Hasta La Ideas

The many shades of Brazil’s more sustainable cotton movement

While most think of caipirinhas and Havianas when it comes to Brazil, you might not know that the country leads the environmental movement in several areas. Already home to a nation of flex-fuel cars and Osklen’s fish-skin shoes, a new fashion brand, Natural Cotton Color, has made their focus using the spectrum of cotton colors that exist naturally. If, like me, you thought cotton only came in white, you’ll be surprised to find out that there are 40 different natural colors of cotton.

Original varieties come in a range of colors: mocha, tan, gray, brown, black, mahogany, red, pink, blue, green, cream and white. Colored cotton has become obscure because shorter fiber lengths make it unsuitable for industrial milling, but it’s in fact more robust and sustainable than commercial white cotton, which requires an enormous amount of pesticides to keep it viable.

The cotton for Natural Cotton Color was developed with the support of the Brazilian Agro company. It eliminates the need for chemical dyes and uses 70% less water than conventional production. Grown on small farms to support local agriculture, the collection also uses accessories and needlework produced by local artisans from the poorer Northeast area of Brazil. Local prisoners also provide product for the collections; for every three days worked, their sentences are reduced by one day.

Retailers in Japan, Spain and France, as well as the U.K., stock the collections.

Industrial design graduate Florian Schmid made these stools by folding fabric that’s impregnated with cement then drenching it in water. 

Called Stitching Concrete, the stools are made from a material called Concrete Canvas, which Dezeen featured in 2009.

It consists of cement layered between fabric and a PVC backing. Once soaked it can be manipulated for a few hours before hardening.

Schmid folds the Concrete Canvas and stitches the edges together with brightly coloured thread, then supports it on a wooden mould while it’s drenched in water and allowed to harden.

The finished stools retain the soft appearance of folded fabric but are fireproof, waterproof and strong enough to sit on.

Schmid developed the project while studying at the Hochschule München in Germany.

Read more about Concrete Canvas, including applications for disaster relief, in our earlier story.

The following information is from Florian Schmid:

Stitching Concrete

“Stitching Concrete” is inspired by the contrasts of the Material Concrete Canvas.

Once brought in the final shape, you just have to water the material and within 24 hours it will harden out. It combines the warm softness of the cloth and the stability of the cold concrete.

The project plays with a visual delusion that actually an 8mm thickness of cloth can not give the strength to sit on.

After some first test how to handle the material I tried to approach through different channels like patterns, stitchings, and all kinds of origami. For the final mock-ups thin foam rubber simulated the abilities of the real material as best.

A special build wooden rack used as mould gives hold to the material during the watering and drying process. After the stool is harden out it can be removed.

The mould is always the same and adjustable to the different heights, lengths and width of the objects.

The Stools are for indoor and outdoor use, caused by the material’s durability against UV, fire proofed, water resistant and more.

See also:

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Concrete Chair by Tejo Remy & René Veenhuizen	Concrete Things by Komplot for Nola	FALT.series by Tim Mackerodt

South African design reconceived in a native’s debut furniture line

For a country whose design aesthetic regularly gets lumped in with Kente cloth-swathed visions of Africa, furniture designer Natalie du Toit’s work boldly redefines South African style. Applying her native land’s strong sense of color and pattern to finely-crafted wood and metal furniture, a process of refining humble materials, du Toit’s designs create a striking effect without overpowering a room. While this deft touch was honed during her successful stint as Creative Director of Fundi Light & Living, du Toit founded Indigi Designs as a way to experiment.

“The Indigi Designs collection encompasses a fusion of contemporary design, local references and skilled craftsmanship,” du Toit explains. “All products are designed and handmade in South Africa with a great attention to quality and a respect for natural materials.” Her top-to-bottom sensibility shows in wire baskets that look just as beautifully formed when viewed from above, and floor lamps composed of stacked wooden balls that reflect the rhythm of South African jazz.

Often du Toit is at her best when she’s most subtle. A lampshade lined with traditional South African shweshwe fabric emits a warm pink glow through perfectly-spaced pleating for a slightly mesmerizing effect. (It was this piece that first caught my eye when I came across du Toit’s furniture at the Design Indaba expo.) Like the entirety of the collection, the designer’s deep respect for the nature of her material, in this case the fabric’s ability to transmit color and light, makes for furnishings infused with whimsy and delight.

This process-oriented approach is in fact core to Indigi. “Being in the factory environment is incredibly inspiring for me, and where I get my best ideas,” du Toit says, going to describe how there she, “can design around the material and process rather than providing a completed sketch to a factory to simply manufacture. It is fundamental for me to be involved with the factory during product development phase as the design evolves in the process and issues can be eliminated immediately.”

With a host of collaborative work in progress, du Toit’s website is still under construction. For contact information and more on the debut collection, check out the Indigi Designs Facebook page.

This exhibition designed by Gitta Gschwendtner for London’s Somerset House displayed fashion drawings on gauze-covered boxes.

Designed to showcase work by 20th century illustrator René Gruau for fashion brand Dior, the exhibition opened with a collage of posters featuring Gruau’s work, incased in a eight-metre box with a timber frame and coloured gauze covering.

Similar structures were used to hang works in the exhibition itself, while smaller stacked boxes spelled out the exhibition name.

Grey netting was used to cover a vaulted alcove housing a selection of Dior Haute Couture dresses.

The exhibition, called Dior Illustrated: Rene Gruau and the Line of Beauty, took place 10 Nov 2010 to 9 Jan 2011.

See also: Drawing fashion at the Design Museum by Carmody Groarke

More about Gitta Gschwendtner on Dezeen »
More exhibitions on Dezeen »

The information that follows is from Gschwendtner:

‘Dior Illustrated: Rene Gruau and the Line of Beauty’ at Somerset House

‘Dior Illustrated’ celebrates the renowned illustrator René Gruau, who created some of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. This exciting exhibition showcases groundbreaking artworks including original illustrations for Christian Dior Perfumes, vintage perfume bottles, sketches and magazines, as well as a selection of Dior Haute Couture dresses.

The challenge for the exhibition design was to create a spatially stunning environment for the predominantly two-dimensional works. Furthermore, the Embankment Gallery with its vaulted ceilings and stone coloured render required a design that complements its unique architecture.

Gitta Gschwendtner’s design solution creates a stunning installation of timber frame boxes covered in coloured gauze. These light three-dimensional structures form the main exhibition build for the hanging of the prints and object display.

On entering the exhibition the visitor encounters an 8 meters long gauze box containing a collage of Dior advertisements. This exhibit introduces Rene Gruau’s prolific work prior to seeing the original illustrations that form the basis for the advertisement prints upstairs.

Further along a large-scale installation of red gauze boxes showcases the exhibition title while introducing the concept of the transparent exhibition structures to the visitor.

In the main gallery gauze boxes are staggered in the space loosely following the shape of the vaulted ceiling. The transparent gauze creates layers of colour in the space, with each section custom dyed in a different shade to compliment the work. The precious couture dresses are dramatically lit behind a screen of grey gauze, protecting them from visitors touch and giving them an ethereal quality.

Exhibition Design: Gitta Gschwendtner
Graphic Design: Studio Frith
Photography: Sorted

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Drawing Fashion at The Design Museum by Carmody Groarke	Drawer Kitchen by Gitta Gschwendtner	Lik+Neon by Gitta Gschwendtner