How is flax made? Flax Exchange Project Tour

During the Flax Exchange project, I learnt that it was a community project working with the residents of Tower Hamlets. It aims to explore local and sustainable textiles and incorporate these products into the performing arts. The project demonstrated the whole process from linen production to making it into tools and textiles, including environmentally friendly dyeing techniques that use the properties of the plant to create uniquely coloured fabrics.

The use of flax and plant dyeing techniques in the project has made me think about how I can incorporate environmentally friendly and sustainable materials and processes into my own designs. When learning about the use of waste to recreate woven items, I thought about how to incorporate ideas of innovation and sustainability in the craft of weaving. What are the innovative possibilities in the weaving process? How can traditional techniques be combined with modern design concepts? Observing the production of linen and the traditional dyeing process, I learnt about some of the materials used to dye and bond textiles together (aluminium lactate). Besides, I became curious about the practical applications and challenges of sustainable design, how to balance ecological, economic and social needs? This project integrates the production process into the performance, which is a very innovative, and can show the production idea and sustainable concept to the public behaviour.