In May 2022, FarmLab co-founder and director Silvia Brandi took part in the online interview series shemakes Voices, organised within the European project Shemakes — a Horizon 2020 initiative exploring innovation, sustainability, and gender equality in the textile and clothing sector.
The shemakes Voices series invited women innovators, researchers, makers, and cultural leaders to share their professional journeys and reflect on the future of textiles, sustainability, and creative entrepreneurship. Silvia’s conversation, moderated by Ista Boszhard from Waag’s TextileLab Amsterdam, focused on the connections between architecture, storytelling, rural innovation, and material culture.
During the interview, Silvia reflected on her path from architecture and design management in Milan and Barcelona to her work with Atlas of the Future and later at FarmLab in rural Austria. The conversation explored how storytelling, creativity, and practical experimentation can help build more sustainable futures, especially in relation to fashion and textile production.
Particular attention was given to FarmLab’s early work around local wool and regenerative approaches to material production. Silvia described the discovery that sheep wool in the region was often treated as waste, and how this became the starting point for exploring local processing, small-scale textile experimentation, and new connections between rural resources and contemporary design practices.
The discussion also touched on leadership, adaptability, and the importance of curiosity in interdisciplinary work. One of the key ideas emerging from the interview was the role of optimism and storytelling as tools for cultural and environmental change — a perspective Silvia described as “spreading optimism as a form of activism.”
The participation in shemakes Voices marked an early moment in FarmLab’s ongoing engagement with European networks working at the intersection of textiles, innovation, sustainability, and rural development — themes that continue to shape the organisation’s activities today.
You can read the original interview on the Shemakes website