The textile garden was established in collaboration with Brynna Justice and Sushmita Charlu at Aalto University. It cultivates fibre and dye plants for natural textile crafts while restoring the garden ecosystem through regenerative practices. The project promotes sustainable material research, community-based making, and knowledge sharing. Through this initiative, the goal is to relocalise materials and increase knowledge of textile plants growing in the Finnish climate. Experimenting with the grown fibre and dye plants, we are creating a natural dye and fibre catalogue as an open-source document for students, faculty, and other community members in Otaniemi.
The aim is to bring the communal spirit of craft to the Test Site while contributing to sustainable research on alternatives to industrial textile production. To build the project holistically, the team will integrate the textile garden with regenerative gardening practices, ensuring the long-term use and yield of the garden.
Working with the garden gave me the opportunity to not only work outside with plants but also delve deeper into the different steps necessary to produce Fashion and Textiles — a side to the industry that the designer is normally not really involved in. In order to share the knowledge and collaborative spirit of the project we hosted a series of workshops on botanical dyeing and printing. In the future we will also cover workshops around fibre processing and spinning.
Working with the garden gave me the opportunity to not only work outside with plants but also delve deeper into the different steps necessary to produce Fashion and Textiles — a side to the industry that the designer is normally not really involved in. In order to share the knowledge and collaborative spirit of the project we hosted a series of workshops on botanical dyeing and printing. In the future we will also cover workshops around fibre processing and spinning.
The project was supported and made possible by the Sustainability Action Booster.
