Home-grown artist Tina Crawford uses non-biodegradable waste to produce pieces based on her identity and health issues.

With the global awareness of what unrecyclable plastics are doing to the planet and Croydon Council acknowledging that this is a climate emergency, Tina has taken it upon herself to use domestic plastic waste to showcase just how much small pieces like chocolate wrappers can add up to.

“I’ve used plastics that would otherwise be landfill, but the work is more than the issue of your carbon footprint. I was bulimic for many years and the idea of growing waste and shrinking waist was staring at me. The work represents how our insatiable consumer appetite is not sustainable and is in fact mentally damaging.”

Tina is a free embroidery artist; she uses a sewing machine as her tool of choice — “the needle feels like an extension of my hands”. With no preparatory drawing or marks, when the needle goes into the material the line is made spontaneously.

Tina grew up in Croydon and did her art foundation at Croydon College of Art; she then went on to Central St Martins for her degree. Her work is on show at Soho House New York and she has exhibited in Leyden Gallery, Shoreditch, and Alon Zakaim, Mayfair. Tina’s designs (under the brand Tobyboo) have been used for products in St Paul’s Cathedral, Soane Museum, Museum of London, Kew Gardens and English Heritage. Paul Smith is one of her admirers and the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier and Martin Parr own her portrait dolls.

You can also see one of her works in The Oval Tavern.

tinacrawford.co.uk    instagram: @sewtobyboo   twitter: @tobyboo