EXPLORING TEXTILES FROM SEED TO CLOTH

The Oko Farms Clothing Restoration Project explores the preservation of natural dyes and fibers rooted in West African and Southeast Asian traditions as a response to the wasteful and environmentally harmful practices of today’s clothing industry. It is a celebration of our ancestral relationship to clothing as we challenge the current extractive industrial fashion complex and work to reestablish a deeper connection with nature through textile arts.

At its core, the project focuses on cultivating plant-based dye and fiber crops, transforming these materials into pigments and textiles, and researching their many historical uses, including medicinal, spiritual, cultural, and artistic applications.

Throughout this process, we invite NYC residents to take part in the work. Through hands-on workshops, film screenings, and community conversations, participants will engage directly with the materials, histories, and practices that reconnect clothing production to land, culture, and sustainability.

Rooted in ancestral knowledge and practice, this offering invites you into the slow, intentional craft of processing farm-grown cotton by hand into yarn. Over the course of four weeks, participants will learn the foundational skills of cotton spinning while deepening their relationship with the fiber itself.

This beginner-friendly workshop combines interactive, discussion-based learning with guided, hands-on spinning practice. Together, we’ll engage in a tactile exploration of the cotton plant as we examine its unique qualities, reflect on its layered history and contemporary significance, deepen our understanding of sustainable cultivation, and transform raw fiber into yarn.

By the end of the series, you’ll be able to spin both 1-ply and 2-ply yarn using Brooklyn-grown cotton. You’ll also leave with raw heirloom cotton, a spindle, and printed instructional materials to support your continued practice and yarn-making journey beyond the farm.

HAND SPINNING COTTON (4-WEEK WORKSHOP SERIES)

This is a weekly class series! Over four weeks, you’ll build the skills and confidence to spin cotton by hand.

Spinning is a meditative process that calls for patience, presence, and care. Through guided practice, you’ll deepen your relationship to fiber, clothing, and the land it comes from.