Our Team
Laura Sansone
Laura Sansone is a textile designer, activist, and consultant. She is the creator of New York Textile Lab, a design and consulting company that supports environmentally responsible textile methods, and regional systems of production. Laura is currently a Part-Time Assistant Professor of Textiles at Parsons School of Design. She has developed initiatives that bring NY designers and farmers together with the goal of creating a decentralized, regenerative textile supply network. Textile Lab’s NYS Regional Yarn Sourcebook is a collection of locally sourced and produced yarns that are intended to link apparel, product and interior designers to the regional network of farms and fiber processing mills. Laura is the founder of the Carbon Farm Network, a purchasing cooperative that connects designers to Climate Beneficial™ fibers that are grown on NYS farms practicing Carbon Farming on their lands. New York Textile Lab’s Carbon Farm Network, along with 5 other partners, has recently been awarded a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant through the USDA’s historic investment in expanding climate-smart agriculture. The lead partner on this grant is the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). In addition, Laura has designed woven textiles for the following companies: Maharam, New York, NY, American Silk Mills, New York, NY and Burlington House Fabrics, New York, NY.
Harmony Varner
Harmony Varner is the current Carbon Farm Planner with the Carbon Farm Network, hired as part of the Partnership for Climate-Smart Cotton and Wool. She works directly with farmers in the Network to develop Carbon Farm Plans, documents tailored to individual farms that identify opportunities for carbon sequestration through Climate Beneficial practices. She also works closely with these farms to provide technical assistance for implementing these practices and monitoring their progress over time. Harmony received her undergraduate degree in Organic and Sustainable Agriculture and her Master’s in Soil Science, both from Washington State University. She recently moved to the Finger Lakes region.
Bomin Kim
Bomin Kim grew up on Long Island, New York, and is presently living in Hudson Valley.She recently worked as a research technician at Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, NY. Her past experience includes working for NYS Parks and Recreation and several non-profits in New York. She graduated from Rutgers University with Urban Environmental Master's, and Brooklyn College with Earth and Environmental Science Bachelor's. At Rutgers, she studied plant interactions with subsurface water in the High Andean Area of Zurite, Peru. During her time at Brooklyn College, she provided research support for the stormwater resiliency program and citizen science stormwater resiliency research. In her spare time, she loves to explore the outdoors and try to capture her experience either in painting or photography. Over the summer, she tends to her pollinator and pepper garden. Her goal at New York Textile Lab is to pivot in creating a more sustainable and efficient farming for local growers.