Inspired by the way the natural world builds its own materials, at room temperature and without waste, Vanessa’s speculative exploration uses food waste to provide pigment-producing bacteria with the nutrients they need to develop a rich palette of hues.

This path of inquiry, questioning the interconnection between the living and the material environment, has led her to develop a textile ecoliteracy, defined as an ecological culture in design. This concept, based on a better knowledge of the natural world, allows productions to respect the ecosystems, while promoting social and emotional engagement in support of sustainable design practices. 

How can you participate? Attend in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca  

Vanessa Mardirossian

Vanessa has worked as a textile designer for more than 20 years, in all sectors of fashion. Concerned about the environmental impact of the textile industry, she is conducting a doctoral research creation that engages in an iterative dialogue between design, chemistry and environmental health, to reflect on a critical approach to textile materiality and to address complex social issues through the prism of graphics and color. She also teaches at the École Supérieure de Mode ESG-Uqam for 5 years, where sustainable development is at the heart of her pedagogy.

She is a member of Hexagram, the Textiles and Materiality research cluster, Milieux Institute, the Speculative Life Biolab and Acfas. Her research receives funding from SSHRC, Hexagram, the Textile and Materiality Research cluster, the Sustainability Action Fund (SAF) and the Colour Research Society of Canada (CRSC). Her work has been exhibited at Centre George Pompidou (Paris), the École Supérieure de Mode – UQAM (Montreal) and the City Art Centre (Edinburgh).