Meet Ganit Goldstein, Redress Design Award 2018 finalist

Travelling abroad in Asia was a formative experience for Ganit Goldstein, student of Fashion Design at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. “I wandered through markets and secondhand clothing shops,” she remembers. “And I saw an abundance of clothing, all of which could have been turned into something else with new designs and techniques.”

For her Redress Design Award submission, Ganit shredded secondhand fabrics and industrial textile leftovers, before weaving them together again using techniques of traditional Ikat, in which warp or weft threads are tie-dyed. The result? Striking, textured dresses in jewel-like tones.

There is a practical element to the work: “Any textile can be shredded and mixed into new fibres,” says Ganit. “With machines, it can be reproduced in a large scale. In this way, we can make beautiful clothes that combine the essence of craft with technology to create more sustainable fashion.”

“I’ve always loved sewing, drawing and working with different materials,” she continues. “For me, fashion is a great way of expressing myself through a mix of art and design. And from fashion, we can learn a lot about our society: for example, that we all have the same body but that different cultures accept and perceive it in incomparably different ways.”

Inspiration derives from “designers who work in multi-disciplines, like Neri Oxman who combines art and architecture with design, biology, computing and materials engineering. Or Iris van Herpen who combines design with architecture, 3D printing and special materials,” says Ganit. “I love the way she challenges conventional ways of seeing fashion by using different materials.”

Spurred by the vision of turning textile waste back into objects of desire, Ganit’s goal is to create a brand underpinned by research and innovation into new textiles and accessories; combining 3D printing and textile development with sustainable processes and ways of thinking.

“There are enough clothes in the world,” she says, simply. “By combining craft and technology, we can create beautiful, sustainable new clothes. It is our responsibility, as fashion designers, to make the world a better place through our work.”

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