MID x Waag: REFLOW pilot - TEXTILE (LIFE)CYCLING
Master Industrial Design (MID) participated in a pilot activity of the European research project REFLOW through a collaboration with Waag Society's TextileLab Amsterdam.
REFLOW PILOT ACTIVITY
Rethinking the lifecycle of textiles with citizens and stakeholders.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Textiles is a critical and polluting industry since the Industrial Revolution – each year, 14,000 tonnes of textiles are thrown away in Amsterdam only. The Amsterdam Pilot will increase the recycling percentage of home textiles, through redesigning diverse methods for collection with citizens, while providing feedstock for the recycling industries.
Master Industrial Design: Redesigning the Textile Industry
Under the guidance of Cecilia Raspanti and Ista Boszhard, design researcher Yassine Salihine and designer Lenneke Langenhuijsen and Brecht Duijf (Buro Belen), 8 MID students worked on design projects focusing on the unethical and environmental unfriendly realities of the current textile and clothing industry.
Design research process
During design research, they explored and mapped the systems and chains at work in the industry. They zoomed in on the level of the fiber and they zoomed out on the economic, cultural and societal meaning of its fabrication process. They developed disruptive approaches and new materials, searching for 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, materialising new directions perspectives for the textile industry.
