GAIA - Distributed Design Platform

Useful information

Team members: BELA ROFE
Country: Netherlands
Keywords: eco-feminism art biofabrication ecology philosophy material futures interconnection interdependence living systems ethereal ecosystem

Short Description

Interwoven tapestry of algae + female human hair, functioning as an art installation + exhibition.

Detailed Description

GAIA harnesses art as a vehicle to raise awareness, and textile as a canvas to educate about the connections between living systems. By fusing materials from the underworld (algae) with materials from the topside world (female human hair), GAIA visually reminds us that we are a thread to a much larger interdependent web.
The sea resembles a woman- gracious, wild, unpredictable, and the essential molecule for life on Earth. GAIA represents this powerful yet unexplored connection between women and the sea which has existed for centuries; from seaweed collecting culture in the Victorian Era, to today where women are at the forefront of the kelp farming industry in all corners of the world.
GAIA aims to raise awareness about the crucial role that women have, and will continue to play in revealing connections between living systems. Through bio-fabrication techniques that reweave lost heritage and female craftsmanship, GAIA pushes this creative narrative into a new communicative format.

Project Details

Does your design take social and cultural challenges and human wellbeing into consideration?: Through bio-fabrication techniques GAIA reweaves lost heritage and female craftsmanship. A focus on these areas is integral to reshaping fashion from an exclusive, destructive industry to a collaborative creative field.

Does your design support sustainable production, embodying circular or regenerative design practices?: Through using materials that are regenerative and restorative by design, GAIA educates her audience about circular fabrication. Materials consist of only of algae species, female human hair, and algae yarn. The artwork is entirely biodegradable, responsive to conditions of its environment, and ephemeral by nature.

Does your design use principles of distribution and open source?

Distribution: The project process and development of GAIA is documented, archived, and available for all online. Recorded bio-fabrication workshops will be available soon.

Reproducible: Circular through production and consumption- materials can be reused and recycled to reduce waste.

Valuable: Principles of the Circular Economy are woven through GAIA- material waste= food for new designs, resilience through diversity (through showcasing strength in bonds between human hair and algae), the impact of the project is to educate about the intelligence of both human hair and algae as future materials we must be harnessing in the textiles industry.

Design Sensitive: GAIA's value is transmitted through aesthetic and presentation. The design is rooted in material innovation and systems thinking.

Does your design promote awareness of responsible design and consumption?: Our biosphere is in a danger zone. GAIA is a design response to this emergency. GAIA is a future focused, aesthetically engaging project that aims to challenge the current outdated linear thinking and design systems. GAIA harnesses art as a vehicle to raise awareness, and textile as a canvas to educate about the unparalleled role that women will continue to play in revealing connections between living systems. By fusing human and nature into one thread, GAIA visually reminds us that we are a thread to a much larger interdependent web.