Crafted Liberation transforms textile waste into symbols of empowerment

Hosted at the Australian Design Centre from 22 November 2024 to 19 February 2025, RK Collective presents Crafted Liberation, an exploration of product design at the intersection of collective action and material innovation. The exhibition transforms discarded headscarves into elegant stadium seats, amplifying the voices and resilience of Iranian women in the fight for gender equality.

RK Collective is an award-winning, female-led product design and innovation collective whose mission is to empower positive change by addressing the most pressing challenges facing our people and our planet. Driven by a shared passion for design and social impact, Nila Rezaei and Christopher Krainer founded RK Collective in 2023 in Sydney.

At the heart of Crafted Liberation is the transformative power of design to drive social change. Initiated by Iranian-Australian designer Nila Rezaei, the project draws inspiration from the Women, Life, Freedom movement, which captured global attention following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. It transforms the power of social resistance into innovative, functional objects, with 491 Iranian women anonymously donating their unwanted headscarves to support the cause. The project continues to grow as more headscarves arrive from around the world.

“In Iran, women have been banned from entering stadiums since 1981,” explains Rezaei. “The stadium seat represents more than just functionality – it’s a symbol of exclusion. By using these discarded headscarves to create seats, we reclaim and redefine the narratives of suppression into stories of empowerment.”

The project’s creativity lies in its approach to storytelling through a tangible and functional product enabled by circular material innovation. The seats are made from unique composite material developed in collaboration with an Australian manufacturer specialising in materials and processes involving fiber and composite technologies. Using a combination of lamination and pressure molding, the result material is a durable and lightweight composite made from 100 per cent waste resources such as unwanted and donated head scarves and waste plastic bags.

Related: Tosin Oshinowo in profile

For decades, Iranian women have been banned from entering stadiums. Crafted Liberation confronts this reality by turning stadium seats into a canvas for resistance and unity. The project not only transforms textiles but also transforms how we perceive spaces of exclusion, fostering new opportunities for dialogue, acceptance, and belonging.

In a call to the design community, Crafted Liberation invites designers, artists and thinkers to reflect on how material innovation can drive social impact. It demonstrates the potential of design to tell compelling stories, mobilise collective action and turn discarded materials into symbols of hope and resilience. The project asks the design community to think beyond aesthetics and functionality – towards creating work that bridges cultural narratives, sustainability and social empowerment.

Australian Design Centre
australiandesigncentre.com

RK Collective
rk-collective.com

Next up: The Danish book on spatial justice and architecture