TILL (Today’s Industrial Living Landscapes), the community-based development studio founded by Jane Philbrick MDes ’16, recently hosted the inaugural bioFASHIONtech (bFt) summit, bringing together “makers and thought leaders, scientists and entrepreneurs, investors and retailers working at the forefront of emerging technologies for experimental textiles, new systems of community-based manufacturing, and business model innovation.” The event, which took place on June 24, 2019, at the Avon Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut, has been covered in Women’s Wear Daily, Stamford Advocate, Middletown Press, WGSN, and WTNH News 8. Speakers included Connecticut State Representative Anne Hughes, David S. Kong, PhD, director, MIT Media Lab Community Biotechnology Initiative, Geomorphologist David R. Montgomery, PhD, and more.

biofashiontech lab jane philbrick

bioFASHIONtech lab

The summit was the culmination of two months of work at the Stamford Town Center mall where TILL created a bioFASHIONtech lab to investigate bio-based methods for making clothing. “We want to make Connecticut the U.S. capital of sustainable fashion by 2022,” Philbrick told the Advocate.

Additional summit coverage

TILL, where Philbrick serves as Principal, grew out of work for her MDes thesis in Critical Conservation.

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Image: Philbrick wearing one of the pieces from bFt designer Jacob Olmedo commissioned for the summit. (provided)