Erez Nevi Pana 

Life as it appears from space is down to Earth

Erez Nevi Pana, a designer and animal rights activist, earned a bachelor’s degree at the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel and a master’s degree at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. He is currently working towards a PhD in vegan design at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. His work questions both materials and manufacturing processes. Is it possible to create ethically responsible designs with respect for people, animals and the planet? On a previous visit to the TextielLab, Nevi Pana experimented with tufting plant-based yarns. In the past year, he has focused on weaving. This tapestry, Life as it appears from space is down to Earth, was developed and produced in the lab by Judith Peskens and Josefina Eikenaar.

The design was a response to the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. In a war-torn country, Nevi Pana asked primary school children to draw a future in which we are forced to leave Earth and start over on Mars. Details from 70 children’s drawings grew into a collage that sketches a pure and innocent view of this new world. When translating the drawings into vegan textiles, it was important to maintain their naivety and to avoid animal fibres. Organic cotton was chosen for the coloured images, with fluorescent yellow and orange acrylic representing the neon shades of the markers used. The white background was woven from an abaca yarn made of banana leaves. To create more depth, a filling yarn was added in certain places.

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Photos by Josefina Eikenaar commissioned byTextielMuseum