Crushing The Rocks

This project is now archived and was part of DDW24

This project is part of
The Symbiocene Forest - Coexistence

Petra Vicianova

Crushing The Rocks explores the possibility of natural textile dyeing and printing using local rocks and minerals. The project invites us to think about textile material and its properties in the context of a regenerative future and encourages us to unfold the unknown.

WHY?

Project Crushing The Rocks represents the practical experimentation of the doctoral design research proposing the change in the societal approach towards textiles. While overproduction and overconsumption of textiles are widely recognized for their negative environmental and social impacts, the shift toward a circular economy focuses primarily on recycling. However, recycling doesn't address the root problem of overconsumption. The undervaluation of textile material, often due to a lack of understanding of their production, leads to waste - and many times over minor imperfections or color changes. A reassessment of the perception of textiles is essential for future development, considering their full value beyond just the material.

ROCKS AND MINERALS

The exhibited project represents an ongoing material and technological investigation of natural textile dyeing and printing, utilizing mineral pigments sourced from diverse rocks and minerals combined with a protein-rich or alternative binder. These rocks are primarily found in the local environment, defining the color result by their geological origin. The pigments extracted from the rocks are mixed with a binder obtained mainly from soybeans and chitosan. This binder ensures the transfer and fixation of the pigments onto the fabric while creating more saturated shades, not only on cellulose and animal fibers but also on polyester. This material research not only explores a potential solution of natural textile dyeing with mineral pigments but also seeks to deepen our understanding of the changeable and unpredictable properties of textile materials.

NO EXPECTATIONS

This project is about learning to have no expectations while working with new materials, it is about “crushing” the linear system that can't longer exist in the world facing the social, environmental, and cultural crises, it is about reflecting on the present and designing for the future, it is about listening to the Earth. Crushing the Rocks narrates the story of local, ever-changing resources, framed within a global context.