Cyber fashion, edible fashion, sustainable fashion - or a hybrid of all. There are many trends suggesting ideas about the futures of fashion. A call for a symbiosis between fashion and nature is one of them, for example.
Jemma Battaglia explores this in her speculative design project, Pollutus Planta. The project incorporates wearable technology, animatronics, hand craft, performance, film, music, and 3D design, with the aim of provoking the viewer into thinking about the air pollution around them.
Rasa Weber from Blond and Bieber sees in Algae Futures another potential – a bio-material for the future of the textile industry to be exact. Microalgae are amongst the oldest and most versatile species of our ecosystem. However, many people have only got to know the material when swimming in a lake or perhaps on their plate. The designers of Studio Blond & Bieber, Essi Glomb and Rasa Weber, shine a light on the unexplored qualities of a material, which is still regarded as „weeds“ in Europe. Algaemy is a design-laboratory investigating the potential of microalgae as pigment for textile printing. The cells can be transformed into a CO2-neutral pigment for the fashion industry.
This event is focused on exploring where fashion is today and what role it plays in our future, to analyse and critique the current fashion system and consider an alternative range of cultural, technological and design practices. We want to shed light on this industry by bringing together actors who are currently busy creating the futures of fashion and attempt to re-imagine a new system. Join the conversation!
Who should attend?
– Suitable for any fashion/design industry enthusiast or professional interested in exploring previously unimagined ways creating and using design as a tool for change, which places design in symbiosis with nature.
– No background in futures/foresight or participation required.
More details about the speakers below.
Access to the zoom conference:
Date: 16.03.2022
Digital doors open at 18:25 CET.
Begin is at 18:30.
As part of providing a safe experience you need to RSVP with a valid MeetUp account. On the day of the event we will send an email with the zoom link. Please join the event with a valid zoom account and your full name. In case we need to launch a new event due to zoom bombing or other technical issues it would be really helpful if you could provide your email address to avoid the new link being sent to your spam box.
The event will be held in English. By joining the event, participants give their consent that we may use the recording for potential social media purposes. The event is limited to 100 participants.
Jemma Battaglia has an extensive fashion background focused on design. She's a specialist in alternative fashion practice aligned with the concept of Futuring and involved in a number of Futuring fashion projects, which will be exhibited in London later this year. Jemma is a designer at Circular fashion start-up focussing on creating garments that are ‘Made to be Re-made’, member of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion and co-founder of an Art Collective focused on Speculative/ Critical design to challenge the status quo of what fashion is, in today’s society.
Studio Blond and Bieber I Rasa Weber
Essi Johanna Glomb and Rasa Weber are Studio Blond & Bieber, a Berlin-based design studio. Blond & Bieber is a cooperation which unites textile- and product design. By means of conceptual thinking, material experimentation and a strong visual approach the designers search for subtile expressions of contemporary materials and processes. Textile is used as the embodiment of a versatile material which can be seen as a key to their storytelling. The research on biomaterials such as algae reimagine new forms of utilization of unconventional recycling material.
Rasa Weber is a designer and researcher based between Berlin and Zürich, and one of the studio founders. She is currently a research associate at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and pursues a practice-based PhD in design, associated to the Matters of Activity Cluster of Excellence.
More information and registration here: https://www.meetup.com/Speculative-Futures-Berlin/events/284246180/
Speculative Futures Berlin is initiated by Ellery Studio www.ellerystudio.com