Craft Sustainability by Sana T Aziz Patchwork

 Patchwork and quilting done by Pakistani crafts women with textile waste materials

I come from Pakistan, a country rich in textiles and craft. For my project I have chosen to work with highly skilled crafts people, to help them sustain their craft and and retain employment. Therefore Design for ethical production is one of the TEDs Ten that I am using in this project. Alongside this I have also used Design to minimize waste and upcycling/recycling in my work. The crafts people that I am working with are patching together pieces of textiles that are waste materials from the fashion and textile industries. I hope to use these so they are not sent to landfills and are in fact put to better use by creating beautiful pieces of textiles for a fashion collection. Not only do I hope to ensure employment for these crafts people but also to explain to them the importance of using waste materials for an eco friendly collection.

 Recycling/upcycling was my chosen topic and so I may sound biased, but this was one of my favourite sessions. I felt TEDs sessions were a great idea, and I found Becky Earlys presentation on upcycling in particular to be brilliant. I felt encouraged to critically analyze and to question certain concepts. I was very inspired by some of the processes Becky talked about, and although a lot of them did not work for my project I did try some out. She explained how important it is to think of the long term affects of a garment and to make sure recycling is easier in the future by putting polyester fabrics together and pure ones together. That is something I hope to keep in my mind while designing my collection.

 I very much enjoyed the TED sessions and although I am only using two of them in my current project I hope to include others in my work in the future.

sanatdesigns@gmail.com