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©Eva Pierrot
©Eva Pierrot
©Eva Pierrot
©Anta Thiam

Rose Ekwé

  • Textile creator
  • Paris, France
  • Rising Star
Rose Ekwé Textile creator
©Eva Pierrot

Challenging harmful textile practices

  • • Rose's bespoke textile solutions are ethical and eco-friendly
  • • Her biomass textiles, named Gélotextiles®, are compostable
  • • Bespoke projects are her favourite parts of the job

Rose Ekwé isn’t your typical textile designer. Her studio merges textile design, weaving studio and research laboratory. At the prestigious École Duperré in Paris she learned the technical know-how; her diplomas at HEAR Mulhouse and an internship at Fab Textiles in Barcelona cultivated her interdisciplinary curiosity and innovation abilities around sustainable alternatives for the textile industry. Experimenting with fine plastic tubes and nylon, she was confronted with the limits and polluting properties of many 'modern' materials. To find an alternative was anything but intuitive led Rose – through empirical research and the support of engineers – to develop yarns made out of seaweed: “I'm using local materials that are invasive – or seen as waste – and finding ways to enhance them, my great desire is for things to remain useful, the circularity of things.”

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Eva Pierrot
  • ©Rose Ekwé
  • ©Rose Ekwé
Photo: ©Eva Pierrot
Gélotextiles® coloured from the Phytochrome n°1 Collection

These Gelotextiles® are soft, compostable and ecological materials, designed and woven in Rose Ekwé’s workshop, on a blade loom. Their patented composition combines Gelofils that she makes with French and European raw flax and hemp yarns certified by Masters of Linen, Oeko-tex and European Flax. Before being woven, all the yarns have been dyed in colours ranging from rose to yellow, dark purple and green in her workshop using vegetable dyeing processes.

Height 80 cm
Width 40 cm

Photo: ©Rose Ekwé
Gélotextiles® samples from the Achromatic n°1 ERG Collection

Gélotextiles® are soft, compostable and ecological materials, designed and woven by Rose Ekwé in her workshop, on a blade loom. Their patented composition combines Gelofils, in different beige shades here, that she makes with French and European raw linen and hemp yarns certified by Masters of Linen, Oeko-tex and European Flax.

Height 40 cm
Width 40 cm

Photo: ©Rose Ekwé
Gélotextiles® coloured from the Phytochrome n°1 Collection

Gelotextiles® are soft, compostable and ecological materials, designed and woven in Rose Ekwé’s workshop, on a blade loom. Their patented composition combines Gelofils that she makes with French and European raw flax and hemp yarns certified by Masters of Linen, Oeko-tex and European Flax. Before being woven, all the yarns are dyed, here violet and natural beige shade, in her workshop using vegetable dyeing processes.

Height 70 cm
Width 120 cm

Find Rose Ekwé in the itinerary

Paris: in the shadow of the Bastille
15 locations
While visiting the capital, come and take a walk in the historical neighbourhood of La Bastille. Follow our 11 recommendations to discover this area and its resident master craftspeople, galleries, shops and workshops.
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