Don’t Steal our Sunlight by Rafael Kouto

To coincide with Milano Design Week, Istituto Svizzero presents the video installation Don’t Steal our Sunlight by Rafael Kouto, on view from 07.06.2022 to 12.06.2022 between H10:00-22:00. The goal of the work is to deconstruct and reconstruct the creative process, showing the possibility of creating a new narrative by emphasizing the consequences of climate change. These new visions occur through the personification of climate change, including the melting of glaciers and desertification, through two different textile production techniques and the inclusion of special effects in the video – where data on these changes are translated into visual elements. Participants in turn become active in the production process, in value and in achieving a result.

Workshop
07.06.2022
H13:00-17:00
Free entry

Rafael Kouto will hold a workshop on Tuesday 07.06.2022 from H13:00 to H17:00: with the ‘Melt and dye’ technique, participants will be able to dye textiles and their own clothing by the melting ice sculptures containing textile dye.
Free participation anytime within the duration of the workshop. Please bring your own clothing to be dyed.

About House of Switzerland (26.04.2022-12.06.2022)
From the 26th of April, Switzerland will present its innovative and creative side in Milan. In the heart of the historic Brera district, House of Switzerland will serve as a meeting hub between Italy and Switzerland. Until June, the pop-up event platform will be at Casa degli Artisti and in collaboration with several personalities in the fields of economy, science, politics and culture, it will offer a program of panel discussions, networking events, official meetings, workshops and much more around the themes of innovation, sustainability, art and culture.
For the Milan Design Week, House of Switzerland will be dedicated entirely to the world-famous Swiss design. House of Switzerland is a project of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, namely Presence Switzerland, the Embassy of Switzerland in Italy and the Consulate General of Switzerland in Milano together with the partners Switzerland Global Enterprise/Swiss Business Hub Italy, Switzerland Tourism and Pro Helvetia.

Rafael Kouto (1990, Lucerne) is a Swiss, with Togolese and Italian origins, fashion & textile designer and researcher in upcycling methods and sustainable strategies with a particular focus on open source and craftsmanship. He studied Fashion Design at FHNW-HGK in Basel, earning an MA in Fashion Matters from the Sandberg Institut in Amsterdam. He has had various work experiences at Alexander McQueen, Maison Martin Margiela, Carven and Ethical Fashion Initiative. In 2017 he founded the avant-garde fashion brand of the same name, engaging projects for the promotion of upcycling and sustainability through the use of textile waste, dead stock and others materials in the creative and production process. The brand won the Lotto Sport & Diesel International Talents Support Awards 2019; the Swiss Design Awards in the Fashion & Textile category 2018 and 2019 and finalist 2020 and the Gebert Ambiente Design Preis 2020-2021. His vision has been featured on Vogue Uk, Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar Italia, Dazed and others. The collections have been exhibited in Switzerland and abroad. The promotion of upcycling takes place through workshops in collaboration with various institutions and through teaching as associate professor in Fashion Design at IUAV in Venice. As a Fellow of Istituto Svizzero in Milan, he focused his research on the development of participatory projects related to sustainability, upcycling, climate change and open source in the creative and productive process in fashion and textiles.

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