Textile handcraft: a lesson of sustainability

Abstract

Nowadays, when the world is aware of the limitations of available resources, the sustainability appears as an up-to-date and relevant concept: it is the ability of humans to interact with the world, preserving the environment to avoid compromising the natural resources for future generations. The sense of limitations of environment resources makes the designers to re-think the use of their knowledge in a more responsible and conscious way and to look for viable solutions to the conservation of the ecosystem yet to discover and explore. The textile handcraft product is an excellent example of the sustainable product in various ways namely the recycling, the use of raw material available in each region and the re-gain of other materials to create unique pieces from local traditions. The interaction between design and handcraft will allow to renew the offer of products, making them differentiate and more attractive to consumers. This work intends to present the results of a questionnaire for textile design students. The study, called SustentArte analyzes the attitudes and perceptions of this future designers and the perceived role of concepts like sustainability and handcraft into future textile trends.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT