From discarded headscarves to stadium seats, Crafted Liberation leverages material innovation to celebrate Iranian women’s resilience in the pursuit of gender equality.
From November 2024 to February 2025 at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney, RK Collective presented Crafted Liberation, an extraordinary exploration of product design at the intersection of collective action and material innovation. The exhibition transformed discarded headscarves into elegant stadium seats, amplifying the voices and resilience of Iranian women in the fight for gender equality.
Nila Rezaei – Co-founder, RK Collective, Christopher Krainer – Co-founder, RK Collective
Designing Empowerment: The Story Behind the Seats
At the heart of Crafted Liberation is the transformative power of design to drive social
change. Initiated by Iranian-Australian designer Nila Rezaei, the project draws inspiration
from the Women, Life, Freedom movement, which captured global attention following the
death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. It transforms the power of social resistance into innovative,
functional objects, with 491 Iranian women anonymously donating their unwanted
headscarves to support the cause. The project continues to grow as more headscarves
arrive from around the world.
Reclaiming Spaces Through Collective Action
For decades, Iranian women have been banned from entering stadiums—a stark
representation of their systemic exclusion. Crafted Liberation confronts this reality by turning
stadium seats into a canvas for resistance and unity. The project not only transforms textiles
but also transforms how we perceive spaces of exclusion, fostering new opportunities for
dialogue, acceptance, and belonging.
“In Iran, women have been banned from entering stadiums since 1981. The stadium seat represents more than just functionality—it’s a symbol of exclusion. By using these discarded headscarves to create seats, we reclaim and redefine the narratives of
suppression into stories of empowerment.”
Material Innovation: Reclaiming Waste to Statement of Empowerment
The project’s creativity lies in its approach to storytelling through a tangible and functional
product enabled by circular material innovation. The seats are made from unique composite
material developed in collaboration with an Australian manufacturer specialising in composite technologies. Using a combination of lamination and pressure molding, the result material is a durable and lightweight composite made from 100% waste resources such as unwanted and donated head scarfs and waste plastic bags.
This blend not only honours the composite materials traditionally used in stadium seats but
also reflects the strength, courage and stories of the women behind each scarf. Every seat
we create holds a story. A story of women reclaiming spaces, standing together, and
inspiring change.
A Call to the Design Community
Crafted Liberation invites designers, artists, and thinkers to reflect on how material innovation can drive social impact. It demonstrates the potential of design to tell compelling stories, mobilise collective action, and turn discarded materials into symbols of hope and resilience.
This project asks the design community to think beyond aesthetics and functionality—towards creating work that bridges cultural narratives, sustainability, and social empowerment.
Presented by RK Collective
RK Collective is an award-winning, female-led product design and innovation collective
whose mission is to empower positive change by addressing the most pressing challenges
facing our people and our planet. Driven by a shared passion for design and social impact,
Nila Rezaei and Christopher Krainer founded RK Collective in 2023, in Sydney, Australia.
Together, they’ve worked across a variety of industries, including consumer goods, medical
devices, public art, mobility, solar technology and material innovation.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its
principal arts investment and advisory body.
You can find out more about RK Collective by visiting their website rk-collective.com or Instagram: @crafted_liberation
