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Pakistani student wins prestigious competition for textile designers
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Heimtextil 2023: Pakistani student wins prestigious competition for textile designers at Heimtextil exhibition
Ume Kulsum Ali Akber student of Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture Karachi Pakistan, is one of the three winners of this prestigious competition this year. Her project “Discarded Treasures” is based on converting textile waste that eventually goes into landfills into beautiful traditional rugs “Dhurries.” Ume Kulsum will display her work at the New & Next Area in Hall 9.0.
Heimtextil takes place every year in Frankfurt and is the world´s largest trade fair for home and contract textiles. Exhibitors from all over the world present their latest ideas and textile products to the international trade press and trade visitors. The perfect chance to present your university and the best student designs in our Newcomer Competition!
Heimtextil has organized the "New & Next University Competition" exclusively for national and international universities with a focus on textile design. The winners will present their university and selected student work exclusively and free of charge at Heimtextil in Frankfurt.
Pakistan is the hub of the textile industry and the sheer volume of industries results in a significant amount of textile waste that goes largely unused/scrapped or contributes to the pollution in the country by being thrown into landfills. “We must realize that not only plastic, but textile waste is a major contributor of waste in our environment. Most synthetic fabrics may also not decompose at all and can pollute our Earth forever. Therefore, I decided to make use of textile waste that may be overlooked as a ‘harmful waste material,” said Ume Kulsum.
“My concept of this project is recycling and the source of inspiration are the textures of different kinds of stones that I have found in nurseries, beaches, streets, parks and gardens. Being a developing country, Pakistan also faces the burden of having to deal with waste sent from other developed countries. This abundance of textile waste, therefore, presents a unique and interesting opportunity, whereby I can fulfil my social responsibility of sustainability while creating inexpensive exclusive home-based products such as dhurries (traditional rugs).”
She said, “I have specifically focused on pre-consumer waste for my thesis. The factories produce 7% waste of the total production of woven cloth and another 10% is wasted from the remaining material that goes for other processes such as dyeing and stitching. Upon further investigation in multiple
factories, I have also found out that there are three different categories of cloth i.e. A, B and C. The ”C” quality cloth, being the lowest quality cloth owing to defects such as rips, colour blemishes, and weave pattern irregularities, is thrown away in landfills or is given to labourers who make use of this cloth to make rag rugs, that are often sold in places such as Sunday Bazaar.”
This is not only an environmentally friendly option for the textile mill owners to make use of the waste but also carries an economical incentive. The beauty of utilizing this waste for production is in the fact that textile waste has several color variations. This range of colors in the waste allows the user to utilize an aesthetically pleasing palette without the need for much dyeing.
Ume Kulsum Ali Akber said,”It was due to this reason that I have only dyed 10% of the fabrics used in my dhurries, whereas the remaining 90% was already dyed. Further adding to the socially responsible aspect of my products, the warp on the handloom (khadi) is also made of recycled materials namely the left-over threads of the previous batches of students at my university. I believe that if these textile owners had more awareness to make use of even tiny “qatrans” (meaning small fabric pieces) it would be largely beneficial for them to look into utilizing this waste. Furthermore, my other samples consist of waste t-shirt yarn in both warp and weft.”
Ume Kulsum Ali Akber has visited Liberty Textile Mills, MJ Textile Mills, Creative Knits, Adamjee Textile Mills, and Zadaf Pvt Ltd. She added, “I have experimented with the jersey fabric for my dhurries since it will lead to a more refined dhurrie owing to the fact that jersey material sheds the least number of threads when cut into yarn. My products are home based because people might not be comfortable wearing something made from waste. My products are different from the ordinary rag rugs through experimentation and exploration of colors, textures, and weave structures.”
She revealed: “The dhurries do not utilize the traditional dhurrie making techniques. Instead, they are made on a handloom consisting of larger loops of threads that replace the needles of the hand loom. This has allowed me to easily use thick t-shirt yarn as the warp and streamline a process that would generally take four times as long.”
This economical set up can easily be replicated by textile owners resulting in economic gain for factories while helping to save the environment by reducing the waste that goes into landfills. Warp inside Loops of threads instead of needles (Loops playing the role of the eye of the needle)
She concluded: ”My goal is to create awareness of the waste that is affecting our environment and as a responsible citizen and textile student, I hold myself responsible to protect the environment while providing economic benefits to the country and bringing out better and aesthetically pleasing designs. It is absolutely essential to take these steps before we further damage our environment. I am grateful to Messe Frankfurt for giving me the opportunity to display my work at Heimtextil exhibition. This opportunity and recognition are very important to me. My mentors were my teachers at the Indus Valley School of Design and Architecture, Ms. Imrana Shahryar and Mrs Shahnaz Ismail who kept pushing me to do my best and never allowed me to give up. It is a privilege to represent my institution, IVS and my country Pakistan at Heimtextil.”
