Inherited Future
'Banana as Matter, Tradition as Knowledge'
Words - Jasmine Dhika
I believe that communities who live with and still depend on their natural surroundings are the true guardians of our biodiversity. This belief is what guided me in shaping this project, where weaving became my language, and material is my medium. It made me ask: how much can a piece of textile shift the way we look at the relationship between people and plants?
“Banana as matter” speaks about the matter of a banana plant as a rich material resource. And “tradition as knowledge” acknowledges the wisdom embedded in how communities have historically worked with the plant.
The project explores how the long-overlooked traditional knowledge of banana stem fibre can be investigated through its material characteristics. Historically, banana fibre was used to make ship ropes due to its water resistance, buoyancy, and durability in seawater. It was also woven into ceremonial kimonos for its silk-like sheen, breathability, and ideal stiffness. Qualities that made it both luxurious and functional.
Inherited Future is about rediscovering the banana plant as a carrier of memory, place, and ancestral knowledge.
The work begins in Sangihe-Talaud, where knowledge lives in the land, the plants, and the hands that work with them. Here, the banana plant was woven into daily life. Integral to rituals, textiles, wrappings, and storytelling. This intimate connection shifted during colonial intervention, when cotton and coffee replaced bananas as cash crops. With the decline of the plant came the erosion of traditional ecological and cultural knowledge, and most importantly–their relationship. Yet today, banana fibre, derived from agricultural waste, offers a new potential. It allows us to produce textiles without extra land or irrigation, since it comes from the by-product of banana harvests. More than a sustainable solution, banana fibre is a way to revive forgotten knowledge and restore the bond between material, place, and tradition.
I see material as an active collaborator in the design process. And material driven design approach offers a framework for that relationship. My work with banana fibre begins with an investigation into its technical and sensorial qualities. Technically, banana fibre is lightweight, flexible, buoyant, water-resistant, and highly elastic and tensile. Making it adaptable to applications from textiles and composites to paper. Sensorially, it is lustrous, raw, and full of character; its wild, organic feel resists the sterility of industrial fibres. It recalls the textures of hair, jute, flax, and other bast fibres. Sourcing banana fibre from agricultural waste minimises environmental impact, avoiding additional land use or intensive farming. But beyond performance, I value its ability to communicate a story and evoke emotion. I treat its irregularities not as flaws, but as authentic surface cues that invite me to rethink what “refined” means. A material’s uniqueness can forge a personal connection, and banana fibre holds identity and presence in its strand.
My approach to working with the banana plant operates on two interconnected levels: From the source, exploring every part of the plant for its potential applications. I am collaborating with Mr. Alan (@alan_seratalfiber), a banana fibre farmer from West Java, to source and process banana fibre. And towards the result, I developed both soft and hard material samples from the fibre.
In Indonesian tradition, every part of the banana plant has a role: the flower in soups, the fruit as food, the leaf as natural wrapping or a plate, the peel as compost, and the stem as fibre for textiles and crafts. Today, these same parts are being reimagined. I experiment with hard and soft applications. Hard samples: boards and moulded panels from coarse fibre and pseudo-stem, created without additives for this project. Soft samples: woven and non-woven textiles from long fibre, pseudo-stem, and coarse fibre. My woven work explores both decorative and functional techniques. The non-woven pieces draw from traditional paper- and felt-making, using embellishment and needle-felting to create distinctive textures. The resulting CMF (colour, material, and finish) material board collection showcases the unique qualities of banana fibre. Highlighting its potential to bridge tradition and innovation, while offering sustainable, culturally rooted material possibilities. Imagined here as part of the textures and surfaces that shape our journeys in transport interiors.
For me, as a textile designer, this project is also about conversation and storytelling. At Tactile Landscapes (RCA Graduation Show, July 2025), I was reminded how sharing material experiments can spark dialogue and collective imagination.
The banana plant embodies resilience. In Sangihe, people say: “Sombo ndai sombo, tuwo ndai tuwo”, that means “rise and rise again, live and live again.” This proverb guided my thesis, reminding me that design is not only about creating textiles but also about preserving the languages of plants, places, and the people who live with them.
Inherited Future is a way to keep weaving with fibre, with memory, and with community. It is a reminder to ask: how much can a textile matter?
Words & Design Research
Jasmine Dhika
Project Recognition
Nominated for the Isola Design Awards 2025 in the New Material and Sustainability categories (link)
Runner-up & Highly Commended in PriestmanGoode x RCA “Journey of a Resource” for CMF Interior Transport (link)
Exhibited at the London Design Festival 2025 with OSA Studio, September 2025 (link)
Finalist of the Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Prize 2025, part of New York Textile Month, September 2025 (link)
Photography
Alana Fernandez (@alana.fernandez.m)
3D Modelling
Handy Mulya Erlangga (@officialhandy)