Textifood: food for clothing

The Milan 2015 exposition, which has been running for the last six months, has seen 140 countries showcasing its most innovative and effective technologies that could provide solutions to one of the biggest global problems – guaranteeing everyone healthy, safe and sufficient food without harming the balance of the planet.

But it wasn’t the solution to this problem that really caught the attention of so many people.  And it wasn’t just one problem that was solved but two.

Fashion, as with all industry, has a responsibility to give back what it takes. And what does the industry take most of? Natural fibres – used to create the clothing we wear. With companies now pouring money into research and development schemes, it seems we have found a solution – clothes made from food.

This may sound like something only Lady Gaga could pull off, but this is slightly more innovative than the infamous meat dress. Within the expo, Pavilion France together with Lille Europe put on the incredibly successful exhibition entitled Textifood, with the objective to demonstrate the different possibilities of creating textiles from the food waste industry.

Roughly one third (approximately 1.3bn tonnes) of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets wasted. And with it taking approximately 7,000L of water to produce a single pair of jeans and 2,700L to produce one shirt, not to mention the long process of dying the fibres, this innovative way of creating textiles could be the answer to two major sustainability problems the world has.

Lille3000, a cultural programme within the city of Lille, sought out designers and stylists to produce designs using fibres that have been harvested in part or solely from food residues. Such tasty fibres included orange, lemon, pineapple, banana, coconut, nettles, algae, mushroom, coffee, rice, soya, maize, beet, wine, beer, fish and shellfish.

“These textile fibres come from all continents,” said a Lille3000 spokesperson. “They are studied by researchers around the world to meet the needs of an increasingly responsible world.”

Designers such as Em Riem and Ditta Sandico created dresses made from banana silk fibre. The produced fabric has a silky finish, is flexible and waterproof, and is already in use in Japan, Nepal and the Philippines.

Other designers such as Christine Phung and Moragne Baroghel-Crucq collaborated to create an organic dress made from metal thread, flax yarns and fish collagen. While eco clothing brand, L’Herbe Rouge, made clothing created entirely from coffee – weaved, dyed and finished in a coffee bath.

This kind of technology is still in the early stages of development but it does give us a hopeful insight into the types of alternative textiles available. Sustainability in many industries through collaboration is now a reality and effectively provides us with many solutions to the world’s problems. The future suddenly looks (and tastes) a little bit better now.

TEXTIFOOD: COUTURE FROM WASTE

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And what if what we’re wasting could turn into clothing? That’s the big question between France’s Pavilion and Lille Europe at Milan World Expo.

The exhibition called Textifood follows the line of formers exhibitions of the category Futurotextiles developed since 2006, presenting fibers derived by vegetal species and and of course from animals.
To show the new developed fibers in the right way, lille3000, cultural program promoted by the city of Lille, launched the challenge to designers and stylist aware of the sustainable growth.

The result? New textiles with an incredible variety, beautiful and couture dresses derived of garbage waste, making us reflecting on how our culture is pollutant.

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Among the incredible pieces we highlight the dresses from Em Riem and Ditta Sandico made by banana silk; Christine Phung and Morgane Baroghel-Crucq created a dress with organic volumes from metal strings, flaxseed and fish collagen fibers; Herbe Rouge took on the challenge by creating a garment made entirely from coffee; Geneviève Levivier and A + Z Design Studio experimented with new non-woven materials based on eggshell and on the PLA of corn and beet; Orange Fiber Research Office, based in Catania, Sicily, worked on the development of a textile from orange peels.

We have our future in our hands so be aware of what you’re wasting.

On Spotlight: Filipino Design Masterpieces at New York City

Alongside the Philippine Gold exhibition at the Asia Society Museum in New York, top Filipino designers showcase the country’s rich cultural heritage through world-class craftsmanship.

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Filipino culture, craftsmanship, and artistry are on spotlight spotlight this September until January 2016 at the Asia Society Museum New York as Filipino designers showcase their exclusive collections alongside the Philippine Gold exhibition. Entitled “Filipino Design Now,” the exhibition provides an opportunity to experience the rich culture and heritage of the country. This momentous collaboration of top Filipino designers promote appreciation of and inspiring pride in Filipino design, material, and craftsmanship.

Co-conceptualised by Asia Society and Filipino jewellery designer Federico de Vera, the designer showcase features uniquely Filipino creations like home textiles, jewellery, home accents, apparel, accessories, among others. Guests would be able to see some items by Jewelmer Joaillerie as well as works of Maricris Brias, Lenora Cabili, Federico de Vera, Ian Giron, Natalya Lagdameo, Josie Natori, Tina Ocampo, Wynn Wynn Ong, Anne Marie Saguil, Ditta Sandico, Rafe Totengco, Bea Valdes, and Al Valenciano.
 

Asia Society presents Filipino Design Now: Filipino heritage through the eyes of celebrated designers

Asia Society presents Filipino Design Now, a special showcase of top Filipino designers. This special display coincides with Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms, an exhibition of over 100 spectacular works of gold from the 10th to 13th century, highlighting the creativity, prosperity and cultural connections of the precolonial period.

Asia Society celebrates the artistic visions of top Filipino designers in this exclusive showcase conceived by Filipino jewelry designer Federico De Vera. An arbiter of taste, De Vera is a gallery owner of antique objects, curios, and jewelry, and more recently, the author of De Vera Objects andDe Vera Jewelry.

Presented in Asia Society’s lobby, the showcase features exclusive collections by fourteen renowned Filipino designers who have been invited to create products inspired by their interpretation of Philippine culture. Filipino Design Now provides an opportunity to experience the rich culture and heritage of the Philippines, promoting appreciation of and inspiring pride in Filipino design, material and craftsmanship. Signature pieces from these talented designer’s collections have been selected for inclusion in the display, with the balance of the collections featured for sale at AsiaStore and online at AsiaStore.org.

Featured designers include:

– Maricris Brias, home textiles. Brias and her local artisans are committed to reviving the native artistry of Mindanao’s ethnic tribes, manufacturing textiles and home accents created from local abaca and banana fiber, handwoven exclusively by T’boli and Mandaya natives.

– Lenora Cabili, fashion. Cabili’s designs are inspired by tradition, mixing the past with present, creating unique garments that incorporate ancient techniques of weaving, embroidery and bead work from indigenous Filipino groups.

– Federico de Vera, jewelry. De Vera strives to find new lives for old things that have been discarded, and reinterprets them from a different point of view. Today his pieces are comprised of antique elements, often simultaneously organic and baroque, each unique and one of a kind.

– Ian Giron, home accents. Giron creates home accents using coconut shell as his base and combining traditional methods of sanding and bleaching before applying gold leaf to achieve color and patina, a process that has been widely used in Asia for thousands of years.

– Jewelmer, jewelry. Golden South Sea pearls are the centerpieces of the brand. Through a highly selective process, these elusive gems inspire artisans to create finely crafted jewelry to fulfill Jewelmer’s celebration of beauty in harmonious symmetry with nature.

– Josie Natori, jewelry. Natori’s iconic, global brand, the House of Natori celebrates Asian aesthetics with the spirit of Natori’s adopted home in America, effortlessly melding the visual best of both the East and the West.

– Tina Ocampo, evening bags. Ocampo’s luxury brand Celestina,is comprised of a collection of evening bags, handcrafted by Filipino artisans, practicing age-old techniques and using exotic materials that can only be found in the Philippines.

– Ditta Sandico, fashion. Sandico transforms indigenous fibers, such as banana, pineapple and abacca into a fashion art form, designing wraps that follow the movements of the body.

– Wynn Wynn Ong, jewelry. Favoring stones in their organic, untouched states and incorporating materials not often associated with jewelry, Ong combines unexpected elements into her meticulously hand crafted jewelry designs.

– Anne Saguil, fashion. Saguil combines her passion for craftsmanship and fashion, designing clothes, handbags and accessories using hand embroidered techniques and indigenous handwoven materials.

– Rafe Totengco, minaudières. Totengco’s signature minaudière evening bags, featuring indigenous Filipino materials, blend uptown sophistication with a downtown edge.

– Bea Valdes, jewelry & accessories. Valdes takes inspiration from various cultures, sourcing materials, patterns and ideas from around the world for her high-end accessories while continuing to shine a light on the Philippines as a design hub as she supports local artisans and their craftsmanship.

– Natalya Lagdameo, novelty textiles. Drawing on work as an interior designer and inspired by heirlooms and artifacts from around the archipelago, Lagdameo creates textile designs utilizing local Filipino materials.

Filipino Design Now is supported by FedEx Express.

Grasse

The Healing Garden.  Rosessences!

 During my last journey, I felt the need to experience being on my own and to contemplate on what my life was leading me to. I have visited Francois and Helena's farm in Grasse, in the South of France a few times before, but this time I knew it would be different. Lo and behold! My friends have transformed their eco-farm into a beautiful rose garden, complete with a distilling plant to extract the oils from the delicate petals of the flowers.

It was harvest time for the farm. So I jumped right in, and helped out in plucking roses from the bushes.  Well, it was quite an experience not knowing exactly what I would get myself into. Back bent and my hands full, I managed to pluck the flowers everyday for several days. I allowed the images to speak to me and this is how it went.

At that time, I was nursing a heavy heart. As the days passed, I noticed how immersing myself with the beauty of nature and the rose essences have opened my heart and allowed me to feel more joy and happiness in my life. For a while there, I thought I was simply in denial of my feelings. But as the days grew longer, I knew then that my heart was ready to love my innermost self and accept the life I now had to live.

The time in the farm went by slowly. I guess it was all I needed to mend the brokenness. I soon realized that after going through the major battles of my life, I felt an ocean of love was pouring through me like gentle waves on a warm sunny day.

With this, I have the deepest gratitude to the Lord for allowing me the freedom to get back to myself and to my life’s journey. Sometimes, we need the quiet moments like these to be away in silent contemplation and just be in tune with our Almighty Father, either back in nature or alone to ourselves.

"Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

 is too small for you."

-David Whyte

Sustainable Fashion Designers Spotlight: Ditta and Abaća (banana fiber) silk

It's Banana Week here at The Future King & Queen, so we are exploring and celebrating all the amazing things that are made from Banana Fiber - because it's a Future Fabric with a lot of good qualities, as we discovered in our earlier post explaining what it is, and why it has so much potential as an eco-friendly fabric.

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DITA SANDICO ONG

All of these gorgeous items in this post are made by Ditta, an accessories label based in the Philippines, which is the creative outlet for Dita Sandico Ong.

As a fashion designer with almost 30 years experience, Dita Sandico Ong was one of the earlier designers working with alternative fabrics.

She designs wraps & soft bags made from Abaća fibre, which accentuates the beautiful lustre of the fabric. It's breathable and therefore perfect for the tropical conditions of the Philippines, where the Abaća fabric comes from.

ABAĆA FIBER IS MADE FROM BANANAS?

Abaća is a species of banana native to the Philippines. The fruit is not edible, but the stems are made into multiple items. The inner part of the stem yields the silkiest fibres, which are woven into the beautiful fabrics used by Ditta for their wraps.

Handbags are made from both the silky fabric and the thicker woven Abaća leaves.

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-savers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”

— CECIL BEATO

Bale Mi

Fernandina "Ditta" Sandico, stilista filippina all’Expo 2015

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Milano – 12 maggio 2015 - Le Filippine non partecipano a EXPO 2015 a Milano, ma questo non impedisce ai filippini di esserci con il loro talento e la loro creatività. 
 È il caso della stilista Fernandina “Ditta” Sandico Ong, invitata all’esposizione da una ditta che espone nel padiglione francese. Così ora può promuovere le sue creazioni in fibra di banana, piña e abaca. 
 

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All'inizio non ci credeva. “Sono cose che non accadono così, è davvero un privilegio essere stata invitata alla mostra al Padiglione francese",  ha detto Ong ad Akoaypilipino.eu. Poi però si è messa al lavoro e non si è fatta sfuggire questa occasione. 
 
Il linea con il tema di Expo 2015,  "Nutrire il Pianeta, energia per la vita", nel padiglione francese il tema è anche "Textifood", fusione tra tessuti e cibo. Proprio come nelle creazioni di “Ditta”, che sfruttano materie prime naturali e spesso commestibili.
 
Ong sottolinea, in particolare, l’importanza dell’abaca. “È una delle fibre più resistenti del mondo e per questo i filippini, che ne producono l’85% di quella presente sul mercato, devono esserne orgogliosi. Penso che sarà la fibra del futuro”.
 

Filipino designer’s local weaves featured in Amsterdam museum

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Filipina fashion designer Ditta Sandico is a featured artist of the Tassen Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Sandico’s collection of handbags is on display at the museum from Nov. 4 to Jan. 25, 2015. The Tassen Museum houses the world’s foremost collection of bags.

The Embassy of the Philippines in The Hague, in cooperation with the Philippine Honorary Consul General in Amsterdam, together with the Tassen Museum, organized the exhibit opening on Nov. 3. The mini fashion show had models carrying samples of Sandico’s products and performing a traditional ceremonial dance clad in her famed wraps.

Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands Jaime Victor B. Ledda described Sandico’s designs and products as clear illustrations of the marriage between concept, innovation and the use of indigenous materials. He added that what was truly groundbreaking was how plant fibers can be converted into an array of bags, wraps and clothing accessories. “But that is what Ditta has done and continues to do: innovate in the world of fashion,” Ledda said.

For years Sandico has embraced an ecologically friendly design and production process. She has continued to make use of and transform natural plant fibers such as banana and abaca—banaca—into fashion art forms. The Sandico design is considered both innovative and timeless and is noted for its elegance.

Her advocacy on the use of local materials has helped elevate natural plant fibers and inspired an appreciation for the use of these materials in the fashion industry. This has generated the needed support for the weaving industry in the Philippines, where a considerable number of operations are located in the provinces.