A Glimpse Into the Studio of Designer Catrielle Barnett

by Madeline Kopiecki | Oct 2026

Catrielle Barnett. Photos: Chris Emeott

Trash turns into treasure in the hands of a local fashion designer.

There are times during the creative flurry of designing a new fashion collection when one would be forgiven for thinking designer Catrielle Barnett’s Plymouth studio is a bit … unorthodox. There’s recycled denim, reclaimed fabric and tulle, sure, but at times there are also deconstructed egg cartons, used cigarette butts, discarded straws and a wide array of single-use plastics.

“I would say, specifically as an artist and designer, I am material-led and research-driven,” Barnett says. What usually qualifies as landfill refuse is reenvisioned as wearable art in the eyes of this beholder. “My current work and practice is rooted in sustainability and what that means in our current environment. I’m currently working on creating pieces that are zero waste and hopefully will have a zero-waste model in my studio by the end of 2027.”

Catrielle Barnett reimagines recycled and reclaimed materials into looks that have been shown nationally and internationally.

The 22-year-old’s mom—an artist in her own right—taught Barnett how to sew at the age of 8. “[My mom] always gave me access to material and always facilitated this level of creating and freeness in my upbringing,” she says. “That truly influenced me to have this passion and pull towards art.” By 10, Barnett had her first sewing machine; by 11, she was teaching classes and selling at local art fairs; and by 13, she was pattern drafting and constructing her own clothes. “I kept making my own clothes, and now a little over 60 percent of my wardrobe is my own designs,” she says.

Her passion persisted. For her senior year of high school, Barnett transferred to Perpich Arts High School in Golden Valley. She used exclusively reclaimed materials and explored how fire impacts them for her senior collection at Perpich in 2023. “Each of the elements were unconventional,” she says. “I used egg cartons with acrylic paint and burned the edges.” She experimented with how fire manipulates materials ranging from fabric to stir sticks. “I was burning everything,” she says.

One of the pieces in the collection—Silent Killer—was inspired by common trash. “I had walked around the city and collected up cigarette butts and plastic straws,” Barnett says, noting that these two materials are the primary pollutants among microplastics in the environment. “I incorporated those into a garment and was able to have a great conversation about what those actually mean when they enter our ecosystems and they’re not properly broken down … I was able to put together a compilation of different stories within the collection, which was really wonderful.”

Aptly named Playing with Fire, the collection also opened new doors for Barnett, which she describes as a formative experience. “My senior year of high school, my portfolio got selected [by] YoungArts, which is this amazing opportunity in Miami,” she says. Barnett flew out for the week to present to fine arts professors and industry professionals. “That was a great push before going to college to understand, ‘Oh, this is what [the] industry is going to look like in a fashion sense, and this is what they’re looking for,’” she says.

During the summer heading into her senior year at Perpich, Barnett completed a precollege program at Georgia’s Savannah College of Art and Design and went on to complete her freshman year at the school before continuing her undergraduate degree in fashion design at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, which she will be graduating from in spring 2027. While attending university, Barnett has steadily increased her production to the point where she’s now producing roughly a garment a week.

For Barnett, the creative process starts with gathering material and completing a quick sketch. Next, the designer has to determine how the material will lay on a 3D form. “Usually, I’ll go to my mannequin and start playing around with how it interacts with the body,” she says. “From there, I’ll produce a final sketch, which is most [often] the exact replica of the outcome, which I’m very happy to see now because it wasn’t always the case.” Next, Barnett turns to her industrial-grade JUKI sewing machine, which has been able to withstand the most unruly reclaimed materials thus far, even when the sewing needle doesn’t.

Currently, Barnett is working on her senior collection on the heels of completing her junior collection—Reclaiming Identity—which uses discarded quilts and explores how value is assigned in our society. “A lot of my current practice is trying to get people to question, basically, trash,” Barnett says. “I just want people to look at their trash in such a different way, because I feel like if we consume less, that’s honestly going to
lead to more production and being able to have better growth. And this creative mindset of nothing is waste is just a lovely sentiment to me.”