The aim is to reactivate and process traditional knowledge about regional resources such as sheep’s wool, herbs, honey and wood, and make it accessible in community formats. It’s about far more than just traditional craft techniques though.

»We make the close link between our ecological future and local production, biodiversity and our social interactions visible and tangible. The theory is important,« tells Fernandes, »but we also wanted to do something. With our hands, with the region and with others.« The two students share the common experience of familiarising themselves with a new culture through practical work. Fernandes, an Indian architect, lived in the United Arab Emirates until her tenth birthday, then moved to India, where she also studied, before coming to Weimar. Wong, who hails from Hong Kong, learned German during a gardening project – by speaking, rather than just by learning the grammar rules. The project’s central question arose from these personal experiences: how can knowledge of the environment be translated into concrete, collective action?