Arts Thread

A collaborative project between three basketmakers and a biodesigner looking at biotechniques to help regenerate and revive our Galician craft heritage.   Galicia is located in the northwest of Spain, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has supplied the Galician and Spanish populations throughout history, resulting in 602 tonnes of seafood exoskeletons being wasted every year. Moreover, this situation has worsened in recent years, due to the manufacturing of fishing tools moving away from traditional fishing crafts.   Fishing tools that, in their origin, were made by local basket makers with wicker or wood but today are made mainly from plastic by large foreign industries. Nevertheless, what these vegetable and non-vegetable materials hold in common are their flexibility.  Therefore, the objective of our project is to develop a flexible and biodegradable biomaterial from a flexible biopolymer found in the seafood exoskeletons (usually an unused waste source), chitosan.     During the production stage, traditional hand weaving crafts with vegetable fibers are applied simultaneously alongside new extrusion biotechniques. While the design outcomes aim to rebuild Galician identity, reinterpret existing components present in the Galician culture, and reclaim crafts using elements from the sea.