Designers explore tomorrow's sourcing at Wargön Innovation

Creativity flowed when the first workshop of the Textile Movement Talent project was held at Wargön Innovation with a focus on tomorrow's sourcing. Ten promising Swedish designers have been selected to take part in the talent program, where they will receive knowledge and inspiration through a number of workshops during the spring.

Textile Movement Talent is part of Region Västra Götaland's Textile Movement initiative, in which Wargön Innovation is one of the partners. Textile Movement Talent is part of the Xperience Next program and is led by project manager Nana Sacko.

The first workshop, with the theme "design from waste", was held in the innovation environment at Wargön Innovation where participants got to work with textile material from the Red Cross textile flow. The day offered valuable insights and practical exercises that highlighted the importance of using already produced textiles as raw material to create a sustainable and resource-efficient textile production.

Caroline Düberg Martinsson, Innovation Manager at Wargön Innovation, and Ingrid Johansson, Textile Valuer at Wargön Innovation, gave participants an introduction to Wargön Innovation's work within the project Innovation Environment for Sustainable Production and Circular Flows, where small and medium-sized enterprises can receive support in the development of circular business models. They also explained how the innovation environment at Wargön Innovation, where textile material flows and advanced sorting technologies are made available, can support creative entrepreneurs.

Participants also attended a lecture and workshop led by Anna Lidström, researcher at the University of Borås and PhD in redesign. Anna highlighted the many possibilities and creative design processes that open up when post-consumer textiles are used as raw materials for new products. The workshop clearly showed the potential of combining innovation, sustainability and creativity in the textile industry.

- Tomorrow's sourcing of textiles needs to be based to a very large extent on existing resources. "It's great that designers see so much potential in creating and developing with this material as a starting point. The transition forces us to look at existing textile materials with new eyes and it breeds creativity," said Caroline Düberg Martinsson, Innovation Manager at Wargön Innovation, about the outcome of the workshop.

Wargön Innovation's participation in Textile Movement Talent takes place within the framework of the project Innovation Environment for Sustainable Production and Circular Flows, a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Region Västra Götaland, Vänersborg Municipality and Fyrbodals Municipal Association.