16.30 – 17.00 welcome & walk-in
17.00 – 17.30 introduction Local Color and TextileLab Amsterdam
17.30 – 19.00 walk tour around the Nieuwmarkt
19.00 – 19.30 drinks @waag!
16.30 – 17.00 welcome & walk-in
17.00 – 17.30 introduction Local Color and TextileLab Amsterdam
17.30 – 19.00 walk tour around the Nieuwmarkt
19.00 – 19.30 drinks @waag!
Often we move around the city of Amsterdam being unaware of the hints pointing at a rich textile history, and of the plants and trees that can actually produce beautiful colors. We often take the public space and its (unused) green spaces as a given, not realising that we could actually learn from our environment and even use it for local, small-scale production. If we truly start looking around us and become more sensitive to our surroundings, we might see opportunities, hidden colorful gems, and start to see our city as an environment that is readily enabling and renews and provokes a new sense of belonging.
During this first meet-up at Waag, we kicked off with a general introduction of the project Local Color and the TextileLab principles, by co-founders Cecilia Raspanti and Ista Boszhard, followed by a walking tour around the Nieuwmarkt – a neighborhood that holds a rich textile history.
Huibert has shared his knowledge of the history of Amsterdam. He brought us to historic buildings that used to be spinneries, steel mills, and dye facilities. Cecilia, who leads the creative research of TextileLab, let us see through her eyes (that see color everywhere), and taught us how we need the knowledge from the past and present, to innovate the future. She shared her perspective on abundance in scarcity and told stories about different types of plants that can produce color and how these have been used in the past.
At the end, we had some drinks and good conversations at the Waag.
We hope that the participants went home with a more sensitive eye to their surroundings! Where do you suddenly see color, revealed history, and a variety of opportunities to start growing color? Connect to the Local Color project and let’s take action together!
This meet-up is the first of a series of five meet-ups. Each meet-up is shaped around one of the five lenses and gradually shares insights into the Local Color project and the TextileLab way of working, its principles and model. Spanning from the holistic approach, they explore the natural materials realm that surrounds us, the tools necessary to share and expand possibilities in local production; as well the processes and systems that exist or can be uncovered for systemic change – and finally the culture we foster to collectively bring change to the city we inhabit.