![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=154&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=93ebf30dd4e416708d7630ae7cbee196 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=308&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=d395e4d5ecc030560b8ff646cf5b1792 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=562&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=153156af9c30fa954078303b8a2a5fde 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=750&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=c7d7ba2bb5a33eb22d93648730249f0e 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1025&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=cdfb9a0c05224536fe60ccb3fe9e4cdf 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1172&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=6acec62345d51ce77983cf60a768d401 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N12_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1406&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=7114db8552f1d413b44e85a49c69a3dd 1920w)
Studio Anna Heringer is based in Laufen, Germany and is widely acclaimed for the way in which their architecture supports local economies as well as an ecological balance. As Heringer says, her vision is to āexplore and use architecture as a medium to strengthen cultural and individual confidenceā. As part of this endeavour, and when working on projects such as the Modern Education and Training Institute (METI) in Rudrapur, Heringerās Studio decided to create jobs for theĀ craftswomen of Rudrapur by setting up Dipdii Textiles together with Veronika Lang.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=128&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=9f9f14cbb7091b8e80abfefd4f1dc03f 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=257&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=e169397180ddeaa580203e9f263fb946 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=470&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=0b67d9c43b8ea0a79c03bfb800267238 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=627&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=afb46bbe08f418614588509e53343134 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=857&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=4d6182ea6ef9f4ab5acce3dd0103585f 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=979&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=155718bf5c308033f14b4e80527bdbbe 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N11_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1175&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=6aaf8738afa384042ce1d6e0516cd602 1920w)
Dipdii Textiles offers improved work opportunities and, in particular for the four million people, largely women, who make their living from working with fabrics. As Heringer points out, the majority of factories used by the Western rag trade are not a way of life. So Dipdii Textiles has set out a different path allowing parents to work from home through a decentralised network of production that enables the sale of a range of vests, shirts, pillows, shawls and bags.
The Dipdii Textile collection shows that Bangladeshi traditions together with contemporary creativity and flair offers something unique and personal that challenges the long-term malign consequences that come with the introduction of the globalist consumer-driven demand of disposable goods in developing countries.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=316&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=57db9453ce92733a6e13052ae81bbc67 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=631&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=65b2617e0f7936647529a68ce592c38a 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1154&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=3eca35d5f2529dc8866a7adee484ec1f 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1539&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=902bd1e7eb27130fbe70bd3f52f52b81 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2105&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=f5bcbf5336759e43ba8e4d5fc26c7967 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2405&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=723f0add2848e7d2e585623ecaa77ce1 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N5_webportrait-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2886&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=ef2b5cf92e1c28c6e7fb2f00697f0e30 1920w)
However, as an architect, Heringer wanted to see if the same skills and workmanship present at Dipdii Textiles could be made to communicate the social and sustainable values that her architecture embodies. To get started on this, Heringer worked with her team to create a Bangladeshi textile installation for the 2018 Architecture Venice Biennale. The project was crowdfunded and explored the notion of textiles spatially, investigating their architectural potential. These ideas are also embedded within the individual textiles themselves in their depiction of building elevations and masterplans.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=140&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=930c88e6dc17295eddba9fc01217af02 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=280&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=e987a1a83cfc78d6996ec05d1d463bc0 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=512&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=cfe3a08ec9129d9c6b976f38bd0d2e81 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=683&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=21adf209a4f7eaccf30fc85844f61ef2 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=934&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=be0c688897770b6655831b1f7d1b68d6 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1067&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=da28a4a4ba49b289767ac030cc9e7569 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N4_weblandscape.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1280&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=7c665296b69ebcf4076a7d8e36181654 1920w)
The collaborative and highly communal methods of creating these textiles is mirrored in the way Studio Anna Heringer has worked on their buildings. As Anna Heringer says, for her āthe process is just as important as the outcomeā. She describes how for the DESI Training Center in Rudrapur, she created a set of hand-drawings starting with the plan but worked up the design for the building bit-by-bit in collaboration with the builders on-site. Only hand-drawings were used throughout the process and many sketches were made on mud floors as the building took shape. Heringer describes this way of working as highly intuitive, leading to a strong team spirit and engendering self-confidence.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=147&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=ed9dfa365f9993cbc8c778c684ff2899 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=293&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=1fa45795679ba5e165c42f942c8aeb53 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=536&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=9cdb4229a5ecb663fe06a3e6fa9f8a7d 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=715&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=18fd6967acfe77c5efcc3feeb9f9b385 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=978&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=bab8e27332f9fc8b623c378dcb48bd8b 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1118&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=065b281a6a89f2f728559445c2edd87c 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FR_200403_N2_weblandscape-scaled.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1341&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=70fe691f061b31cf4a16b0122e6a212f 1920w)
Last year, Studio Heringer completed Anandaloy, a centre for people with disabilities that includes a workshop for tailoring training and fair textile production. Heringer sees the initiative as an important way to tap into creative energy giving all those involved a profound sense of purpose and allowing Bangladesh to show that their country has, as she notes, āmore to give than the average high street t-shirtā.
This sense of meaning is tangibly expressed in adopting reused materials, old saris, for example. Each garment with its own life story. This depth of cultural resonance is a powerful antidote to the faceless and homogenous market economy that is all too often indifferent to the plight and hardship of individuals. And it is imbued beautifully in each stitch of the fabrics made by this community of artist craftswomen.
To find out more about the Dipdii Textiles collection visit: www.dipdiitextiles.org
This post forms part of our series onĀ The Architecture Drawing Prize: an open drawing competition curated by Make, WAF and Sir John Soaneās Museum to highlight the importance of drawing in architecture.