This past Wednesday (after Burobraak), I biked the 12 km (I love kilometers...sounds so much more impressive) out to the Bijlmermeer (pronounced Bel-mer-meer) neighborhood of Amsterdam, a fascinating somewhat-utopian project in its own right (see the 99% Podcast video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMvXSpY4R1Y or listen to the two part podcast...super interesting). It has a much different feel than the center of Amsterdam, which the podcast explains very well.
I went with some friends to see the Amsterdam Fashion Institute’s “Mindful Textiles” exhibition at OSCAM.
In their own words:
“35 AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion Institute students developed collections of mindful textiles using a range of experimental methods and implimented into individual products. The textiles are divided into two major categories; print and knit but within the two we find biodegradable materials, sun printing, tattooing, natural dyes, local materials and handspun yarns.”
Students created displays with videos, interactive elements, information text, and were there to tell you all about their inquiries, processes, and final work.
This in-depth exploration of materials reminded me of some main themes about social design I have been reading and listening to: the importance of working with materials and working with your hands, and of authentic collaboration.
Inherent to design is the human interaction with the object and materials. Being able to touch these materials, seeing how they fall across my hand (speaks to wear-ability), and to feel the qualities of these materials was an experience.
I had heard of most of the materials (bio-plastics, kombucha leather, recycled fabrics), and we experimented with many of them in the Materials Lab I co-taught with Jenna Wolf at CSW (https://sites.google.com/csw.org/labrary/studio-ideas/materials-lab-csw and also here: https://www.instagram.com/csw_art/), but it was satisfying to see them used in a completed context, and also to see how the students used the materials as a base to develop their own aesthetics.
This outpouring of investigation, combined with some other things I have seen in the Netherlands in the past (and hope to see again), I can’t help but think of having a space where this kind of cross-pollination can happen, where design as problem solving can be part of a fertile environment and a launching pad to new explorations. Some of the students collaborated with such a space, the Textiel Lab https://www.textiellab.nl/en/ in Tilburg (think Lowell of the Netherlands, only they made damask and wool), a lab full of old analog technology (including a bicycle powered loom) and new digital technology where artists and designers can use the right tool for the job.
Here are some photographs of the student work. Some of my favorites were the faded surface prints, the used-stocking re-woven and also laser cut, the search for the ultimate black, and the super fuzzy thing (which should surprise no one who knows me).
This work is by student Lolita Kamper
https://issuu.com/lolitakamper/docs/portfolio_lolita
Laser etched recycled stockings.
The fuzzy fur, which I can't remember what it was made from other than not-fur. Work by Goussey Jordy http://www.jordygoussey.be
I love the idea of radical mending...both for aesthetic and anti-capitalistic reasons. (see future blog post on Joanna van der Zanden and her Repair Manifesto)
Bioplastics, natural dying, food based materials, the search for the ultimate black, incorporating objects from nature, and labelling and display...oh my! Love the books and the hanging samples, as presentation matters.
Comments