Experimentations in Cambodia
This project proposes to revive and enhance the craft of water hyacinth weaving in Cambodia. This aquatic plant is harmful because it causes many environmental, health and economic problems. The idea of this workshop was to experiment with this organic material and various weaving techniques, in order to find new applications for this invasive plant.
Site
Prek Toal, Cambodia
Date
December 2009 - March 2010
Team
Amandine Chhor (designer)
Aïssa Logerot (designer)
Osmose (local collaborator)
Saray cooperative (weavers)
Partners
GoodPlanet Foundation
French Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports
Ville de Paris
Conseil Général 92
Enfants du Sourire Khmer
ENSCI - Les Ateliers
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During the four months we spent in Cambodia, we were able to discover and analyze the traditional skills of Saray cooperative’s craftswomen. We went many times to the lake, following them during all the process, from the water hyacinth harvest to the products (and mainly baskets) weaving. We experimented the material, mixed it with other techniques, created new wooden molds in order to make new typologies of products. Cambodia, a country undergoing reconstruction, is trying to revive traditional crafts which disappeared during the genocide. Here as much as elsewhere, design can help to upgrade some of these skills and become the link between technique, form and use.
What we’ve done:
1.
One year preparation to build the collaboration, meet our partners, and obtain fundings and grants to finance the whole project and buy the materials.
2.
We experimented with the materials and weaving skills through an immersive workshop, in order to fully understand the opportunities and limits of the vegetable fiber.
3.
We created new typologies of products, and made a range of prototypes of furniture (a chair, a rocking chair, a stool and a family of lights), a collection of daily life objects such as a removable bicycle basket, mixed silk cushions and a family of new bags. The conception of pieces of furniture was a big challenge for the women of Saray who never worked on this scale.
4.
We set up partnerships with iron and silk workshops, to highlight the creative possibilities of know-how and materials’ encounters. The iron workshop produced metallic structures able to offer new functions to water hyacinth which could be used as light furniture. The mix between silk and water hyacinth offers a more elegant and sophisticated vision to the material.
5.
We took pictures of the products in a local studio, and created communication documents such as the catalogue of the whole collection and leaflets which could be used by the cooperative and Osmose organization to promote the sale.
