Future Experiences//Heritage//Future Living

As part of a group speculative project themed around the future of climate heritage, set in 2033, I have been focusing on heritage crafts within fishing communities and exploring how they can be preserved using kelp seaweed.

Kelpcore is a textile brand centered around speculative biomaterials, weaving together the threads of community learning and environmental consciousness. In the backdrop of restricted fishing laws in northeast Scotland, a palpable sense of community heritage has been lost. Kelp emerges as a fitting replacement, intertwining with local farming and textile craft to reignite a sense of cultural identity. Through its use of kelp, the brand champions local materials while preserving the rich legacy of fishing craftsmanship, all underpinned by a steadfast commitment to ecological integrity. Embracing a circular production model, Kelpcore embodies a vision tailored to rural coastal living, harnessing natural resources on a modest scale to cultivate a more sustainable community.

However, in 2038, ASOS acquired Kelpcore to facilitate mass production. Large-scale seaweed farms popped up all over the British Isles, but due to unsustainable harvesting practices and dredging seabeds, the biodiversity required to grow kelp never fully recovered. The residue of abandoned seaweed farms remains visible today. This raises questions about the brand’s initial values of environmental stewardship and community empowerment. Will the pursuit of growth lead Kelpcore down the treacherous path of greenwashing and the reckless overexploitation of kelp resources?

During this project, I developed a kelp biotextile and collaborated with printers and textile designers to create a maker’s guidebook that explores the various uses of this material.