thank you

Coming to the end of an amazing year, it is time to acknowledge and thank the people who I've had the privilege to work with. Back in July, this neglected blog had 40 or so followers. There are now 102 of you. Apologies for the lack of posts (I was doing it but not writing about it), and thank you for your support. Many of you found me via the New York Times and Helsingin Sanomat. Thank you NYT, kiitos HS. I taught my last zero-waste class for the semester yesterday and there is still much catching up to do but just a quick thank you for the sustained interest and support.

After recent events, I didn't expect Julie Gilhart to be in my class yesterday so to have had her there was a beautiful privilege. My thanks go out to Julie (the students and I were blown away - thank you!) as well as to Scott Hahn of Loomstate and Rogan Gregory of Rogan, who also came. Scott and Gregory didn't just come to the class to share their wisdom and expertise; they made so many things possible through the semester, I don't know where or how to begin to thank both. Thank you; I cannot wait to have the next conversation with you both.

Students: thank you! Each of you went through such a unique process, and each of you taught me so much. Prior to the zero-waste course, I suspected this would be the case but I didn't anticipate the richness of processes you shared with me. Thank you; I learned so much from each of you. I very much look forward to each of you graduating, and making a change in this industry of ours. Please keep me posted on the work you do.

At Parsons, there are a number of people I want to thank. Fiona Dieffenbacher, Director of External Projects, emailed me in October 2009 about proposing a zero-waste course. I was still living in Australia, in the midst of a challenging semester at my alma mater, UTS. Safe to say, neither of us had any inkling of how amazing things would turn out. Fiona, thank you for your foresight, and the support throughout this year.

Simon Collins, Dean of Fashion, thank you. You make things work. Yvonne Watson, Director of Academic Affairs, thank you. You afford me the ability to see possibilities. Now, this might look like a suck-up to my bosses. I don't give a shit. Simon and Yvonne make good things possible and that's all there is to it. I'm just not sure they get acknowledged enough, hence my inclusion of both here.

Jonathan Kyle Farmer and Shelley Fox, thank you. You inspire me daily. A true privilege.

Caroline Priebe. You're such a gift. Thank you.

Kate Fletcher and Lynda Grose. None of us would be anywhere without you. Thank you.


Kathleen Fasanella. You're a guardian of the industry. Thank you.

Mum and dad. Thank you both for all of the support, and all that I've learned from each of you.

Heli, Sami and Juha. You're my bedrock. Thank you.

George. It's been an amazing nine years; I can't wait to see what we do together next. Thank you.

My friends: the other bedrock. Thank you.

There are countless others. For example, Holly McQuillan, Julian Roberts, Yeohlee Teng and Zandra Rhodes inspire me daily, as do Cameron Tonkinwise and Sally McLaughlin. Thank you.

2011 is full of possibilities. Thank you all.