Contributions of textile design to the regional identity of the Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

Based on a survey of the textile production of textile makers from the Sierras de Córdoba and attempting to reconstruct a regional aesthetic from the records of clothing in archaeological pieces of the indigenous Comechingonas cultures and ethnographic production, this research work is proposed as a contribution to the contemporary textile design and identity. The project was developed from the concept of “Disruptive Design”, that is to say: produce-create and consume-create in a different way than usual (Gardetti, 2017) and Strategic Design focused on more environmentally friendly production processes, reversing current methods, generating innovation strategies approach that provide added value to the product from the following guidelines: a) Raw materials based on natural fibers. b) Reuse of dyeing properties, artisanal processes of native natural dyes. c) Innovative pattern based on textile typologies focused on the reuse of fibers, zero waste. d) Consumer awareness in relation to the use and maintenance of clothing, environmental problems in the life cycle of the product. e) Optimization of sequences and processes of creation-production of clothing in which cleaner production is involved under controlled processes (Salcedo, 2014). Another important aspect that was taken into account is the ethics of the designer in the search for innovative and transformative processes, and in promoting the impulse of regional economies through employment, use of natural fibers and collaborationism in the production of designs co-producing jointly with the artisan textile. The methodology used was participant observation, data collection and primary sources; for this, archaeological statuettes and ethnographic textile typologies were taken that are conceptualized in the creative process of each clothing-accessory-complement. In the clothing design process, typologies were created in which the user can interact and transform the clothing from disassembly and / or assembly in alternation of "pattern-texture-color designs" according to tastes and preferences, producing co- design between the designer and the user, including different body types, ages. The collections developed by two designer researchers: “Chasca Arqueológica”, a project by Carola Rossetti and “Chasca Etnográfica”, a project by Marcela Catalina Mambrini, highlight the archaeological-ethnographic textile, producing the recovery and revaluation of the textile heritage of our province with the enhancement and safeguarding textile techniques in danger of extinction due to lack of transmission. The term Chasca refers to the dawn star, the one that enables the new day. This concept was taken as a metaphor for design a new starting point for the artisan textile production of Córdoba. The results of this research work have been made available to the cooperatives of mountain textile makers, in order to begin to manage the mechanisms of self-sustaining production for vulnerable regions in the interior of the province, with the aim of generating micro textile enterprises that consolidate and spread the cultural identity of our province through clothing, complements and accessories.