Natural Materials Group Lunchtime Seminars: Focus on Textiles
You are invited to join us for our monthly virtual event where we will focus on textiles. This event will explore and how unlocking natural colourants and other natural materials can reinvent the global dyeing and textiles industry. Look back in time as we delve into the secrets of ancient flax technology, how these can be used to create a more sustainable future for textiles.
You will hear from:
- Darshil Shah will talk about lessons from ancient flax fibre technology
- Qiaoyi Wang will give a talk entitled ‘Colorifix: unlocking nature's colorants for the global dyeing industry’
- Ateeq ur Rehman will talk about 'Bio Inspired Textiles'
Our research on materials from biological organisms is essentially aimed towards inspiring the design and development of multifaceted engineering materials of the future. A big discovery happened in Kisumu in Kenya, where when stumbling across a group of insect farmers, we discovered a spider species (N. cruentata) that spins the world’s toughest egg case silk. We are now researching other types of silk cocoon architectures and are working to develop ripstop textiles based on them. - Kate Goldsworthy will talk about 'Accelerating Circularity: key challenges for the fashion & textiles industry'
We are currently moving towards a period of staggering innovation in the recovery of textile materials from waste-resources of animal, vegetable and mineral origin. At its best Circularity promises a future world where regenerative and restorative material solutions are at the heart of our material world; with designers creating new, compelling visions fora more sustainable F&T industry. This talk will present some of the key challenges in applying circularity in the context of climate emergency.
The interactive seminar will also provide the opportunity for Question and Answers and we often hang around at the end for a fun and engaging panel session.
Meet the speakers
Darshil Shah
Qiaoyi Wang
Ateeq ur Rehman
Professor Kate Goldsworthy
Agenda
13:00 – Start and greetings
13:05 – Darshil Shah
13:20 – Qiaoyi Wang
13:35 – Ateeq ur Rehman
13:50 – Kate Goldsworthy
14:10 – General discussion
14.30 – Close
