URBAN FABRIC

Urban Fabric is the title of Malta’s Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2023.

The project, by Open Square Collective, re-contextualises the traditional Maltese village core by merging two elements – traditional city planning and the Phoenician-Maltese tradition of fabric production and dyeing. The installation uses wood, recycled stone and organic fabric that is sustainable and certified eco-friendly as its main components. This is in accordance with the artists’ ethos of recyclability and eco-consciousness. These components create a ‘street-like’ layout that enables the viewer to interact directly with the installation.

Urban Fabric, wood, fabric, metal, stone, London Design Biennale 2023, photo Carl Tanti, 2023

The installation uses as its source material documentation about how the Phoenicians used to dye wool and linen garments using (mainly) two types of sea-snail species which are common along the Mediterranean shores – the Murex trunculus and the Murex brandaris. The installation piece draws on eco-friendly methods as an alternative to ancient practices.

Thus, Urban Fabric strives to encourage discourse about the environment by presenting a well-researched, thought-provoking creative installation that combines aesthetic and spatial awareness with activism.

The installation will enjoy a prominent showcase during the London Design Biennale at Somerset, in London. Audiences in Malta will also be able to engage with the installation via this website, as we invite you to stay with us on this journey as Malta’s ambassadors at the biggest design event on an international forum.