Project entry 2020 for Middle East Africa
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T-Serai exterior tapestries made of recycled jeans, layered over emergency blankets and tarp. The project juxtaposes the surplus of the global textile industry with the scarcity of the refugee camp, contemplating a possibility of cooperative-based self-sufficiency based on the recycling of humanitarian textiles.
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T-Serai interior tapestries made of recycled clothing, layered over UNHCR wool blankets. The design is inspired by refugee-made shelter transformations using wool blankets, as well as the historical khayamiya crafts. The project represents a translation of the historical applique crafts, deploying the technique of “reverse applique”, or slashing to upcycle discarded textiles. The individual tapestries offer means for recording personal stories and transferring knowledge between generations.
Last updated: November 13, 2021 Cambridge, MA, USA
Co-creation across borders promotes new ethical standards for socially inclusive design
The T-Serai supports the cultural resilience of threatened communities through creative innovation in education and vocational training of refugees. Introducing transdisciplinary design processes and cross-generational knowledge exchange, the project provides means for the dynamic preservation of the living culture, social relations, and networks of communities in threat of cultural erasure. Beyond collaborations with displaced Syrians in Jordan, the project also advances cross-cultural understanding through co-creation across borders, involving students from the USA, Europe, and UAE. The multidirectional knowledge exchange between participants of different generations and backgrounds offers a possibility for self-expression, self-determination, and advancement of pluralism.
Upcycling textile stock surplus for low carbon humanitarian design
While more than 85% of displaced people live in developing countries, in conditions of scarcity, the T-Serai examines the global surplus in the textile industry in relation to recycling in the humanitarian system as a provocation to the culture of surplus. Today, textile manufacture is among the most lucrative and largest polluting industries: more than 80 billion square meters of leftover garments end up in landfills or get destroyed by burning. When the expected demand is not met, supply chains channel stock to the parallel economy of stock destruction ensuring price control. The phenomenon is widespread in fast fashion. Critiquing the strategy of stock surplus, the T-Serai turns textile donations into a resource for the refugee-led improvement of humanitarian architecture.
Creating humanitarian innovation by positioning culture as an essential human need
As global displacement numbers are rising due to the acceleration of climate change, it is imperative to address the increased cultural vulnerability of people fleeing from conflict and disasters. While humanitarian institutions prioritize supporting the basic biological needs, the T-Serai outlines a cultural approach to humanitarian intervention, addressing problems of lacking cultural infrastructures in refugee camps. The project mitigates the lacking capacity of displaced populations to access means for cultural resilience. The reinterpretation of historical applique techniques through "slashing" offers culturally sensitive tools and contextual design processes that help displaced communities overcome adversity through self-determination, education, and preservation of living culture.