Design Map · Eindhoven
The Last Elevation
Graduation project by Sandra Saffira Desitasari at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘The Last Elevation’ is a textile installation and video that traces the intertwined fate of a rare orchid, an Indigenous weaving tradition, and the global demand for nickel. In Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, expanding nickel mining for stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries is clearing the forests where the fibre orchid grows, threatening both the species and the Tolaki weaving practice that depends on it. The installation centres on a woven rug informed by the traditional craft associated with the orchid, which maps the region’s mining concessions. Rather than presenting a finished object, the work deliberately remains incomplete, with a video projected onto its back featuring conversations with journalists, scientists, and Tolaki weavers. Together, the video and rug reveal how extraction closes in on the orchid’s final refuge, its last elevation. By materialising ecological loss and cultural knowledge through craft, the work makes tangible the costs of pursuing a ‘green’ future.