Imasus

European Researchers’ Night 2026

2026-09-29T00:00:00+02:00

On 25 and 26 September, INMA took part in European Researchers’ Night 2026 with “Materiales en acción”, an interactive activity where IMASUS presented its work on sustainable materials for the fashion sector.

Over the two days, hundreds of people visited our space in Plaza del Pilar to discover new sustainable materials in a practical and engaging way. Visitors could touch and examine a range of material samples, learn about their properties, and use a digital electronic magnifying glass to explore the details that are usually invisible to the naked eye.

It was a wonderful opportunity to bring sustainable materials closer to people of all ages and to discuss how material innovation can help make the fashion sector more sustainable.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by, asked questions, experimented with the materials, and shared the experience with us.

IMASUS at the European Researchers’ Night 2026

2026-09-22T00:00:00+02:00

On 25 and 26 September, the European Researchers’ Night 2026 will take place under the motto “Imagine tomorrow”. The programme brings together 33 institutions and more than 270 participants across over 80 activities dedicated to science and research.

As part of the programme, INMA (Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón) will present “Materiales en acción”, an interactive workshop where visitors of all ages can discover, through hands-on experiments, how smart materials respond to their environment.

This year, the workshop will also feature IMASUS. We will share part of the project’s work on sustainable materials for the fashion sector, including material samples studied within the project.

Visitors will be able to touch and examine the materials, discover details that are not visible to the naked eye with a digital electronic magnifying glass, and explore explanatory cards with images and micrographs.

Location: Zaragoza, Plaza del Pilar
Date: 25–26 September 2026
Activity: Materiales en acción

Come and discover how materials science can help us imagine a more sustainable future for fashion.

Come to a SEM Session with IMASUS

2026-07-21T00:00:00+02:00

What actually happens during a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) session? This video offers a glimpse into one of the analytical techniques that supports our work at INMA (the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón) within the IMASUS project.

Although a SEM image may look like a striking black-and-white photograph, every image begins much earlier. Samples must be carefully prepared, mounted, and introduced into the microscope’s vacuum chamber. Once inside, an electron beam scans the surface point by point, generating signals that are transformed into highly detailed images.

Unlike conventional optical microscopy, SEM allows us to observe the microstructure and surface morphology of materials at magnifications ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of times, revealing features that would otherwise remain invisible.

Within IMASUS, SEM has become an essential tool for understanding sustainable fashion materials. For us at INMA, each microscopy session is an opportunity to look beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. Many of the properties that determine how a material behaves are hidden at the microscale, waiting to be explored.

Your browser does not support embedded video.

We hope this short video brings you a little closer to the laboratory and shows how scientific research contributes to the broader goals of IMASUS. Sometimes, understanding a material starts by simply looking at it from a different perspective—and SEM allows us to do exactly that.

Enjoy the session!

IMASUS at the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026

2026-06-23T00:00:00+02:00

In June 2026, Brussels hosted the third edition of the New European Bauhaus Festival, a biennial celebration bringing together the community, projects, and ideas that make up the New European Bauhaus movement. For IMASUS, it was an opportunity we had been preparing for: a chance to present our work to one of Europe’s most important audiences for sustainable innovation, interdisciplinary design, and collaborative transformation.

Pablo, Tessa, and I were at the stand at different points throughout the week. We brought together the digital tools, materials library, and student work from the workshops. Our NEB Festival materials page brings together the presentation, posters, postcards, and workshop worksheets we prepared for the event, so visitors can continue exploring the project after the Festival. What follows is what it felt like to be there, and who we met.

The Stand in Action

People came to the stand drawn by the materials. The combination of physical samples—fibres made from pineapple leaves, banana waste, and other sources that visitors could hold and feel—alongside the visual presentation of the methodology created an immediate connection. Visitors did not need a long explanation: they touched a sample, looked at a poster, and the conversation began.

The reaction from the fashion and textile community was enthusiastic. That energy confirmed something we had suspected but had not yet tested at this scale: IMASUS is addressing a real gap. A project that connects material science, open tools, and creative methodology for fashion education resonates because this combination is still rare.

The Workshop

The project also ran a dedicated workshop during the Festival. When we explained that the materials database, the tools, and the code behind them are entirely open—that anyone present could copy the database, fork the tools, take them home, and start using or adapting them right away—the reaction was immediate.

For many participants, the idea that an Erasmus+ project could leave behind genuinely reusable infrastructure, rather than reports filed and forgotten, was unexpected. That moment felt like the clearest expression of what IMASUS is trying to be.

Conversations That Will Continue

Some of the most valuable exchanges happened away from the stand. At a Forum panel on textiles, I had the chance to connect with Anneleen Bertels, co-founder of Knotto, a project building collaborations between European designers and Japanese craftspeople. Its exhibition at Maison Hannon in Brussels was running during the same week. We quickly found common ground in the relationship between ancestral material knowledge and contemporary design practice, and in how to make that knowledge useful in practice.

I also met Tamari Aptsiauri, co-founder of COSMO, a Georgian circular design brand working across craft, retail, and international partnerships. Her perspective on building a sustainable fashion business grounded in traditional craft was a sharp, practical counterpoint to the more research-oriented conversations we were having at the stand—and a reminder that the route from knowledge to practice takes many forms.

We also attended the closing session of the Creative FLIP Final Conference, which ran on 9 June alongside the Festival opening. The gathering brought together people from across the cultural and creative sectors and opened conversations well beyond the textile world.

A Project with Traction

Returning from Brussels, I feel more confident than ever that IMASUS is in the right territory. The Festival showed how much appetite there is—from policy actors, educators, and practitioners—for projects that treat sustainable fashion not as a branding exercise, but as a genuine educational and methodological challenge. The work we have done on materials, tools, and pedagogy is directly useful to people trying to change how fashion is taught, designed, and made.

There is more to do. But Brussels showed us clearly that it is worth doing.

IMASUS—Imagineering Sustainable Fashion—is an Erasmus+ KA2 project. Learn more at imasus.eu.

We Have New Samples from Squeeze The Orange

2026-05-20T00:00:00+02:00

We recently received a new set of samples from Squeeze The Orange, an inspiring initiative working at the intersection of biomaterials, design, and circular economy.

Their organic bio-leather is made from dehydrated orange peel waste, transforming a food by-product into a flexible, compostable sheet with a distinctive texture and visual quality. It is a material that immediately invites touch, observation, and further testing.

What makes the project especially compelling is not only the material itself, but the system behind it. Squeeze The Orange rethinks agricultural and food waste as a valuable resource, exploring how orange peels can become compostable bioplastics and biodegradable materials for textiles, fashion, and product design.

The initiative also creates social value through collaboration with local farmers, waste-management industries, and educational communities around Barcelona and the Llobregat area. Their work shows how sustainability, craftsmanship, and research can come together to build alternatives to conventional synthetic materials.

We are very happy to have these samples in the IMASUS collection and to explore new possibilities for circular design using orange waste.

You can check the material details in the IMASUS app. To learn more about the project, visit the Squeeze The Orange website or follow their latest developments on Instagram.

From PDFs to a Living Knowledge Base

2026-05-15T00:00:00+02:00

Many research and education projects publish their results as final documents: a report, a set of PDFs, a folder of files. These formats are useful, especially for archiving and formal delivery, but they are not always the easiest way for people to learn, teach, translate, adapt, or build on what has been produced.

For IMASUS, we wanted the open knowledge base to do more than document the project. We wanted it to become a living resource: something that could be read online, reused in classrooms, referenced during workshops, translated across contexts, and extended as the project grows.

This is why the IMASUS outputs have been developed not only as deliverables, but as open digital infrastructure.

The Limits of the Final PDF

PDF is a valuable format. It preserves layout, travels well by email, and remains useful for printing, archiving, and formal reporting. IMASUS uses PDF for those purposes too.

But PDF should not be the only form of an open educational resource.

When knowledge is locked into a final PDF, it becomes harder to update, translate, search, quote, remix, or maintain. It is harder to reuse individual chapters in a classroom. It is harder to version changes transparently. It is harder for assistive technologies, search systems, and other digital tools to understand the structure of the material. A PDF can be open to download while still being difficult to work with.

Free and open-source communities have been making this point for years: openness is not only a matter of licence or access. It is also a matter of format, structure, and the practical freedom to reuse and improve the work.

Training Modules as Open Learning Material

The IMASUS training modules cover four complementary approaches to sustainable and circular textile design:

Each module includes theoretical content, a case study, and a practical toolkit. But the publication format matters as much as the structure.

Instead of offering the modules only as static files, we published them as an interactive reader on the IMASUS website. Readers can navigate by chapter, switch language, and choose the format that fits their context:

read online in the browser
download PDF for printing and teaching packs
export EPUB for offline reading
export Markdown for adaptation and reuse

This matters because an educator preparing a workshop, a student reading on a phone, a designer collecting references, and a partner translating content do not all need the same format. Open access is not only about making something free to download. It is also about making it usable in different situations.

A Material Directory That Can Be Explored

The same principle applies to the IMASUS material directory.

The material research started as structured content: material names, origins, properties, applications, sources, and notes. But a table alone cannot fully support discovery. Designers and learners need to search, compare, filter, return to entries, and connect material information with concrete design questions.

On the IMASUS platform, the material directory becomes a navigable resource. It can support teaching, workshop activities, and design exploration. It also creates a stronger bridge between scientific characterisation and practical application: materials are not only described, but placed where they can be used by learners and teams working on real challenges.

From Knowledge Base to Workshop Practice

The IMASUS platform also connects the knowledge base with the workshop methodology.

The training modules introduce key sustainable design lenses. The material directory gives access to specific material references. The challenge cards translate industry needs into design prompts. The workshop structure then brings these resources together through the Imagineering approach: appreciating what already exists, understanding the wider system, creating a shared direction, and developing proposals that others can join.

This connection is important. A knowledge base has more impact when it does not remain separate from practice. In IMASUS, the resources are designed to be used before, during, and after the workshops: for preparation, team formation, project development, process documentation, and final publication.

Why Format Is Part of Accessibility

Accessibility is often discussed in terms of interface design: contrast, typography, navigation, keyboard access, and readable layouts. These are essential. But format is also part of accessibility.

When educational content is available as HTML, it can be linked, searched, translated, indexed, and read with assistive technologies. When it is also available as PDF, it can be printed or shared as a teaching pack. When it is available as EPUB, it can be read offline. When it is available as Markdown, it can be adapted, remixed, versioned, and preserved with minimal technical friction.

Structured, semantic, open formats also make the resources easier to process with emerging tools, including translation workflows, search systems, and AI-assisted learning or research environments. This does not replace human teaching or interpretation. It simply makes the knowledge base more portable and more useful.

Open Source, Open Access, Open-Ended

The IMASUS platform has been built as open-source software and deployed as a public resource. This reflects a broader commitment: project results should not disappear into a closed folder after delivery. They should remain accessible, inspectable, maintainable, and useful for people beyond the original consortium.

That does not mean the work is finished. A living knowledge base needs care. Links need to be checked. Materials need to be expanded. Translations need review. Feedback from workshops needs to be integrated. New examples and case studies can be added over time.

But this is exactly the point. The legacy of IMASUS is not only a set of completed outputs. It is a structure that can keep supporting learning, teaching, experimentation, and collaboration in sustainable fashion.

Explore the Training Modules

Refining the IMASUS Open Knowledge Base

2026-05-11T00:00:00+02:00

Before the IMASUS Material Directory, Learning Modules, case studies, toolkits and workshop support application reached their current form online link, they went through an important phase: evaluation, reflection, and improvement.

As part of Work Package 2 (WP2), the consortium carried out a structured feedback process to ensure that the materials were not only academically solid, but also practical, accessible, and relevant for real users, from VET learners to designers and textile professionals.

A Collaborative Feedback Phase

We approached this phase as a collaborative exercise across the partnership.

Each partner collected:

Internal feedback from staff and collaborators
External feedback from VET trainers, learners, designers, SME owners, and other stakeholders

Rather than evaluating in isolation, this process allowed us to test the materials across different contexts, expertise levels, and countries, which was essential for a project built on accessibility and knowledge sharing.

To support this, we shared draft materials, including the stakeholder report, material directory, learning modules, and the platform prototype, along with access to the demo website.

What We Learned

The results were clear: the foundation was strong.

Across both internal and external evaluations, participants:

Found the materials clear and relevant
Confirmed alignment with the project’s objectives
Valued the combination of research and practical application
Expressed interest in using and sharing the resources

This was an important moment for the project. It confirmed that WP2 was delivering what it set out to do: translating complex research into accessible, usable knowledge. At the same time, the feedback gave us something even more valuable: direction for refinement.

From Feedback to What You See Today

This evaluation phase directly shaped the materials that are now available online.

It allowed us to move from well-developed content to polished, user-focused resources.

At the same time, the process remained open. While the evaluation was underway, we continued refining the modules and platform, integrating recurring feedback before finalising the WP2 outputs and preparing translations.

Why This Step Matters

Evaluation is often seen as a final checkpoint, but for IMASUS it was part of the design process itself.

WP2 was always intended to create an open educational knowledge base, one that connects academic research with the real needs of the fashion and textile sector.

To do that, it needed input from the very people who would use it.

This phase ensured that the materials were not just informative, but usable, adaptable, and relevant across contexts.

Looking Ahead

With this phase completed, WP2 now stands on a solid foundation, refined through collaboration and ready to support learning, teaching, and experimentation in sustainable fashion.

And while the materials are now live, the process behind them remains ongoing: listening, improving, and building a shared knowledge base for a more sustainable future.

Algae-Based Bioplastic: New Explorations in Sustainable Materials

2026-05-08T00:00:00+02:00

We have received samples of algae-based bioplastic developed by Jingyi Yang, a material that explores new possibilities for sustainable fashion through natural resources.

One of its most relevant environmental benefits is that it is fully biodegradable, water-soluble, and compostable under natural conditions, helping to reduce long-lasting waste in the environment.

From a functional and aesthetic perspective, the material has a leather-like feel, a semi-translucent appearance, and a flexibility that changes depending on its thickness. These qualities open up potential applications across clothing, accessories, footwear, and home textiles, while supporting more responsible approaches to design.

In upcoming posts, we will analyse these samples using SEM (scanning electron microscopy) to better understand their structure at the micro scale.

You can learn more about Jingyi Yang’s work on Instagram: @jingyiii_y.

Webinar #2: Sustainable Design Principles and the IMASUS Training Modules

2026-04-30T00:00:00+02:00

We are excited to announce that the second webinar from the IMASUS series is now available!

In this session, we introduce the IMASUS training modules, focusing on sustainable design principles and how designers can integrate circular strategies into their creative practice.

The webinar explores a key idea at the core of the IMASUS project: sustainable fashion starts at the design phase.

While there is increasing awareness around sustainable materials and circular systems, designers often lack the tools and frameworks needed to translate this knowledge into concrete design decisions. This is exactly where IMASUS positions itself: as a bridge between academic research and practical application.

During the webinar, we present the structure and approach of the IMASUS training modules, which are built around four key design strategies:

Zero Waste Design: rethinking pattern cutting and construction to eliminate material waste from the outset
Design for Modularity: creating garments that can be adapted, transformed, and extended over time
Design for Longevity: focusing on durability, adaptability, and emotional attachment
Design for Recyclability: designing garments with their end-of-life in mind

Each module combines theoretical content, real-world case studies, and practical toolkits, supporting designers in moving from understanding to application.

Through examples ranging from historical garment systems to contemporary design practices, the webinar highlights how these approaches are not only possible, but already being implemented in innovative ways.

At the same time, it emphasizes an important point: there is no single solution to sustainable fashion design. These strategies are complementary, and the most interesting work happens at their intersection.

This webinar also serves as an introduction to the upcoming hands-on workshop on Design for Recyclability, which will take place at Lottozero in Prato. Participants will have the opportunity to apply the tools introduced in the modules and develop their own prototype concepts in a collaborative environment.

We hope you enjoy this webinar and that it offers a useful starting point for rethinking your own design process.

Link to Youtube video for the webinar #2

Stay tuned for more updates from the IMASUS project!

Webinar #1: Sustainable Textile Innovations and the IMASUS Material Database

2026-04-28T00:00:00+02:00

We are Nansi and Ariana from INMA, and we are very happy to share the first webinar in the IMASUS series.

In this session, we introduce the IMASUS Material Database and present part of the work we have been developing over the last few months around innovative and sustainable textile materials. The webinar includes images of several samples we have been studying, together with microscopy images that help reveal the structure and character of each material in more detail.

This first webinar is an invitation to explore how material research, observation, and documentation can support a more informed approach to sustainable textile design. It also reflects one of the core aims of IMASUS: making new material knowledge more accessible to students, educators, and practitioners in the fashion and textile sectors.

We were also lucky to be joined by three excellent speakers, and we would like to thank them for sharing their knowledge and perspectives:

Pilar Ureña. Instagram: @pilarurenaescariz
Ietje Klaver from Pyratex. Instagram: @pyratex_
Elisenda Jaquemot from Squeeze the Orange. Instagram: @squeezetheorange

We hope you enjoy this webinar as much as we enjoyed recording it. We will soon share more information about Webinar #2, where we will present more exciting details about the IMASUS project.

Watch the Full Webinar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGsA65LPQks