The clothes and textiles sold in Sweden is mostly manufactured in countries outside of the EU. The production requires large areas of land and vast amount of water. The environmental impact is big during the production phase in terms of water usage, chemicals and transports. In general, the consumption of new textile is increasing in Sweden, but so is also reused textil. In 2016 the consumption of textile in Sweden was nearly 14 kg per person and year, which equals the weight of 14 t-shirts, 5 pairs of jeans, 7 hoodies and 2 coats. At the same time 5 kg textile per person and year is thrown in the the household waste and nearly 60 % of the thrown textile is in good condition and could be used again. The amount of clothes given to charity organisations is almost 4 kg per person and year but 70 % of the collected textile is exported. The collection and recycling of non-reusable textiles in Sweden today is low. Current recycling techniques are mainly energy recovery through incineration. The reasons for this has to do with limitations in the sorting and collection of consumer textile waste or limitation of optional recycling processes. In fact, there is no large scale industrial process to recycle textile into new textile, which leads to an open loop system where input of new materials is required. But there are upcoming technologies that meets the challenges today. This project explores the dynamics of current ways of treating textile waste. Through learnings from existing system, in combination with new technologies, alternative ways of structuring processes of production, consumption, usages and disposal is proposed with the aim of establishing a new relationship to contemporary urban production.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur les symboliques de pouvoirs magiques liées à la production du textile en Scandinavie médiévale durant l’âge viking, en particulier sur la quenouille, emblème de la vie quotidienne des femmes vikings. L’analyse établit qu’elle était porteuse d’une pluralité de métaphores magiques et mythiques et était rattachée à une multitude d’objets, de personnages et de créatures de la mythologie scandinave. Cette étude est fondée sur les découvertes archéologiques ainsi que les descriptions textuelles de pratiques cultuelles magiques vikings, et démontre que la quenouille était non seulement perçue comme un outil typiquement féminin au cœur de la production du textile, mais aussi comme un objet fantastique qui permettait de pratiquer la magie. Ces attributs surnaturels jouaient un rôle décisif dans l’expression de l’autonomie et du pouvoir social féminin dans la société scandinave, qui était alors presqu’uniquement centrée sur le masculin. L’indépendance et les privilèges de ces femmes s’articulaient principalement à travers une conception du monde foncièrement issue du polythéisme scandinave, dont le motif le plus important semble avoir été la quenouille. L’hégémonie chrétienne cause la disparition lente de cette base mythologique, et donc des connotations surnaturelles de la quenouille, entraînant avec elles le pouvoir et l’influence sociale des femmes. / This research concerns the symbols of magical powers linked to the production of textiles in medieval Scandinavia during the Viking Age as expressed through the distaff, emblem of the daily life of Viking women. The analysis establishes that distaffs represented a variety of magical and mythical metaphors, and were also associated to multiple objects, characters and creatures in Scandinavian mythology. This study is based on archaeological discoveries and textual descriptions of viking magical cult practices and demonstrates how the distaff was perceived not only as the heart of ancient textile production, but also as a fantastical and characteristically feminine object that could achieve a variety of magical acts. These supernatural attributes played a decisive role in the determination and the expression of female autonomy and power in the male-centric Viking society. The independence and privileges of these women hinged on the Nordic mythological world, and its main motif seems to have been the distaff. With the spread of Christianity in the Scandinavian world, this polytheistic understanding of the world slowly disappeared, alongside the magical connotation of the distaff, and with it, the social power and influence of women.