Encoded Cloth From the Future – Rachel Lu

Citicape House with Europe's largest green wall in London by Sheppard Robson

In 2030, I imagine (or I guess hope) that we will have taken action against climate change. We will be composting and planting more trees and there will be greenery everywhere. We will decrease the amount of waste in the world, and upcycle to turn waste into something more useful and beautiful. An example would be these marbled tiles from post-consumer plastic waste by Enis Akiev or even the Pollution Popsicles which was a warning of water pollution.

Kazakhstani designer Enis Akiev has developed a method for turning single-use plastic packaging into tiles, by emulating the organic process of rock formation.

Metamorphic rocks such as marble develop their flowing, irregular patterns through heat and pressure, and Akiev’s Plastic Stone Tiles are subjected to similar conditions to achieve the same effect.
Pollution Popsicles

An ecoded cloth could be showing the possible solutions to waste and upcycling: how we could make something beautiful out of something people no longer want. We could quilt together old plastic bags, or scraps of fabric, or use dried flowers or dried tea leaves for embellishment.