The Shenkar Textile Design Department conducted, in collaboration with Makerere University (Uganda), a hybrid workshop centered around a traditional local material called Bark-cloth, a textile produced from the bark of the Ficus tree in southern Uganda.

This material has deep roots in the history and local culture of Uganda, holding significant religious and spiritual importance. For the Western world, it represents a novel and unfamiliar material, presenting great potential for acquainting oneself with a different material culture and offering opportunities for learning, development and creativity.

Mixed teams of Shenkar and Makerere students collaborated at the workshop, exploring the characteristics of the material. They made a research, checking the possibilities to incorporate it into contemporary and original design and learned methods and approaches for new design perspectives from both sides.

Throughout the process, students from different backgrounds got to know each other, raising the question of how direct material work can build bridges between cultures.

The workshop led, on behalf of Shenkar, by Yuval Etzioni and Shira Shoval, culminated in a celebratory event at the African Studies Gallery on Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv.

The workshop, organized at Shenkar, was conducted in collaboration with the CoCuDi Center, African Studies Gallery in TLV and with the support of Shenkar International School.

Photography at the top of the page: Ariel Medina.