Shirin
Araghi
Wave after wave, our everyday life breaks over us. Louder, bigger, faster. More efficient, smarter, better, more. Information and trends pounce on us and after each low tide, the next flood of consume appeares. We have already plasticized our own living space, the cities. Now we are about to extend our lifestyle to the oceans. Plastic is the material of our generation and it stands for the consciousness that shapes our time. Short-lived. Deformable. Inexpensive. Changeable. We use plastic without measure and without ceasing, and if it has served its purpose, we simply throw it away.
Plankton munches microplastics: With a short headline and a new clickbate, the plastic
problem has finally arrived in the smallest
dimension. Microplastic is stranded in the smallest life form of the ocean. And as
changeable and different as we created this material, it also appears in the sea. In all sizes, in all compositions, in all colors, shapes and structures. It houses cells, feeds animals. Our urban plastic age is now breaking for the seas as well.
Every year, 8 million tons of plastic find their way into the sea. Plastic is naturally minced, populated, eaten, digested and broken down into microparticles. Fish eat plastic, we catch and eat fish. Nature is an endless cycle, it is said. What we send out into nature also finds its way back to us.
The plastisphere - this is what the new life on marine plastic is called. Researchers have discovered a completely new ecosystem on the large garbage islands in the sea, with novel animal systems and microbes that were previously unknown. A fully functional, self-contained ecosystem with habitats and enough food for everyone - made of plastic. There are animal species, mostly in the microscopic area, that can not only settle on plastic, but also digest and degrade it. Has nature itself already found the solution to the plastic problem? Probably not, because the effects of the spread of these forms of life are so far unpredictable. One thing is certain: this sphere, which enables new life, also carries risks, especially for ourselves. In addition to the many other creatures, bacteria and pathogens also haunt the plastic islands in the sea and are just waiting to spread out. Especially for us humans, these pathogens are very dangerous, as they sometimes transmit cholera.
Our urban lifestyle, which we have optimized and pushed to the extreme for centuries, has brought us into the age of the plastisphere.
Plankton and plastic: A liaison to stop. It is estimated that there are currently 6 times more plastic in the ocean than plankton. And by 2050, if our consumption patterns remain unchanged, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.
LET‘S MAKE THIS
IMPOSSIBLE.
The design refers to the plastisphere. If nature is able to merge plastic and marine life together, then we designers should be, too. The prints are all self-made and inspired by plankton. The material also fuses plastic waste with organic fabrics. Mostly I used recycled plastic waste from the ocean, recycled and turned into new, stiff fibers. I am even the first fashion designer worldwide to make whole high fashion suits, dresses and handmade fringes from ocean plastic. For the runway show I've also sewn donation bags, which I sold to collect money for "project aware". Until now, we collected 466 EUR. The whole collection is made sustainably, even the yarns are recycled.
