Unwritten: The Implicit Luxury
Cindy Lilen Moreno Biec
Abstract Can materials make us communicate better and deeper, without words?
Ancestral textiles held such a power, but many of these have vanished despite the
attempts of some tribes to keep those secrets alive. Our task is to help bring back that
knowledge and a haptic way of thinking in order to fight the culture of prohibiting
touch which has evolved in many places. Touch is the sense that holds the most
memories, opening new worlds of communication connecting hand, eyes and brain.
This paper will analyse how artisans and craft can help to make this happen via three
ancestral textile languages—the Andean Quipu system, Bogolanfini mud cloth from
Mali, and Mongolian felt. Taking these unwritten languages as metaphors for human
development and interaction, and understanding that humans have found different
ways to express themselves when the possibility to translate everything into words
does not exist, we see that workmanship is a central concept for all of them. For those
societies, these languages were a means to create their own worlds, keep memories,
develop their identities, and make their thoughts and cultures last. These textiles,
being holistic, can go beyond boundaries and achieve better interactions because
they do not rely on intellectual knowledge, instead engaging feelings and senses,
producing internal wellbeing which can be later passed on to the external world.
Recovering these languages and the way of thinking they inspire helps us to reach
a state where we create our own identity beyond the culture around us, and closer
to life experiences, places, and knowledge. These environments would be designed
with natural materials and encourage users to be part of that space using their hands
to adapt everything to their needs, to be part of the journey of their senses. In a
world where we often communicate in a very impersonal way, using technology,
and sometimes feeling isolated even when surrounded by people and things, being
consciously present in the moment is now the new luxury. Can natural materials and
craft overcome this and offer humans a better way of interacting with others and
the world them? They probably can, but this is not a luxury that can be bought; it
requires people to put brain, hands, and soul together to make it work.
C. L. Moreno Biec (B)
Patagonia, Argentina
e-mail: info@cindylilen.com
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_3
45
Cindy Lilen Moreno Biec
Abstract Can materials make us communicate better and deeper, without words?
Ancestral textiles held such a power, but many of these have vanished despite the
attempts of some tribes to keep those secrets alive. Our task is to help bring back that
knowledge and a haptic way of thinking in order to fight the culture of prohibiting
touch which has evolved in many places. Touch is the sense that holds the most
memories, opening new worlds of communication connecting hand, eyes and brain.
This paper will analyse how artisans and craft can help to make this happen via three
ancestral textile languages—the Andean Quipu system, Bogolanfini mud cloth from
Mali, and Mongolian felt. Taking these unwritten languages as metaphors for human
development and interaction, and understanding that humans have found different
ways to express themselves when the possibility to translate everything into words
does not exist, we see that workmanship is a central concept for all of them. For those
societies, these languages were a means to create their own worlds, keep memories,
develop their identities, and make their thoughts and cultures last. These textiles,
being holistic, can go beyond boundaries and achieve better interactions because
they do not rely on intellectual knowledge, instead engaging feelings and senses,
producing internal wellbeing which can be later passed on to the external world.
Recovering these languages and the way of thinking they inspire helps us to reach
a state where we create our own identity beyond the culture around us, and closer
to life experiences, places, and knowledge. These environments would be designed
with natural materials and encourage users to be part of that space using their hands
to adapt everything to their needs, to be part of the journey of their senses. In a
world where we often communicate in a very impersonal way, using technology,
and sometimes feeling isolated even when surrounded by people and things, being
consciously present in the moment is now the new luxury. Can natural materials and
craft overcome this and offer humans a better way of interacting with others and
the world them? They probably can, but this is not a luxury that can be bought; it
requires people to put brain, hands, and soul together to make it work.
C. L. Moreno Biec (B)
Patagonia, Argentina
e-mail: info@cindylilen.com
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_3
45