Making Sense - An exhibition of practice-based research by faculty members of Istituto Marangoni London

Making Sense - An exhibition of practice-based research by faculty members of Istituto Marangoni London

Making Sense showcases the rich diversity and creativity of our tutors’ research activities, as they seek new meanings, methods, materials and futures for fashion and for design. In the context of local and global social, economic, cultural and environmental imperatives, these projects address urgent questions about the new potentialities of resources, identities, narratives, and materialities that may help to shape a better future.

The work on display visually ‘explains’ a variety of research processes, the values embodied in these, sharing distinctive research outcomes and works in progress. It aims to demystify and promote the multiple ways that creative practice might function as a vital method of inquiry, as an embodied way of knowing, and as a conduit to possibility-finding.

Exhibits include national and international projects that preserve, promote and celebrate heritage materials and craft: including the Kotpad project, a collaboration between IML, IM Mumbai, Creative Bee of Hyderabad, and an at-risk artisan community in Kotpad, India; Fashioned From Trees work by IML members of the Barkcloth Research Network, a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural and multi-national research team investigating the properties and potential of Ugandan barkcloth; and the Radically Local project, excavating, exploring  and reconstructing local fibre, fabric and fashion systems and aesthetics within the UK. It includes work by AO Textiles, a sustainable textile consultancy developing scalable natural dyes; natural accessories by Michelle Lowe-Holder, produced as part of the BioDeepMap research project, in her partnership with the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts; Rafael El Baz’s experimentation with advanced laser technology to create dye-less colour and pattern on metals; Zoe Gilbertson’s bast fibre research, as part of her Churchill Fellowship to examine linen, hemp and nettle fibre production and processing across Western Europe and the UK; Julian Smith’s experimentation with repurposed waste fabrics from drag costumes in fashion; Nick Clements’ use of photography in the construction of speculative histories from fragmented memories in a series of staged re-enactments.

The exhibition will open on weekdays from 17 to 28 February 2025, 10AM to 5PM.

Keywords: thinking through making; making sense; practice research; sustainable futures; people and planet; heritage; local knowledges.

Istituto Marangoni

Istituto Marangoni was founded in 1935 in Milan as ‘Istituto Artistico dell’Abbigliamento Marangoni’, and has been a top educational choice for creatives in the worlds of fashion, art and design for over 85 years now. With four generations of students from 5 continents, it was the springboard for over 45,000 luxury professionals, including Domenico Dolce, Alessandro Sartori, Paula Cademartori, Gilda Ambrosio, Julie de Libran and Nicola Brognano. Istituto Marangoni currently welcomes about 5,000 students from 108 different countries every year in its schools in the world capitals of fashion, art and design, including Milano,Firenze, Paris, London, Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Miami. Istituto Marangoni is ranked among the 100 best universities in the world in its fields according to QS World University Ranking 2024.

Istituto Marangoni London

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