SPOTTED: The Linen Project's sustainable flax fields as a flourishing alternative to capitalism
- Research
Today's fashion industry is all about catwalks, public display, trends, and above all: money. More money and more profit. Sustainability only plays a role if it can be used to make money. Pascale Gatzen believes that this can and must change. Together with fifty 'stewards', students and researchers, she founded the Linen Project, where they look for sustainable alternatives for the fashion industry on flax fields in Gelderland. De Correspondent interviewed Gatzen about the Linen Project.
Pascale Gatzen knows the ins and outs of the fashion industry: until the age of 29 she was a successful fashion designer herself and produced collection after collection, seasons after seasons. Until the day her body refused to make any clothes: she was worn out, she tells the Correspondent. This day marks the beginning of her search for a fashion system in which the focus is not on money, success and competition, but on the environment and people.
For Gatzen, the production of linen, a natural fabric made of flax fibres, is an ideal material with which to explore this new model. Flax is a kind of superfood for the soil, absorbs a lot of CO2 and is not harmful to the environment. Moreover, the cultivation of flax and the weaving of linen have a rich history in the Netherlands (you can read more about this in this article that was published before on artez.nl).
Read the full interview at De Correspondent (in Dutch)
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Research and sustainability at ArtEZ
Research at ArtEZ is about exploring new, alternative futures: sustainable, equitable futures. Sustainability is therefore a driving force behind many of ArtEZ's research projects. If you're curious about what this means in practice and what exactly is being researched, you'll find below (a selection of) our research projects in which sustainability is key.
Bamboo Europe
From straws to underwear, from garden furniture to toothbrushes, we see it everywhere now: bamboo. It is a very promising raw material, can absorb a lot of CO2 and grows rapidly. A lot of bamboo is still imported from Asia. But now, with the first large-scale European bamboo plantations, this seems to be coming to an end. Bamboo Europe, a research project led by Professor Jeroen van den Eijnde (professorship Tactical Design), investigates whether the European bamboo is of sufficient quality.
Emotionally Durable Design
The discussion about the transition to a circular fashion system usually focuses on the sustainability of materials and production processes. However, it is of great importance to also investigate the emotional value we attach to garments. In this research project, the ArtEZ Centre of Expertise investigated the role of design in creating an emotional connection with fashion objects. The idea behind this is that people should take better care of their clothes instead of quickly replacing them or throwing them away, as often happens nowadays.
Read more about Emotionally Durable Deisgn
From seagrass to sustainable textile application
Until about a century ago, seagrass was harvested in the Netherlands, traded and used as an insulating material, to make mats and chair seats or to fill pillows and mattresses. Due to weed disease and the construction of the Afsluitdijk, seagrass has almost completely disappeared from Dutch coastal waters. For several years, attempts have been made to reintroduce the plant because of its great value to the coastal ecosystem. The Tactical Design professorship investigates the possibilities of reusing seagrass - and especially the seagrass remnants that wash up on European beaches - for a sustainable, circular value chain.
Read more about the Seagreass project
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Check out all our research projects
Read our Research Manifesto here