Karighor Archive

Exhibitions:
The Lab E20 Showcase during London Fashion Week, 2023
British Textile Biennial, Manchester 2023
Gaining Grounds Exhibition, Crafts Council London, 2022

The Karighor Archive is a digital tool currently being developed in collaboration with Bangladeshi textile makers to document their heritage craft processes and digitally display their work. The platform will facilitate co-design and co-creation between the highly skilled textile artisans of Bangladesh and international artists, designers, and creatives. Based on the principle ‘Nothing about Us Without Us’, Dhaka-based textile artisans were invited to discuss their vision of future-craft through workshops led by Design Studio Paraa (Dhaka) and Design Studio Peut-Porter (London).

An app and digital platform developed for simple use and means to collect basic information of artisans across Bangladesh is currently being developed to connect a wider market to these individuals who hold knowledge essential and yet in danger of being lost in an ever more fast paced production and supply chain.

A first co-design challenge between Bangladeshi Master Weavers and design students from the MA Fashion Futures (LCF) and the MA Textile Design (CCW) programs at University of the Arts London acts as an exploration into how digital tools such as the Karighor Archive could shape and define the future of craft by honouring the skills, knowledge, creativity and cultural setting of all individuals involved in the production and development of a textile. Eliminating hierarchies between design and production, the project encourages an exchange of practice and knowledge, open source working methods, and collective forms of organising and producing fashion.

Project lead: Paraa & Peut-Porter
UX/UI Design: Rike Glaser & Shovy Rhaman

Supporters: National Crafts Council Banlgadesh, Crafts Council London, British Council, UAL Social Design Institute, Bureau 555
CULTURAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INITIATIVE

Karighor Archive Documentary, 2023. 

Bangladesh has a rich history of textile crafts. Due to the rise of digital production, climate change and globalisation, the meaning of craftsmanship has changed. Small-scale and localised textile production in Bangladesh is endangered. The Karighor archive is a tool for makers in Bangladesh to digitise their heritage craft processes and expand their network. The project received funding from the UAL Seed Fund to create a design challenge that brings together makers from Bangladesh and students across UAL to collaboratively develop new textiles through physical and digital processes and using sustainable materials. The challenge aims to encourage an exchange of practice and knowledge, open-source working methods and collective forms of organising.

The distinct character of this project is to define a method for digital collaboration across class, gender, language, and disciplines by highlighting the importance of a craft-led and participatory approach, being responsive to the needs of the other person, and co-designing.

We see co-designing – whether it is social, participatory or community design – as an active agent in initiating urgent social change in design. It not only strengthens and challenges agency, voice, authorship, representation and inclusion within a design project but also offers access to different skill sets and technologies.



Panel and Film Screening at the Lab E20, London Fashion Week September 2023. 



Exhibition at Craft Council London, Craft Week London 2022