Ciszak Dalmas are invited to coordinate one of the summer design workshops at the Domaine de Boisbuchet from June 19th to 25th 2011. Click here for registration!
The Domaine de Boisbuchet is an idyllic country estate located in the Southwest of France between the Poitou-Charentes and Limousin regions. In cooperation with the Centre Georges Pompidou and Vitra Design Museum, a series of workshops are offered in the summer months under the direction of internationally recognised artists, designers and architects.
Every day in the Indian region of Tamil Nadu a unique handmade two meters long fabric is designed and produced by localartisans: the Lungi. The IOU Project questions about the sustainability and uniqueness of this activity encouraging artisans and communities to continue their age‐old crafts...
The aim of the “INVOLVED DESIGN” workshop is to explore innovative solutions to a problem faced by local craftsmen who produce the Lungi: during the rainy seasons their workplace gets flooded and they cannot work for weeks. The objective is to develop DIY solutions to ensure these local artisans do not loose work days and therefore any income during the rainy season. All proposals will consider local raw materials and simple assembling techniques to make the results as feasible as possible.
All final results will be evaluated by the IOU project commission with the willingness to implement and prototype the best proposal directly in one of the weaver workshop in Madras, India.
The workshop DNA derives from the belief that changes are possible with relatively small design actions. From this perspective designers Ciszak Dalmas have been working on design series “La Clinica”, a collection of hand crafted furniture produced by local artisans in Madrid. It is based on natural materials and low‐tech production processes. “La Clinica” was born as a research project exploring new configurations of ready‐made objects or to shape new concepts and uses.
What it is a Lungi?
The Lungi, also known as Sarong , is a traditional garment worn around the waist mainly in India. It is particularly popular in regions where the heat and humidity create an unpleasant climate for trousers. The genius of this garment is in its simplicity. Rectangles that wrap the body in a variety of ways, Lungis defy changes in size and body shape. This simplicity gives rise to a spectacular variety in textile design, inviting infinite elaboration of color and pattern, invented by the weavers using whatever threads they have available. It is endlessly adaptable and often reused once it is too threadbare to be worn as a Lungi any longer. Across India, old Lungis find new lives as pillows, pouches, ropes, lightweight blankets, hammocks for babies and more.
Letter from Kavita Parmar, founder of the IOU Project.
“I started The IOU Project as I felt a need to redesign the distribution chain that in my experience was completely unfair to the artisan and to me as a designer. Since the time‐bound quick to expire, fashion world was not conducive to either mine or the artisan’s interests. The more we sold of the same style the worse it was for the artisan as he had to produce and repeat the same design over and over again in the same short span of time.
Working our way around their needs by accepting what they made as unique pieces and using that variety as a basis of our design process, suddenly gave us this incredible freedom to create in a completely new symbiotic way.
Taking this journey further down its natural path we have had various discussions with the weavers individually and in their society groups about their needs and how we can help them by getting involved. Not by giving money like a donator but by truly being honest to the principal belief in "big design", which doesn’t just worry about the superficial beauty of the object but actually goes deeply in the rethinking and redesigning of the entire process around it. This action improves the condition of everyone involved and truly has an impact.
The weaver groups we work with are based about 200 kms around Madras (Chennai) where the weather conditions are hot and humid. In fact 3 months out of the year the weavers are unable to weave as their traditional weaving pits get flooded with the torrential rains. The obvious question "Why doesn’t someone just design a weaving loom above the ground level?" is answered by the even more honest and sad response: "The daily struggle to meet their basic needs for food and subsistence are such that a word like design is a luxury inconceivable in their world".
This is where I believe the future of good design is going, solving real problems. If we can inspire people to use their design capabilities as a useful tool which can help such real and simple problems, we might light a small match towards a change.”
