Natural Shades Textiles Workshop May 2016

In May  2016, Lina Kanafani of Mint, Jenny Hier and Eva Schlechte of Studio Gutedort returned to Jordan to undertake a textiles workshop with the Iraq el Amir Women’s Cooperative Association. The goal was to add new ideas, techniques and designs to amplify their textile collection and work with them to extend their existing skills and experience in weaving.

Continue reading to find out more about the project, and see the beautiful results of their work.

The Natural Shades workshop follows the successful collaboration in May 2015 which tackled the issue of the lack of water in the area, with extensive research made to experiment with and explore ways to adapt the traditional techniques of making paper. The outcome was a paper dough which requires little water, dyed with natural herbs and spices.

2015 Paper bowls with natural herbs and spices

In Spring 2016, Lina, Jenny and Eva returned to Jordan to undertake a textiles workshop with handlooms.

Using alkanna root, red cabbage, pomegranate skin, onion peel and black tea, a colour spectrum from purple-grey to blue, green, yellow and brown was explored to create a new collection of natural coloured and handwoven textiles on the dobby looms. A second paper bowl workshop was also undertaken using different techniques to further experiment with the patterns and colours of the bowls.

Clockwise from left:

Natural colourants, Threads, Tied threads, Working the loom, Tying threads, 2016 Paper bowls

Inspired by the whirring light and shadows one often finds in the village’s main yard, Gutedort used a technique to tie the threads before dying to create a pattern which reflects the play of shadows and light in the open spaces of the village. The result was a beautiful array of textiles which express the atmosphere of the village.

 Dyed threads & Woven Panels

Images © Mint & Studio Gutedort