Design Map · Eindhoven
A Living Archive of Fiber
Graduation project by Lilou Lemonnier - Bernede at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Since the 1920s, life and landscape in southern Madagascar’s Androy region have been transformed by Taretra Vazaha, or sisal, an agave introduced by French colonisers as a source of durable fibre. Farmed for decades by the Androy people, the alien species displaced native vegetation and became the backbone of colonial supply chains. Drawing on archival research alongside fieldwork in active plantations and abandoned ‘ghost fields’, ‘A Living Archive of Fibre’ pieces together this history. The multimedia installation comprises a silent video and four sculptural bodies woven from sisal and functioning as speakers, producing a soundscape of voices, machinery and environmental sounds. The use of sound reflects oral traditions in Madagascar, allowing voices absent from written colonial records to become part of a living archive.