Earthen
Mud Skins I
Guiding Questions
What does it mean to wear Earthen mud? What does it mean to build soil as a fabric form? What do “Earthen Mud Skins” signify for the future possibilites of textiles?
Reflections
The Earthen Mud Skins project is a research-based design study that integrates earth as a wearable substance, built directly onto one’s body.
As our memories of universal connectedness are reignited through earth materiality for architectural contemporaries, Earthen Mud Skins allows this technology to be worn to heal ourselves and our sacred connections to the Earth. Earthen Mud Skins opens up the possibilities of improving circular systems within garment construction and calls into question what types of garments are constructed to shape our day-to-day experiences of productivity, mindfulness and meditation.
Earth materials are low-carbon, minimally processed, affordable, and nontoxic. Using their sculptural abilities, the Earthen Mud Skins project considers the possibilities provided by natural substances while catalyzing a universal consciousness that transcends the ego limitations of Anthropocentrism. Wearing earth materials bridges our intimate connection to all that is alive, including the soil itself and its vivacious microbiomes and bacteria that live within the uniquely differentiated soil composites.
Collaborations
Lola Ben-Alon, Natural Materials Lab
Photography: Yunha Choi and Changbin Kim