Successful AER resident Laetitia Forst shares proposal for Domaine de Boisbuchet

Chelsea College of Arts PhD student Laetitia Forst has been selected for the AER residency at Domaine de Boisbuchet, France.

Boisbuchet's intensive workshop programmes invest deeply in cultures that respect the past and build for the future.

Set up by Professor Lucy Orta UAL Chair of Art for the Environment - Centre for Sustainable Fashion in 2015, The Art for the Environment International Artist Residency Programme (AER) provides UAL graduates with the exceptional opportunity to apply for short residencies at one of our internationally renowned host institutions, to explore concerns that define the 21st century – biodiversity, environmental sustainability, social economy, and human rights.

Read Laetitia Forst's successful residency proposal:

As we globally acknowledge that to achieve sustainable prosperity, our manufactured world needs to be reworked from its very core components, the role of material designers in scripting this future becomes crucial. Through my PhD research at University of the Arts London, I am exploring the potential of design for disassembly to challenge the recyclability issues of blended materials. Indeed, a large proportion of textiles are made of a combination of resources which are not compatible for recycling. These resources, belonging to different regeneration systems in the Cradle to Cradle manifesto framework, are assembled in ways which prevent their recovery, making these dead-end materials which are condemned to waste. By adapting design for disassembly from the field of electronic product design where it originated as a response to extended producer responsibility regulation, my work aims to achieve the highest potential in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and creativity involved in the making process, while enabling optimal fibre-to-fibre recovery and recycling of the components in a circular economy.

Over the course of my research, I have developed a series of methods for the assembly of textiles in ways which allow them to be taken apart for the optimal recycling of the different components. This works puts hands-on material experimentation at the centre of the design and innovation process.

For the time being, these methods have mostly been tested with placeholder materials as a way of representing the possibilities of this strategy so that it can be used as guidelines in future practice. The focus of the Boisbuchet workshop on the use of specific resources which offer key environmental benefits would be extremely enriching to my understanding of the potential of design for disassembly at the material scale. Delving deeper into the qualities of the materials which can enter these combinations and understanding their intrinsic qualities and weaknesses would greatly benefit my approach to materials design in a circular economy. It has become apparent through my practice that ‘sustainable’ materials need to be considered as part of larger systems in which their qualities, both aesthetic and environmental, script a particular design brief for their use in regenerative systems. I hope to be able to exchange and contribute my research perspectives around this topic in the context of the workshop.

The Domaine de Boisbuchet has proven unequalled excellence in representing contemporary design culture, the workshops and the publications issuing from them have long inspired my personal work. The focus on experimentation and the creation of collaborative spaces for innovative design thinking strongly rooted in hands-on making and prototyping is also very close to my own design methods. The workshop programme led by Fernando Laposse is also fascinating. The focus on sisal and hemp, forgotten fibres which have huge potential in a sustainable design context, is particularly inspiring. I am also fascinated by Laposse’s work around endemic materials and the community connections they entail, I hope to learn more about how this might be connected to my own materials design and design for disassembly practice.

The core ideas represented by the AER programme around social and environmental justice are essential to my own practice, and taking part in the Domaine de Boisbuchet residency would give a framework that would enable the further exploration of these key aspects in relation to plant fibres and their inclusion into circular material systems. Alongside acknowledging and welcoming the collaborative nature of this workshop, my personal aims would be to better understand how these resources can become an essential component of material combinations which bring out the highest potential in all the materials while enabling recyclability.

With this initial brief, the experimentation process would enable a deep understanding of the place of plant-based fibres in new material systems which involve communities in the production of products and built environments.

In this respect the proposal that the workshop should culminate in the collective production of a structure of architectural proportions is particularly exciting. I am familiar with some of Laposse’s work involving craft communities and using design as a tool for social justice and I hope to be able to learn more and connect these ideas to my own design practice which is currently taking the technical innovation from my PhD research into more community centred applications such as redistributed manufacturing opportunities. In addition to this, the collaboration with Margent Farm also offers promising context for the workshop and I look forward to being able to explore questions around ‘glocal’ material cultures as part of this workshop. The themed programme for this AER residency offers a huge potential for developing new ideas as a group of passionate designers and artists. I believe this aspect of the programme to be of particular value as the connection with communities of practice across the world around this common theme seems to be a perfect environment to challenging the status quo in material design and use for a more sustainable future. I hope to be able to contribute my own expertise in terms of circular materials and textile making techniques to the group as well as learn new skills from others.

Find out more about the AER 2020 Programme

Related Links:

• Domane de Boisbuchet
• Laetitia Forst