A slender silhouette interrupts the cold lines of the built environment. A hooded acolyte of comfort. The larval form of a creature that evolved for warmth. A sorcerer of chill.
Chinchillo’s creator is Will Cornfield, a photographer and marketing student at Roberts Wesleyan College. Cornfield was working long hours at a college event when he hit upon the elegant design. Chinchillo envelops its wearer in a soft robe with a padded, pillowed hood.
The garment provide comfort at home, protection from the elements in bleacher seats, and an integrated headrest and throw for the airplane.
As versatile as Chinchillo is for the single user, Cornfield and his team have also hit on a way to spread the garment’s influence across the wider region. Their website states: “When one Chinchillo is purchased, it is also covering the cost of another Chinchillo. This second Chinchillo will be distributed to the homeless community.”
Purchases of Chinchillo enable the garments to be delivered to Sojourner House at PathStone, House of Mercy, and St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality. In this way, though they may never meet, two strangers can share warmth through an invisible connection.
Chinchillo: thechinchillo.com / Available locally at Peppermint at the Culver Road Armory and Thread boutique on South Avenue.
