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Inside The Reykjavik EDITION hotel in Iceland, fashion designers Tanguy Mélinand and Drífa Líftóra unveiled their collection of clothes stitched from harvested and preserved Icelandic seaweed. The designers collaborated with SEAWEEDWORKS, a project founded by creative director Charlie Strand, to spotlight the potential uses of seaweed in art, fashion, design and technology for the special exhibition.
Before Tanguy Mélinand conceived his pieces, he waded through the shallow water in Iceland, to pick the strings of seaweed. He hung them in his workshop to dry, and as soon as the strands of seaweed were free from water and moisture, he tailored and repurposed them into a buttoned jacket, a high-waist skirt, a pair of plaid trousers, a handbag, and a pinstriped overjacket. Designer Drífa Líftóra shared the space with Mélinand in showcasing the future of seaweed as a fashion ingredient with SEAWEEDWORKS. She designed a one-off jacket, embedding seaweed into the fabric of the clothing.
Part of The Reykjavik EDITION hotel is rooted in design and architecture. Opening in 2019, the property was designed in partnership with a local architecture firm and a New York-based studio with the guidance of ISC design. Its ties with these industries progressed to showcasing design pieces, making its involvement in the annual festival DesignMarch a natural next step. This festival highlights new approaches to materials in the field of design.
Mélinand was a graduate of fashion design at Geneve University of Art and Design and a 2022 winner of the Yinger Gold Prize for sustainable design. Líftóra, who is a fashion design graduate in Haute Couture and Technology in the Paris College of Art, combines screen painting with her fashion approach and textile pieces.