“The new iteration of With Every Fiber is designed to help the public reimagine architecture with fair labor. It brings forward innovative solutions in stone, pigment, and glass — building materials that are typically at high-risk of forced and child labor — and highlights breakthrough approaches to ethical sourcing that will create a more humane built environment for all.” – Chelsea Thatcher
The forced and child labor embedded in our buildings, food, and clothing is largely hidden. To raise public awareness about this global humanitarian crisis, Grace Farms launched Design for Freedom in 2020 with over 60 leaders from the built environment. Design for Freedom has since grown into a global movement supported by over 100 industry leaders across sectors including the construction and financial sector. “First the food industry was called to be accountable to fair labor and supply chain transparency, then fashion, and now shelter is being called to account,” said Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder of Grace Farms.
For Prince, raising industry awareness has been a years-long endeavor, where each step elevated not only local and global awareness, but resulted in actionable outcomes such as activating Design for Freedom Pilot Projects across three continents and publishing groundbreaking and comprehensive reports such as the Design for Freedom International Guidance & Toolkit. Increasing awareness among the public, however, would require a more immersive and interactive approach to inspire people to understand and care about the materials that make up the built world around them.
There are nearly 28 million men, women, and children in forced labor, often working in inhumane conditions for little or no wages, according to the International Labour Organization. Prince refers to such labor practices as the “slavery discount,” which subsidizes ROIs and eliminates fair competition. The first iteration of With Every Fiber exhibit launched in May 2024 brought together 20 preeminent designers, material suppliers, artists, cultural institutions, and construction industry leaders, to create a dynamic environment in which people can pause and consider the hands making our building materials. The exhibit is curated by Chelsea Thatcher, Grace Farms’ Founding Creative Director, and designed by architect Nina Cooke John, one of the first architects in the U.S. to commit to embarking on a Design for Freedom Pilot Project.
This next iteration, which opened on Grace Farms’ 10th Anniversary on October 11, focuses on Pigment, Stone, and Glass — materials at high risk of forced labor. As with the initial launch of With Every Fiber in May 2024, the exhibit reveals the embodied suffering behind the extraction and processing of global building materials and how Design for Freedom aims to eliminate forced and child labor. Since its launch, over 100 global leaders across sectors have committed to Design for Freedom.
New to the exhibit are commissioned works by John Sabraw, artist and professor at Ohio University; Nina Cooke John, principal of Studio Cooke John Architecture & Design; and artist Hannah Rose Thomas, PhD., who unveiled a life-size portrait of social entrepreneur and survivor of modern slavery Nasreen Sheikh. Webb Yates Engineers’ sustainable prototype for truss work will demonstrate an engineering solution that replaces unethically sourced carbon-producing steel with stone. The London Philharmonic Orchestra, which has a long partnership with Grace Farms recorded Woven in Tears, composed by Evan Wiliams, is also featured in the exhibit.
Lithologic, by John Sabraw, is one of five new pieces featured in With Every Fiber (courtesy of John Sabraw)
“With Every Fiber highlights how creative vision has the power to transform our built environment,” said Thatcher. “The artists and creators featured here have reimagined how we work with stone, pigment, and glass. They demonstrate innovative approaches to ethical sourcing and prove that fair labor practices in the construction industry are within our reach.”
The commissioned work brings forth the issue of forced and child labor told through artists and their medium. Artist and environmentalist Sabraw’s mixed media work, Lithologic (2024) is composed of iron oxide pigments derived from the remediation of acid mine drainage pollution near Truetown, Ohio, as well as Appalachian coal. The work explores the topographies created from human extraction of natural resources and their paradox, which Sabraw sees as feats of human ingenuity and engineering, and emblematic of human consumption. These topographies form a hidden network most people have no idea exist, but each and every one of us plays a part in. Sabraw works in conjunction with paint company Gamblin Artists Colors to create artists pigments.
Also new to the exhibit is a Stone Space Frame pylon designed by Webb Yates Engineers, which has been developing sustainable engineering solutions in the building industry for decades. The pylon is an example of how post-tensioned stone, which, when quarried, processed, transported, and reused under the right conditions, is a highly sustainable material and could replace steel as a trussing component. The pylon features bars made up of four types of stone connected by thin steel rods: reclaimed stone, Jodhpur Sandstone, Vietnamese Stone (Pleiku Black), and Angolan Black Stone. Each stone was selected because of its potential for ethical sourcing. This pylon technology, which could reduce the steel and carbon used in construction by 75%, can be applied to many projects, such as bridges, roofs, factories, stadiums, and buildings. This is the first U.S. commission of Stone Space Frame.
Exhibit designer Nina Cooke John has contributed a new glass installation exploring the meanings of found materials, compiled and layered through the art of collage. Through dense layering of strips of reused glass that graduate to areas of sparing use, the work gives a new way of looking at glass as a product, prompting questions about how the construction industry is designing and sourcing this material. By incorporating recognizable historic glass windows and door frames, the work grounds itself in the lived spaces of daily life while raising awareness about forced labor and child labor in the global glass and sand industries.
Artist and human rights activist Rose Thomas’ life-size portrait of social entrepreneur and modern slavery survivor Nasreen Sheikh was created with tempera from natural pigments. Thomas’s work has been exhibited at the UK Houses of Parliament, European Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.
A frequent collaborator with Grace Farms, The London Philharmonic has recorded a new composition for the exhibit by composer and conductor Evan Williams, which responds to Rose Thomas’ portrait of Nasreen Sheikh. Woven in Tears incorporates different instrument sounds and melody lengths to represent individual threads creating a tapestry. The piece features glisses, plucking, and other techniques from the string players and pianist to evoke sounds similar to the fibers of strings threading each other.
A stone pylon by Steve Webb, similar the one in With Every Fiber, shown here at the Royal Academy (courtesy of Webb Yates)
Tapping gestures are used to create the mechanical noise that would be heard in a sweatshop. The piece later transforms to evoke the peaceful sounds of the 100-year-old loom that Sheikh acquired for her first business, using her skills and sustainable practices to empower herself and other women in her region. The 18-minute piece will be played in the exhibit throughout the show’s run.
With Every Fiber also incorporates Design for Freedom’s principles into its design, including prioritizing circularity. The exhibit itself became a site for research and the development of new methods of exhibit design and material tracking. The new installation of the exhibit repurposes materials throughout.
A portion of With Every Fiber was adapted and included in the Intelligens CANON at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti, on view through November 2025.
For more information about the exhibit, we invite the public to learn more through Bloomberg Connects, which is accessible in the exhibit. In addition, the launch of the next iteration included the release of our inaugural With Every Word newspaper.” A new iteration of Peace Forest, inspired by the unique character of Grace Farms’ River building, Barns and 80 acres of nature, was also unveiled with new watermedia works by Heather Jones.
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With Every Fiber Support
Anahata Foundation
Assa Abloy
Buro Happold
Design Within Reach
Hayes Davidson
Nucor
Sciame
Sherwin-Williams
Studio Cooke John
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About Grace Farms
Grace Farms is a cultural and humanitarian center in New Canaan, Connecticut that brings people together across sectors to explore nature, arts, justice, community, and faith at the SANAA-designed River building and Barns on 80 acres of publicly accessible natural landscape. Since opening in 2015, Grace Farms has welcomed 1 million visitors from around the world to experience its unique integration of arts, architecture, nature, and purpose.
As a destination for arts and culture, Grace Farms presents innovative programming in music, visual and performing arts while fostering contemplation and connection through architecture and nature. Its humanitarian work includes leading the Design for Freedom movement to eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain and advancing initiatives to foster more grace and peace locally and globally.
The integration of cultural programming and humanitarian action reflects Grace Farms’ collaborative approach to generating new outcomes and meaningful change.
Membership
Grace Farms Membership offers deeper connection with the surrounding landscape and community, while supporting our mission to create more grace and peace the world, which includes the work of the Design for Freedom movement to eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain as well as the ongoing preservation of the River building and its surrounding 80 acres.
Members enjoy discounts on retail, dining, and programs, and dining, a gift from Grace Farms Tea & Coffee, and early or complimentary access to select programs.
Visit our calendar of events to learn more about upcoming programs.
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