AMANDA MARÍA FORASTIERI (she, they)  is a fashion designer and artist based in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Working at the intersection of art, design and applied research of historical and contemporary Caribbean materiality, Amanda recontextualizes ancestral ecocentric technology and intergenerational artisanal techniques in the face of today’s petroleum-based, mass production economy and ongoing erasure of our collective memory as a colonized territory. Through this, she imagines and proposes a decolonial, decentralized place-based material system for Borikén (Puerto Rico) and the Caribbean region. Her methods of sourcing and processing span from locally grown plant fibers and dyes, yarn and palm weaving, textile recycling, textile printing, dumpster diving, foraging, artisan collaborations and contemporary application of intergenerational craft techniques, focusing on hyper-local sources in both the physical and spiritual realms. Whether meant to exist as attire or objects, her creations aesthetically merge graphic elements and geometric shapes with textile manipulations made from found organic and non-organic materials, typically created through an experimental, material-first approach.

 

Following her win at the Supima Design Competition (2020), the launch of her first capsule collection (2022) and return to the island (2022), her recognizable graphic pieces have transformed with her growing relationship to the Earth, and her vision has moved beyond fashion and into the contemporary art space. She is currently planning her first fashion performance for 2025, supported by local organization Beta Local through their grant program Máquina Simple, and hopes to continue expanding her work in the intersection of art and experimental fashion.

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Please email fora@amandaforastieri.com for any inquiries.

 

Photos by: Alana Serbiá