Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

At the end of the 20th century, the fashion industry’s carbon footprint, water consumption, and production of toxic substances gradually increased. Although the fashion industry has turned its shift to a sustainable production since the 1990s, this aim has not reached to a desired level. Ethical approach prioritizing social responsibility and ecological awareness necessitated a designer profile having precise roles, along with design practice. Under that respect, the starting point of this project is the need for a design/craft/production space, where nature-based design methods can be experienced to bring nature, people, culture and design with a holistic approach in Turkey. In that sense, one of the main objectives of the project is to develop alternative ecological methods against the use of toxic substances in textile dyes, which are the most damaging substance in the fashion industry. In addition to that, recognition of the natural dyestuffs culture that is within harmony with nature, to remember a cultural heritage, to raise awareness through this heritage, to use these methods developing new biomaterials, to archive the findings in analog and digital form, to integrate this information into our faculty education programs would be established a more meaningful and sensitive linkage with the ecosystem. In this way, the harmful effects of the fast fashion industry will be questioned and will be transferred to students with applied education practices in a more regenerative, innovative, and environmentally way