Heterotopia

18 Heterotopia is understood as worlds inserted in another, and that act as a mirror as well as a distorted image of what is outside, so in a certain sense they are the materialization of utopia, or at least of the imaginary. This project is a world where several different layers coexist together to create a heterotopic world. Heterotopia is a concept developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe the nature of certain cultural, institutional, or discursive spaces that, in some way, are other or non-hegemonic: disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory, or transformative. The word heterotopia follows the same pattern as the concepts of utopia and dystopia. The prefix hetero- comes from the classical Greek ἕτερος (héteros: “other, different”), combined with the Greek morpheme τόπος (topos: “place”), thus meaning “another place”, in the sense of place that is understood as belonging to alterity. A “utopia”, on the other hand, is an idea or image that is not real but represents an improved version of society, such as Thomas More’s work of the same name or Le Corbusier’s illustrations. In the words of Russell Mead, “ utopia is a place where everything is good; a dystopia is a place where everything is bad; heterotopia is where things are different - that is, a set of members that have no or few intelligible connections with each other”. The heterotopia project aims to obtain maximum benefit from the industrially polluted soils by transforming plant biomass, the end product of soil purification, into a flexible, resilient biomaterial, which I will use for designing new dresses. In this project, I will explore biofabrication in Haute Couture and elaborate on combining different ancient techniques, with high-tech technologies such as 3D design and laser cutting. PROJECT HETEROTROPIA

19 PROJECT This project is a missing link between applied science and fashion that fully meets the requirements of the application of circular economy principles in the fashion industry. My way in fashion is to design in harmony with nature pursuing the improvement of environmental health. That is why I follow the zero-waste approach using assembly modules that change and mutate to adapt to any body shape and generate intricate and unique patterns that replicate organic, natural forms and structures. The plant biomass used to produce the biomaterial will be obtained from chosen plant species seeded in heavy metal contaminated soils, such as in proximity to mining facilities (e.g. Trapagaran, Zugaztieta). Such a technique is used to absorb pollutants from the environment, due to the well-known ability of some plants, for instance, carrots, to accumulate heavy metals in great quantities, and improve soil health. Carrot biomass will be used after metal extraction (Pavliková et al., 2005) and safety check by chemical analysis (Karlfeldt Fedje et al., 2021). At this step, I managed to stabilize the color of obtained biomass and produce biofabrics to design Haute Couture suits. The innovativeness of this approach is that an article produced is 100% recyclable and can be further used for the construction of another dress after melting or end up in a compost pit and act as plant fertilizer.HETEROTROPIA

20 PROJECT HETEROTROPIA

21 PROJECT Heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing several layers, different and disruptive, in the same real place, but still getting along and living together in a world of their own. “Of Other Spaces”, Author: Michel Foucault (1986)HETEROTROPIA