Re.Stance Panel: Future Fabrics

Panelist Biographies

Narishdath Maraj

Narishdath Maraj is a fashion designer, creative director, and sustainability practitioner working at the intersection of circular design, material innovation, and community-based systems change. His work focuses on diverting post-consumer textiles and institutional material waste from landfill and transforming them into new products, installations, and regenerative material applications. As Creative Director at mpolo designs and founder of Narishdath Maraj Design Inc., he develops projects that bridge fashion, research, and applied sustainability. Maraj has led large-scale textile waste diversion initiatives, upcycled branded and post-consumer materials into new products, and collaborated with academic and healthcare institutions on sustainability-driven art and design projects. His current work explores biodegradable composites using textile waste and mycelium, alongside circular platforms that connect communities through upcycling and reuse. Through mentorship, collaboration, and applied research, he aims to reshape fashion systems toward regenerative, culturally informed, and environmentally responsible futures.

Sabine Spare

Sabine Spare is a textile artist and co-founder of Chroma Colour Textiles. Her accessories brand Spare Label, featured her innovative use of contemporary fabric marbling techniques. As an IATSE 873 Costumes Member, Spare has worked as textile artist and breakdown artist on a range of exciting productions including It, 13: the Musical!, Star Trek: Discovery, Reacher, The Copenhagen Test and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Spare fosters a creative community through her work as an educator. For over 10 years she has taught marbling and textile art techniques.

Monica Polo

Monica Polo is a sustainability strategist, systems thinker, and the founder of mpolo designs. She is currently completing her Master’s in Environmental Applied Science and Management (ENSCIMAN) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where her research focuses on healthy environments, residential sustainability, and circular design systems. Monica brings over 25 years of experience in design and project management, and her work spans sectors including education, healthcare, workplace design, and housing.

Through mpolo designs, Monica leads collaborative projects that combine low-impact materials, regenerative systems, and public education. Her most recent endeavor, the EcoLiving Lab (Ecoapt), demonstrates her belief that sustainability must be immersive, inclusive, and built into the systems we live with every day.

Omar Tarek Zayed

Omar Tarek Zayed is a Toronto-based textile artist and designer whose practice explores the relationship between traditional textile craft and contemporary design methodologies. Working primarily with natural dyeing, shibori, and silkscreen, he develops hybridized approaches to both womenswear and textile-based art.

In 2024, Omar graduated from OCAD University with a BDes in Material Art & Design and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre Textile Studio, where he is developing a new body of work that further investigates the technical and visual boundaries of natural dye work.