Students from Broeklandcollege in Hoensbroek participated in the workshop series Extended_VMBO, a 3-week program inspired by Extended’s research on new sustainable materials for fashion and design.
The aim of these lessons is to expose young people to contemporary culture and issues by engaging with them in a practical manner and developing their own ideas.
The workshop series begins with a sensory introduction to sustainable materials. Students touch, smell, and identify wool, hemp, cotton, paper pulp, and polyester. They explore the uses of the materials and the processing steps they undergo.
On May 23, they visit the exhibition Opaque Spirits by artist Arturo Kameya. During an interactive tour, students gather inspiration for their own design object through sketching. They are inspired by the methods of artists Yi-Jing and Vincent Dassi. Old paper is pulped with water. Then the pulp is sieved and mixed with a sustainable adhesive. This creates a malleable material with which the young people create their own designs.
In the subsequent meetings at school, the young people work on the practical implementation of their design and focus on the concept.
Then, during an evaluation session, students reflect on the production process, their own design, and the connection between sustainability and design.
Are you also interested in an Extended project at school? Then send an email to education@marres.org.
