The Textielmuseum is one of my favourite musea and when they host an expo about sustainable design & innovation I of course want to visit…the exhibition is curated by Lidewij Edelkoort & Philip Fimmano. They see the exhibition as “their chance to bring together designers and artists that are investigating new ways of producing ideas; innovative thinkers that are able to turn around our mentality, progressive people that develop a body of work that leads the way to another world in the making – creating a horizon of hope” Just what we need!
‘Design, materials, textiles and fashion mine inspiration from our planet; revering its beauty and residence, bringing its struggle to our attention and contemplating to organic elements in awe, like true Romantis. From land to sea, from forest to mountain, a wealth of ideas sprout from the Earth, analyzing and cataloguing its components: transformed into textural materials, recycled remnants, oxidized alloys and vegetal colors; a movement redefining the tactile and emotional aspects of our life.’
I show some of my highlights in this blog, but please do visit the exhibition, it is on show until the 27th of November this year.
Marigold flowers
Lighting: the sheer plucking of Hindu temple blessing marigold flowers can be transformed into flower dye motifs on silk; a spiritual fashion act of devotion and decay. Christina Kims company does use a system-wide approach to re-use and recycle everything, including cutting waste gathered to create new products.
Carpets: Salem van der Swaagh collects selvedge (waste or edge of fabric that is cut off during the industrial weaving process) from various European textile wool mills and weaves them by hand into highly textured, luxurious rugs and pillows.
Root carpet
Another carpet, a very special one: Inspired by the growth and behavior of below ground plant parts, Diana Scherer creates a textiel-like material by manipulating the growth of wheat plant roots. She guides the roots along 3D printed moulds, creating intricacy woven or braided patterns. When she harvests the plants, the root structure dries and the root patterns are preserved.
Sponge stool
Sponge stool by studio Formafantasma. Fish skin is combined with unprocessed natural sponge. In the back ground you see an image of a beautiful film by Lynette Wallworth. She portrays the fragile undersea ecosystem, which is threatened by global warming. Singer – songrwriter Anohni wrote the song for the film Rise, which calls for the protection of Earth’s unique coral reefs. Just seeing the (short) film is worth going to the museum, I found it very beautiful and emotional.
Of course the work of Atelier NL is in this expo. With their investigations in the true colours of glass and ceramics, Atelier NL strives to uncover the potential that natural sands and clays have within them, due to the varied mix of minerals, metals and other components that are attached to the grains.
Until the start of forestry about 70 years ago, wood has been a scarce resource in Iceland for centuries. The 2015 Willow project by a group of seven students of the Iceland Academy of the Arts investigated one of Iceland’s new gained raw material: the willow tree. They thoroughly examined every part of the tree and its characteristics, adding nothing but heat and water in manufacturing. Valuing all the willow’s by-products, they discovered numerous applications of the raw material, including bark string, paper and colouring dye.
Pine bark
A Similar project from Latvia..the pine is very popular because of its soft wood, but the rest of the tree is barely used. Marmite Polakova focus on the material properties of the pine tree and discovered that a material with a leathery property can be found under the bark. From this material she creates carpets, wearable garment and bags which have a lifespan of at least two years. Afterwards the material can be returned to Nature, since it is fully degradable.
An inspiring and hope giving exhibition, a must see for everyone who is interested in sustainability.
