Design meets the rainforest: a biojewelry workshop with FSA, a sustainable latex material from the Amazon.
This workshop invites you to work with FSA (Folha Semi Artefato), an innovative biomaterial developed within the context of LATX Biomaterials. FSA is created by coagulating liquid natural rubber into thin, flexible sheets that are coloured with natural and synthetic pigments.
The material comes from the Jamaraqua community in the Brazilian Amazon (Pará, near the Rio Tapajós), where it is handcrafted by a women’s collective. The rubber is harvested wild from the forest, following a regenerative practice that does not rely on deforestation. Local sourcing and processing generate income, strengthen communities, and actively contribute to preserving the rainforest.
In the workshop, you work directly with this material to create your own jewellery pieces. Cutting, shaping, combining, and experimenting are at the core of the process, supported by a wide range of colours and material qualities.
At the same time, the workshop offers insight into the work of LATX Biomaterials, an intercultural research and design project that connects traditional craft techniques from Brazil and Mexico with contemporary material development. It focuses on creating circular, plant based alternatives to synthetic materials. The course links making with a broader understanding of material as part of an ecological, social, and cultural system. The aim is not only to create an object, but to develop a new relationship to material, origin, and process.
Alexander Amir Khan is a designer and material researcher who has been working with natural latex for over ten years. Through LATX Biomaterials, he develops circular, plant based materials in collaboration with communities in Mexico, Brazil, and Switzerland. His work connects craft, research, and design with a focus on sustainability and intercultural exchange.
18—22:00
290 / 310 / 330CHF
Max. 12 Participants
MAISON SHIFT • Zeughausstrasse 56, 8004 Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
