The textile industry is one of the most polluting and exploitative industries worldwide. What role can designers and design academies have in changing the direction of the industry? Can they design for meaningful circular business models where reuse and recycling are key? Hear more about the role of material research, innovation and education in rethinking the textile industry and discover the projects of KABK Master Industrial Design students.
Within the Reflow programme, under the guidance of Cecilia Raspanti en Ista Boszhard, design researcher Yassine Salihine and designer Lenneke Langenhuijsen and Brecht Duijf (Buro Belen) worked with MID students on design projects focussing on the unethical and environmental unfriendly realities of the current textile and clothing industry.
During a design research they explored and mapped the systems and chains at work in the industry. They zoomed in on the level of the fibre and they zoomed out on the economical, cultural and societal meaning of its fabrication process. They developed disruptive approaches and new materials, searching alternative models for production and business.
Design research dealing with material culture was at the core of the project: the connection of humans to material objects and the role these objects and their manufacturing play socially, culturally, economically and ecologically. The resulting designs are speculative and innovative, materializing new directions perspectives for the textile industry.
At the heart of the evening are the presentations of the MID students, which will showcase their findings and results of their research through the Reflow program, a collaboration between the Master Industrial Design – KABK and TextileLab Amsterdam. In a panel discussion/talk with Maaike Roozenburg (Head Of Department Master Industrial Design at KABK), Loes Bogers (associate professor Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) and Sil Lugtmeijer (entrepreneur and founder Regenerative Thinking Academy) the projects will be placed in a broader context of design research, innovation in the textile industry and design education.
