Future Heritage Workshop (Fall 2025)

Source: https://act.mit.edu/academics/courses/future-heritage-workshop-toxic-textiles-fashion-fables/ Parent: https://act.mit.edu/academics/courses/

Instructor : Azra Akšamija

TA : Eliot Felde

Lab Fee : Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt

Credit : 3-0-9 U/Units arranged

Schedule : W 2-5

Location : E14-151 (Mars Lab)

In an era shaped by AI, digital fabrication, and mass production, this course explores the embodied knowledge of the traditional crafts as a radical frontier of design. We will examine how endangered textile techniques can be reimagined to create new cultural and economic value. From Bengali jamdaani weaving to American quilting and Egyptian khayamiya appliqué, students investigate how textile crafts connect art with innovative models of sustainability, material experimentation, and ethical production beyond fast fashion and industrial systems.

Through research-creation and collaboration with master craftspeople and contemporary designers, students will translate historical textile traditions into experimental fabric applications, from fashion prototypes to installations. The course emphasizes hands-on workshops, process documentation, and iterative prototyping, culminating in two final projects that integrate weaving, screen printing, and reverse appliqué techniques to envision future applications of crafts in design. Readings and guest lectures complement hands-on practice.

[### Azra Aksamija and Future Heritage Lab at Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2022

Exhibition](https://act.mit.edu/2022/11/azra-aksamija-and-future-heritage-lab-at-lisbon-architecture-triennale-2022/)

[### Azra Akšamija

→ Professors](https://act.mit.edu/about/people/azra-aksamija/)

[### Azra Akšamija | The Future to be Rewritten

Press](https://act.mit.edu/2020/07/710/)