Creativity for sustainable change

Saturday, 28 February 2015 00:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Some unique elements were seen at the ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards when the Raffles Design Institute in Colombo and the Danceworld School of Jazz and Modern Ballet showcased young people’s creativity, founded on their appeal for building a better planet.

Based on the theme, ‘Youth for Sustainable Change’, Raffles pushed the boundaries of creativity in its graduate design students, giving them flexes used for billboards to conceptualise, design, create and produce practical and wearable garments and accessories. These flexes are generally discarded into landfills causing immense environmental pollution. From raincoats to overcoats, to stylish capes and sophisticated evening wear, elegant evening bags, fashionable totes and practical carryons, to exotic hats, avant garde jewellery and trendy footwear, the designers themselves walked the ramp to showcase the extent to which the 3R concept of reduce, reuse and recycle can be taken. Another unique feature was that wherever possible, elements used in the showcased products were also reused and recycled, whether it was the fabric that formed the base of some of the garments, leather and rubber scraps, clasps, handles and zippers and other embellishments. ACCA Sri Lanka’s pursuit to empower youth to be the drivers of sustainable change and thereby push the boundaries of awareness in society and environment, also saw another first in Sri Lanka’s dance history. Directed and choreographed by Surekha Buell, young dancers from Danceworld performed silhouette dancing integrated into visuals, which has never been performed live in Sri Lanka before given the inherent challenges this form of creativity encompasses. While judging movement and distance to create visual impact and ensuring that fluidity of these movements must be perfect, the difficulty of having two sets of dancers on either side of the stage who had to be in perfect sync with each other to ensure their movements mirrored each other’s, were all executed to perfection. The visuals woven into a story with the silhouette movements brought out the imperative need for social and environmental change. Pix by Lasantha Kumara