Restorative fashion: Collaborative research, benign design and the healing powers of the mutuba tree

Abstract

The potential of a radically Indigenous and endangered textile to improve human well-being and environmental health is the subject of an ongoing cross-disciplinary and multi-faceted research project between the United Kingdom and Uganda. This article presents the researchers’ findings to date on Ugandan barkcloth, produced from the mutuba tree and part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Methods included fieldwork in Uganda, natural dye experiments, testing a biodesign strategy, textile laboratory testing and scientific laboratory testing of the unique antimicrobial properties of barkcloth. Although beginning with artistic, practice-based research, the group uncovers important knowledge that may provide significant medical science benefits. They identify the central role of the mutuba tree in restorative and agroforestry systems; create natural dyes that may confer barkcloth’s properties to other materials. Thus demonstrating barkcloth production as a truly slow fashion textile and well-making system that promotes the well-being of people and planet in multiple ways.