Our planet is in a very fragile and vulnerable state as of now and I as a responsible design thinker and creative change maker, want to contribute my best to lessen and eliminate if possible, the hazards of inconsiderate and harmful textile practices. I want to reuse, recycle and repurpose Achada and make my own individual contribution to conscious living through better design practices.
I want to BE the change in the change I want.
This project was my graduation project at Central Saint Martins where I pursued my Masters in 'MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries'. It also served as an extension to my final project that I undertook during my BA in 2017.
My research project was on Textile Repurposing. Re-purposing is the reclaiming of waste materials into new or reusable materials. I chose to re-use, a pre-consumer textile waste called ‘Achada’ in India. It is a muslin backing cloth used as padding on tables for hand block printing textiles.
The thought of working with Achada was like a seed in my mind and I needed ground for it to grow. The idea had a lot of room for experimentation & hence, I came up with a few interesting design concepts & presentations which serve as future purposes of Achada.
A sketch of my vision of ‘Achada’ for the Future
From Left To Right: Fabric with strips measurement marking, shredded strips bunch & braided rope
From Left To Right: Artisan braiding the ‘Achada’ strips into a rope form, braided rope used for stitching & mat construction
From Left To Right: Mat construction halfway (stitched from the backside), front view of stitched mat & ready sample swatch of the mat
Braided Mat or Rug Prototype (From Left To Right: 3 strips per set (total 3 sets) are braided together for a thick effect. 2 strips per set (total 3 sets) are braided together for a thinner finer effect)
“Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye”- Dorothy Parker. This came true as I collaborated with Rachna Garodia. An artist & weaver, she weaved a sample that utilizes waste, yarns and materials with Achada and produced an artwork that is a fusion of creativity and respects environment.
