EntreTejidas

“Interwoven”

EntreTejidas seeks to explore the recognition of identity in a transitory space, where crafts become a tool of self-discovery and identity. The main goal of the project is to recognize the value of material creation as a tool to digest the processes of shaping identity.

Context

Undergraduate Thesis · Individual

Tools

Illustrator · Photoshop · InDesign

Timeline

January - June 2022

My Role

Strategist · Researcher ·

Creative director · Product designer

Introspective Exploration

As a starting point, this moodboard compiles a series of images, words, and symbols that define who I am. In the process of building the moodboard, I discovered that, given the life circumstances of my family, I have had a fragmented identity.

The composition led me to identify a series of themes that shape the backbone of the project. These will direct the exploration around identity and how it can manifest over time in different collectives.

Identified Themes

Movement as a Vehicle of Transformation

1

2

Disruption of the Sociocultural Role of Women

A flight of self-recognition: Fragmented Identity

3

Material Sensibility: Craft as a tool to comprehend the world

4

Sorority: Social Fabric

5

New Stitches: Mending the family unit

6

Tribute to the Matriarchs

Defining the themes facilitated the recognition of experiential patterns: the female figures in my family have experienced migration processes closely related to the topics explored. Particularly, in the case of my grandmothers, migration has been an important agent in shaping their identity. Establishing the main themes as guidelines for the research led to its interpretation in the context of the matriarchs of my family: Marina and Adela

Macro Insights

Consequent with the analysis, a series of insights are created to evidence, through a visual and written narrative, the findings that connect the experiences of my grandmothers:

Weaving Collectives

Recognizing the patterns developed in the macro insights, I identify an opportunity to interweave collectives. Like my grandmothers, the girls from the Home of Santa Rosa de Viterbo have been through similar experiences to those described in the insights, and recognize a fragmented identity in themselves. In this transitory space, young women are looking to re-create their identity.

The Home of Santa Rosa de Viterbo is a center of temporary residence for young women who had to migrate from vulnerable contexts. This space enables them to live and study safely until they graduate.

Micro Insights

The interpretation and analysis of the applied design tools allowed me to identify a series of micro insights in the context of the Home in Santa Rosa. These findings evidence the experience of a transitory identity: a continuous search to self-recognize in daily activities and simultaneously, longing to return to the previous identity before migrating.

Imaginary Scenarios

Visual Library

Adding up to the insights found in the community of study, representative symbols were added to the research stage, composing the outlook of the young women in their hometown in Arauca and the environment of transitory residence in Boyacá. These scenarios were created in an iterative collage conversation held with the girls.

Textile Narratives

Material Conversations

The final proposal consists of a textile conversation that interweaves the importance of embroidery as a cathartic tool complemented by the interest in literature and narrative texts of the community of study. The final embroidery compositions seek to demonstrate the value of textile crafts as a technology of knowledge and care.

The community of girls has an embroidery workshop in the temporary home. They use this craft as a creative outlet, hence why it was the chosen medium to portray their exploration.

Textile Narratives

Final Product

The nine-piece collection was created based on the imaginary scenarios from Arauca and Boyacá. The purpose of the textile pieces is to weave the scenarios that create their collective identity and add the integrating elements from these realities with thread and needle.