The Future of Living 2024: Rethread the Needle TFOL 2024

6–8 dec 2024 @IMAL &
@greenfabric , BRUSSELS

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Curious about how textile can be reimagined for a better future? Join us at The Future of Living 4: Rethread the Needle, an event for visionaries and changemakers.

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Rethread the Needle

Textiles are one of the oldest technologies that allowed humans to protect themselves since the prehistoric times. Because it is omnipresent and has become so cheap, it is now discredited. Its production is underrated and invisibilized. Its overconsumption leads to an ecological, economic and social disaster. According to Fashion Revolution Annual Index, there is already enough textile produced to make clothes for 6 generations of the planet…

“The Future of Living — Rethread the needle” will readdress textile through contemporary practices, digital tools and machineries. Is there such a thing as “permacouture”? Can we create non-hegemonic narratives and new possible futures by reclaiming the knowledge from traditional methods of production?

Can we think of alternative production processes that meet our needs, while showing a true commitment with the great eco-social challenges that we are facing?

Experts from the EUNIC participating countries will help us approach some of these questions and contribute to the 4 following threads:
1. Traditional crafts × digital
2. Biomaterials
3. Zero-waste & upcycling
4. Clothing for healthcare

Green Fabric and iMAL offer a theoretical and practical program of four worksessions open to the public —on December 6th and 7th— that will take place in their respective fablabs. These four worksessions, led by several teams of artists and creators, will revolve around the four threads described above. They will conclude with a presentation day at iMAL on Sunday, December 8th, during which each of the 4 teams will show both the processes and the results achieved in the laboratories. The microphone will then be open to the public for Q&A. After this exchange, EUNIC invited speakers will present their work through keynotes and participate in panel discussions around the four threads.

The worksessions will be documented and the presentations on the last day will be streamed. A brunch with the invited artists/designers will precede the prensentations.

Register now for the worksessions and panel discussions.
Worksessions: 70€ for 2 days (lunch included) – 35€ for students, unemployed
Talks: free of charge (optional brunch: 8€)

Worksessions @IMAL
30 Quai des Charbonnages, 1080 Brussels
- Metro 1 or 5, stop at Comte de Flandre
- Tram 51, stop at Porte de Flandre

Worksessions @greenfabric
Rue Jean-Baptiste Baeck 33, 1190 Brussels
- Train S1, stop at Uccle-Stalle or Forest-Est
- Bus 50, stop Bempt

Participants

Curators

  • Stéphanie Vilayphiou

    hack & textile, fabmanager @Green Fabric

    greenfabric.be instagram.com/vvvvvilay

    Stéphanie Vilayphiou worked for 10 years as a graphic designer and web developer within Open Source Publishing. Then she redirected her interest in the digital onto textile practices, especially knitting. Powered by free software philosophy, she likes to tinker and hack code all sorts of textile techniques. After 10 years of teaching at école de recherche graphique, she joined Green Fabric, a textile fablab in Brussels to share and learn around traditional crafts and digital machines.

in collaboration with

  • Lucía García

    director of iMAL, digital art centre

    imal.org

    Law graduate from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with postgraduate studies in Cultural Management and European Affaires, Lucía has worked since 1999 as Deputy Director of ARCO, the International Contemporary Art Fair of Madrid, Spain, participating in the creation and development of a specific curated section (among others) called ARCO Electrónico and the Black Box@ARCO (focusing on media art). In August 2006, a year prior to its official opening, together with Rosina Gómez-Baeza, founding Director, she launches LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial where she works as General Coordinator and Head of Public Programs from 2006 to 2011. In September 2011 she is appointed Managing Director and Secretary General, positions that she has held until June 2021 when, after a public merit-based competition, she is appointed Director of iMAL Centre for Digital Cultures and Technology in Brussels. Lucía also serves punctually as an expert and evaluator for the EU Commission in Art, Science and Technology programs and she was also a jury member of the STARTS Prize at the Prix Ars Electronica awards in 2022. She was curator of The Future of Living: Human, All Too Human program (2023), a program organized by EUNIC Brussels, in the framework of the Presidency of Spain in the EU Council.

Experts

  • Adrianus Kundert

    Contemporary basket weaving using digital cutting

    deBuren

    adrianuskundert.com/3d-weaving

    Adrianus Kundert is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose practice is dedicated to creating captivating objects and experiences. His work merges fiction with function, employing hands-on techniques and vibrant materials to craft installations, baskets, and immersive spaces. Whether questioning the future of a traditional craft or reimagining a technical concept, Adrianus brings new narratives to life in a playful manner.

  • Alexander Marinus

    Felt with recycled jute

    Wallonie-Bruxelles International

    alexandermarinus.com

    Alexander Marinus is a multidisciplinary artist with a strong interest in the relationship between culture, society and nature. He strives to bring them together in his body of work, which encompasses material research, textile art, film, writing and has resulted in tapestries, machines and experimental documentary film. Marinus graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven with Formafantasma in 2017 and from école de recherche graphique with Manon De Boer in 2023.

  • Amandine David

    Weaving × digital processes

    Wallonie-Bruxelles International

    amandinedavid.com

    Amandine David is a designer and researcher based in Brussels. In her practice, located between traditional crafts and digital manufacturing, objects appear as material traces to a surrounding process of learning, sharing and collaborating. To her, weaving is a tool for critical reflection on technology, a medium to archive knowledges and a space for dialogue. Amandine graduated from the Social Design Master at Design Academy Eindhoven. She currently teaches at KASK in Autonomous Design.

  • Anastasia Pistofidou

    Biomaterials + Projected fibers garments

    Instituto Cervantes

    Anastasia Pistofidou is a creative technologist and educator who pioneered Textile and Material Labs in the Fab Lab Network, co-founded FabTextiles in 2013, and Fabricademy in 2016, a global educational program merging textiles, digital fabrication, and biology. From 2010 to 2023, she was part of IAAC Fab Lab Barcelona, leading projects like made@eu, Remix el Barrio, and shemakes.eu, which promote circular design and inclusivity in textile education. She curates exhibitions for international Fab Lab conferences and collaborates closely with the Fab Foundation. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Elisava School of Design in Barcelona, focusing on the European projects Transitions.eu and Teach4sd.eu.

  • Ewa Stepnowska

    Fashion designer working with repetitive patterns

    Polish Institute

    ewastepnowska.com

    A Warsaw-based designer specializing in clothing and textiles with a focus on thoughtful production. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, she interned at Marc Jacobs in New York. For the past 10 years, she has led Bodymaps (www.bodymaps.pl), a swimwear and accessories brand known for vintage-inspired designs, a wide size range, and an emphasis on quality fabrics, including regenerated nylons and exclusive materials developed in collaboration with local knitting shops.

  • Flora Miranda

    Textile & digital arts, performance

    Austrian Cultural Forum -farmlab + FAT

    floramiranda.com

    Flora Miranda is an Austrian visual artist and fashion designer based in Vienna and Antwerp. She develops her own software and experiments with technology to reimagine the role of the fashion designer. Viewing data as a creative medium is a central theme in her artistic exploration. Her garments are presented as performative experiences, integrating music, space, and movement as conceptual elements of the creations.

  • Giulia Tomasello

    biohacking in female intimate care

    Istituto Italiano di Cultura

    gitomasello.com

    Giulia Tomasello is an interaction designer and educator committed to female intimate care and its innovation. Founder of ALMA Futura, a research and consulting studio where design, science and anthropology combine to co-create low tech tools for a cultural and radical change in womxn's bodies. Coded Bodies is her teaching platform designed to learn the basics of wearable technology, smart materials and the exploration of biological textiles.

  • Irene Trapote

    collaborative art, textile art, art and research, territory

    Embajada española

    www.irenetrapote.com/portfolio

    Multidisciplinary artist born in Gijón (Asturias, Spain), studies Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid (2020) and later courses the Master on Art Research and Creation in the same university (2021). She has been particularly trained in the theory of spaces, ecology and feminism. In the last years she has been focusing her research in traditional textile techniques and studying more in depth the work of the rederas (women who weave fishing nets) with her project “Hacer territorio atando cabos”. In parallel, she has been experimenting with how to apply net weaving in her installation work and in crafts and design with her project Nuedu (nuedutextiles.com).

  • Irina Maloir

    Textile experiments with wasted materials

    Wallonie-Bruxelles International

    instagram.com/maloiririna

    Irina is a Brussels based textile designer and artist exploring the relationship between the notions of resource and waste. Through the elaboration of materials, she seeks to detect and disrupt the criteria that determine the preciousness, nobility and market value of a material as much as those that generate disinterest. Pushing the aesthetic, mechanical and sensory limits of ordinary materials is the core of her concerns. In 2021, she co-created Cycl.one, a collective which focuses its activities on the reuse and valorization of soft materials.

  • Julie Dítětová

    Pattern generation with GAN

    Czech Centre Brussels

    julieditetova.cz/...

    Julie is a digital designer based in Prague. Her work combines creativity with technological advancement and aims to establish design practices that utilise modern technology to create effective and meaningful work, especially in the context of artificial intelligence tools. She is also a contributor to the Amsterdam-based AIxDesign community. Her work has been exhibited in multiple venues, including Dutch Design Week, Signal Festival in Prague or Solar Galeria de Arte in Portugal.

  • Lavoslava Benčić

    e-textile, GAN, glitch

    Embassy of Slovenia - roglab

    vimeo.com/lavoslava

    Lavoslava Benčić (SLO) is an intermedia artist, curator, and educator with a background in multimedia engineering and in media arts. Her works have been exhibited in 22 countries and have received 14 awards. She conducts workshops for adults and children focused on art and electronics, particularly e-textiles. Additionally, she lectures on media production at the Institute and Academy of Multimedia in Ljubljana and on integrated practices in art and electronics at the Arts Academy in Nova Gorica. She also collaborates with a women's initiative ČIPke and with Center Rog in Ljubljana.

  • Miguel Peñaranda

    Art, performance, costume design, upcycling

    Instituto Cervantes

    instagram.com/olmedam

    Miguel Peñaranda (Spain) is an artist and designer whose work focuses on performance, installation and textile practice embedded in a critical, political and urgent discourse. He also collaborates as a costume designer and creator for the performing arts. He obtained a MA degree in Visual Arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. His work has been shown in different festivals and exhibitions in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

  • Petra Garajova

    Biomaterials, wool keratin extraction

    Embajada española

    fablabbcn.org/team/petra-garajova

    She is a Slovak multidisciplinary designer with a background in architecture exploring biobased materials, digital manufacturing, and textiles. Passionate about merging art, technology, and design education, she inspires students through hands-on experiences. Currently, she works as a Fabricademy Local Instructor and Materials & Textiles Expert at Fab Lab Barcelona. Co-founder of an Experimental Design platform, she uses fashion to connect nature, soft materials, and the body with new technologies.

  • Reet Aus

    Republic of Estonia

    upmade.org

    Reet Aus is a PhD-qualified fashion designer and environmental activist, a natural rebel who founded REET AUS COLLECTION®. She is a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, and has developed the UPMADE® certification, in order to pass on her knowledge to brands and factories. Reet’s guiding mission in life is to save the fashion industry from itself, and to show that there is a way of ending the throwaway culture that causes so much waste and destruction around the world. Reet is reducing the environmental footprint of the industry she loves.

  • Sarah Meyers

    Natural dyeing, sustainability

    Luxembourg Embassy

    meyersfuegmann.com

    Meyers & Fügmann is a Berlin based studio for color, textile and product design. While the materials always lead the way, the studios work unites craft and industrial production.Color is seen as a material used to underline material properties and make processes visible.We look for solutions that respect the inherent qualities and natural properties of the resources we work with.

  • Valentina Frunze

    Textile for disabilities

    Romanian Cultural Institute + Moldova

    class.textile-academy.org/... researchgate.net/...

    Valentina Frunze, International Programmes Officer at Technical University of Moldova and Ph.D. Student at Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași, is a researcher in functional clothing. Dedicated to designs that enhance independence for individuals with disabilities, she applies digital methods like 3D modelling to create functional, custom garments. With a background in textile technology and economics, she is committed to inclusive, eco-conscious innovation in fashion.

  • Zorobe Soft Electronics
    (Zsófia Lévai & Lúcia Kiss)

    Soft Interface design, textile design

    Liszt Institute Brussels

    www.zorobe.com instagram.com/zsolevai instagram.com/luciakiss_textile

    Zsófia Lévai is a multidisciplinary artist interested in the merging of virtual and physical spaces and its impact on human relationships. Her research focuses on comfortable, wearable, communicative garments, "soft interfaces" that act as a personal aura around the user. She integrates electronics and sensory technology into the structure of the fabric, creating a new membrane. These soft Human-Computer Interfaces are not only capable of collecting and transmitting biometric data, but also enable extended perception and representation. Zsófia holds a Master's degree in Textile and Fashion Design from the Moholy University of Art and Design. She started there a PhD research in 2021 focuses on the potential role of 'soft interfaces' in our communication. In addition to her speculative direction, she co-founded the company Zorobe Soft Electronics, where she and her team develop prototypes of wearable medical devices.

    In 2023, Lúcia Kiss graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design with a master’s degree in Fashion and Textile Design. Throughout her academic years, her focus was mostly on structural design and technological innovations. She is particularly interested in how innovative solutions intersect with traditional crafting techniques. She is currently working on wearable designs, focusing on integrating electronics into soft interfaces. This work closely reflects and builds upon her established design philosophy.

6&7 DEC
worksession

Traditional × Digital Crafts

→ Experiment with the fablab devices to revisit traditional crafts

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6&7 DEC
worksession

Zero-waste / Upcycling

→ Explore the optimization of material, transforming used materials

CLOSE

6&7 DEC
worksession

E-textile / Healthcare

→ How can textile and electronics help disabilities

CLOSE

6&7 DEC
worksession

Biomaterials

→ Explore new sustainable materials, bioplastic, using waste materials

CLOSE

8 DEC
CONFERENCE

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PARTICIPATING EXPERTS:

  • ADRIANUS KUNDERT
    Contemporary basket weaving using digital cutting
  • IRENE TRAPOTE
    Collaborative art, textile art, art and research, territory
  • AMANDINE DAVID
    Weaving × digital processes
  • JULIE DÍTĚTOVÁ
    Pattern generation with GAN
  • FLORA MIRANDA
    Textile & digital arts, performance

Traditional crafts and digital practices are not necessarily opposites. They can actually inform each other to result in hybrid practices: things that cannot be made entirely by hand or by machine. Objects that can relate of culture, heritage, but which tease our lives immersed in digital technology.

This worksession will explore the machines of the textile fablab Green Fabric to revisit traditional crafts with a contemporary twist. Digital machines will make it possible to create complex structures, generative patterns, etc.

You will work together with invited artists/designers from EUNIC countries to speculate, prototype, experiment. It is not a classical vertical one-to-many workshop but a more horizontal way of working by sharing knowledge and competences.

Available machines:

  • Digital knitting machines
  • Embroidery machine
  • Dry or wet felting machines
  • 3D printer
  • Lasercutter

To participate in this worksession, you need to have at least one of these competences:

  • Mastering a craft that you think can gain from a machine or digital process
  • Mastering a generalist programming language such as Python, C…
  • Mastering parametric 3D modelization (Blender geometry nodes, Grasshopper…)

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@greenfabric

registration

PARTICIPATING EXPERTS:

  • REET AUS
    Upmade software, calculates how much waste will be made from garment production
  • ANASTASIA PISTOFIDOU
    Biomaterials + Projected fibers garments
  • SARAH MEYERS
    Natural dyeing, sustainability
  • MIGUEL PEÑARANDA
    Art, performance, costume design, upcycling

Although textile production is already overloaded, we will more certainly still need to produce new textile objects in the future. How can we produce zero-waste garments or objects or already think of a use of the production waste?

This worksession will start from the observation of software that Reet Aus, fashion designer and activist, has conceived. These software help designers to know how much waste their garments will produce and therefore can help to already upcycle the leftovers.

Deadstock fabrics and fabric waste from the textile industry will be available to experiment with zero-waste or the making of new objects out of materials destined to the trash. This worksession will happen at Green Fabric, which also hosts Mercerie Moderne, a second-hand haberdashery.

You will work together with invited artists/designers from EUNIC countries to speculate, prototype, experiment. It is not a classical vertical one-to-many workshop but a more horizontal way of working by sharing knowledge and competences.

To participate to this worksession, you need to have at least one of these competences:

  • Sewing (domestic machine, industrial machine, overlock…)
  • Patternmaking (paper or digital)

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@greenfabric

registration

PARTICIPATING EXPERTS:

  • VALENTINA FRUNZE
    Textile for disabilities
  • GIULIA TOMASELLO
    Biohacking in female intimate care
  • LAVOSLAVA BENČIĆ
    e-textile, GAN, glitch
  • ZOROBE SOFT ELECTRONICS
    (ZSÓFIA LÉVAI & LÚCIA KISS)
    Soft Interface design, textile design

Industrial production means “one design fit all”. Fablabs are already a means to produce on-demand tailored garments. But designs are not thought for people with disabilities. New technologies can help us design garments/objects to facilitate lives (human or non-human).

This worksession will happen at the same time as the Fabricademy “Skin Electronics” week in which participants explore electronic textiles close to the skin. We will take this opportunity to explore devices for healthcare: preventing danger, biometrics monitoring, augmenting our senses, communicating with others…

You will work together with invited artists/designers from EUNIC countries to speculate, prototype, experiment. It is not a classical vertical one-to-many workshop but a more horizontal way of working by sharing knowledge and competences.

To participate to this worksession, you need to have at least one of these competences:

  • Making electronic circuits
  • Making e-textile
  • Coding on micro-controllers (Arduino, micro:bit, xiao…)

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@IMAL

registration

PARTICIPATING EXPERTS:

  • PETRA GARAJOVA
    Biomaterials, wool keratin extraction
  • ALEXANDER MARINUS
    Felt with recycled jute
  • IRINA MALOIR
    Textile experiments with wasted materials
  • EWA STEPNOWSKA
    Fashion designer working with repetitive patterns

One of the biggest issue in textile production is the use of petroleum-based plastics. Washing our polyester clothes releases plastic non-biodegradable particles in the waters. But plastic has very interesting properties which are difficult to replace with non-plastic materials: waterproof, rigidity, solidity, smoothness, transparency…

This worksession will explore biodegradable plastics through the use of biodegradable materials such as gelatin, sodium alginate, cellulose, glycerol, textile waste, paper waste… With those new materials, we will prototype objects to hopefully replace our daily plastic use.

You will work together with invited artists/designers from EUNIC countries to speculate, prototype, experiment. It is not a classical vertical one-to-many workshop but a more horizontal way of working by sharing knowledge and competences.

To participate to this worksession, you need to have at least one of these competences:

  • Making biomaterials
  • Having an engineering background
  • Having a biology background
  • Designing with sheets of materials

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@IMAL

registration

Are you interested in how digital tools can revisit traditional crafts, how we can use waste (upcycling and/or recycling) as a resource, how electronic textiles can empower inclusivity, or how we can make biomaterials a sustainable alternative to plastic? Register here or Watch online HERE.

10:00–11:00

Guided tour of “The End and the Beginning”

11:00–12:00

Presentation of worksessions outcomes

12:00–13:30

Brunch

13:30–13:40

Welcome public for the talks

13:40–14:00

Introduction

14:00–15:20

Round table on textile for healthcare
with: Giulia Tomasello, Valentina Frunze and Petra Garajova

15:20–15:40

Break

15:40-16:00

Julie Dítětová: Machine learning: Programming patterns out of traditional textiles

16:00-16:20

Lavoslava Benčić: Stories Beyond Lace

16:20-16:40

Flora Miranda: Generative design & fashion

16:40-17:00

Anastasia Pistofidou: Distributed research in textile labs network

TicketsRegistration

Conference

8 DEC, 2024
10:00–17:00

@IMAL

30 Quai des Charbonnages, 1080 Brussels
- Metro 1 or 5, stop at Comte de Flandre
- Tram 51, stop at Porte de Flandre

watch online @Youtube

FREE / 8€ tickets

Worksession:
Traditional × digital crafts

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@greenfabric

Rue Jean-Baptiste Baeck 33, 1190 Brussels
- Train S1, stop at Uccle-Stalle or Forest-Est
- Bus 50, stop Bempt

35€ / 70€ registration

Worksession:
Zero-waste / upcycling

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@greenfabric

Rue Jean-Baptiste Baeck 33, 1190 Brussels
- Train S1, stop at Uccle-Stalle or Forest-Est
- Bus 50, stop Bempt

35€ / 70€ registration

Worksession:
E-textile / healthcare

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@IMAL

30 Quai des Charbonnages, 1080 Brussels
- Metro 1 or 5, stop at Comte de Flandre
- Tram 51, stop at Porte de Flandre

35€ / 70€ registration

Worksession:
biomaterials

6&7 DEC, 2024
09:30–17:00

@IMAL

30 Quai des Charbonnages, 1080 Brussels
- Metro 1 or 5, stop at Comte de Flandre
- Tram 51, stop at Porte de Flandre

35€ / 70€ registration

TFOL 2024 PARTNERS

The Future of Living 2024’s visual identity, directed, designed and developed by Marko Damiš includes AI Generated patterns by Czech artist Julie Dítětová , with the support of the Czech Centre Brussels

The Future
of Living 2026

Are you a creative professional with expertise in architecture and sustainability? Do you have bold ideas about the future of living? We're looking for a curator... and that might be you!

We're looking for:

  • Strong presentation and communication skills
  • Solid understanding of the festival's theme—innovative architectural practices.

Your Role:

  • Curate and coordinate content, logistics, and communication
  • Liaise with partners and participating institutes
  • Support promotion and public-facing content

What We Offer:

  • A paid opportunity
  • Connections with professionals and key stakeholders from across Europe
  • Visibility across our website and social media channels
  • The opportunity to present your curated work at prominent innovation and technology festivals in Belgium

This is your opportunity to showcase your work on a European stage!

How to Apply:

Send an email to eunicinbrussels@gmail.com with your portfolio, CV, and a short cover letter outlining your vision.

Deadline: February 15, 2026

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