance Sreet Faire or Instagram direct message @knottietawnie.

Coachella Valley Artist

Bill Schinsky

Bill divides his time between his art and being the Executive Director at the Coachella Valley Art Center. His latest piece is done for a Veterans exhibit at the Marks Gallery, College of the Desert, Palm Desert. The installation is his interpretation of the 1968 TET Offensive's Battle of Hue, Viet Nam. The event was his introduction to Viet Nam and War. Bill used Berkeley Ergonomics wool to represent the 216 American boys killed during the month long battle.  They "float" on a bed of dirt and charcoal bits.

http://www.coachellavalleyartcenter.org/

Fiber Artist and Photographer

Mimi Haddon

“… is a fiber artist and photographer who uses vibrant color as her main medium.  She can often be seen around town creating temporary colorful soft sculptures that respond to the architecture and environments of Los Angeles.  She is a certified Chopra Center meditation teacher and recently received her MFA in Fiber Art from CSULB. Mimi teaches at FIDM and The Craft and Folk Art Museum”.  Mimi has used Berkeley Ergonomics wool as part of her medium in these fine art pieces.

Classic silhouettes against colorful retro costumes and landscapes full of texture and blur reflect Mimi Haddon's colorful manifesto: enjoy life. www.mimihaddon.com

Alt 66

Madeline Arnault at the LA County Fair 

Using Berkeley Ergonomics remnants of wool, latex and coils Madeline created her artistic quilted landscape of the petrified Forest and Painted Desert as old Route 66 cuts through the scenery.  "The myth of the Mother Road comes to life through the vibrant colors and patterns"  The theme at the fair, Alt 66, explores history that is important to understanding the experiences of all travelers at the peak of Route 66's popularity.  Alt 66 leads visitors to experience critical perspective os the iconic "Mother Road" addressing issues such as segregation, migration, American Leisure and economic development during the 20th century.  This exhibition provokes ideas about Route 66 that are seldom or not yet explored through 14 istallations and is the next interpretation of the search for our country's compelling stories of cultural fusion from Chicago to Santa Monica and the 2,448 miles in between and beyond.

Grids, Patterns, Structures and Networks

Artist Lesley Kice Nishigawara

In this piece, Lesley made both stairs with donations from Berkeley Ergonomics using wood pieces.  The grey stairs are padded with the remnants of our soft 500g Merino wool! We appreciate the redirection of all discards that improve our footprint on Earth. 

“In her exhibition at the Irvine Fine Arts Center, Lesley Kice Nishigawara adds another layer of complexity to these real life repetitions by abstracting them through time and human interaction. Repetition gives us a sense of familiarity and comfort such as when we see patterns or hear sounds over and over again. Repeated things can become so familiar that we don’t notice them anymore. ”

— ArtsuZe, Som Vilaysack

"What can I do with that wool and fiber?"

Sustainable Artist

Art according to Madeline Arnault

Madeline is a graduate student in Claremont and we are fortunate enough to have her come by our factory to grab discard items to use in her art projects.  Here she is playing with abstract shapes and working to reclaim the obvious mark of her hand in these hand-stitched individual quilt panels.  She used Berkeley Ergonomics wool, organic cotton, and her own threads to create them.  Madeline also has an upcoming project themed "Route 66" at the LA County Fair.  We look forward to bringing you news and photos from that event.

“The expression sustainable art has been promoted recently as an art term that can be distinguished from environmental art that is in harmony with the key principles of sustainability, which include ecology, social justice, non-violence and grassroots democracy ~ Wikipedia”

"What can I do with that wool and fiber?"

Upcycled for Animal Shelter Donations

One kind recipient of our Berkeley Ergonomics remnant discards is Cheryl, who manages to put tremendous effort into helping cats and dogs at the animal shelter.  Cheryl takes our discarded quilted wool and organic cotton, washes it to felt the wool, then sews a fabric cover to it and creates a soft, warm bed.  She and her friends then donate the cat/dog beds to local animal shelters.  

"What can I do with that wool and fiber?"

Stuffed Animals

What could you do with all those wool discards? 

Bonnie is a purveyor of up-cycling and promotes her ideas through Berkeley Ergonomics wool discards.  Her passion is evident because she drives to our factory from San Diego and picks up a truckload of quilted remnants to distribute throughout her circle of friends.   One friend,  Karen has made numerous stuffed animals that are being donated to foster care children bags for when the child is transitioning into new homes.  Thank you Bonnie.

"What can I do with that wool and fiber?"

Needlepunch Art by Una

Una Walker: fiber artist

In this picture Una has collected discards of Berkeley Ergonomics organic cotton, cut it into strips, dyed it, then needle punched it into this fabulous 15" round rug.  Thank you Una for sharing your lovely art made from up-cycling Berkeley discards. 

Una is a Fiber Artist from Claremont, California whose fashion and artwork has been exhibited nationally.  She teaches both wet felting and rug punching.

You can find Una at www.woolywalkers.com.   

Imagine...

Fabulous Sculpture
by artist Danielle Giudici Wallis

The small piece with the glass dome is called "specimen" and the larger piece is untitled as it's a study for doing something larger scale.  This recent work (made with recycled fibers of wool panel remnants from Berkeley Ergonomics) uses the nerve cell as a starting point to explore ideas of connection, and suggests parallels between our inner biology and the external morphology of the plant kingdom. 

about:
Danielle Giudici Wallis is an artist, educator and arts administrator currently residing in Redlands, California.  Danielle's website is http://www.giudiciwallis.com

Upcycling at the Craft & Folk Art Museum Los Angeles

MiMi Haddon

Fiber artist Mimi Haddon leads a soft- sculpture workshop using re-used and recycled fiber-based materials such as wool donated by Berkeley Ergonomics. They experiment with foam, thread, and fabric to create a soft-fiber sculpture using basic techniques such as stitching, applique, and pattern-making.

Artist Cameron Taylor-Brown (Arts Garage LA) and artist Jamia Weir

Their Fiber Art Workshop at the CAFAM in Los Angeles was amazing.  After a tour of the museum, they offered an hour class on the creative art of fiber.  Everyone participated using a variety of items including our quilted organic cotton and wool; coils; and natural latex.  This was an awesome experience, and a wonderful museum.  Thank you for the opportunity to participate and become a donor to the fiber art community.

Upcycled Wood

Conchi Sanford

The practical side of every artist…

Conchi is hardworking to create up-cycled uses our wood rejects and pallets. Here she has created a toy box, some lawn furniture and planters.

Up-cycled men walking to the beat of their own drum.

Made from wood that was rejected as not good enough for our wood foundations, the talented Conchi Sanford (www.conchisanford.com) created these awesome sculptures for the Quema del Diablo in Joshua Tree, CA.