Visionaries: Building sustainability

In this video of Eva Haviarova — and in all of the videos we created for this series, note the dress on a mannequin behind her.

Believe it or not, the dress is made from wood products.

Haviarova, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, created the dress as a way to demonstrate how we can upcycle wood materials. The dress features wood shavings, leftover veneers, and mismatched pieces of wood in an intricate design.

And yes, it’s wearable.

Haviarova said her goal was to show how fun and wonderful wood as a material can be.

Finding novel ways to use every part of the tree is something Haviarova has dedicated her career to. It fits in with her vision of sustainability.

Haviarova has devoted her career not just to sustaining forests, but to practices that sustain individuals and entire communities — she helps train people to look for way to use the materials they have on hand to create valuable and useful products.

Meet the Filmmaker/Blogger

Sheradan Hill Sheradan Hill

About Visionaries

This blog and video are part of the Visionaries series, which highlights the work and lives of researchers in the Purdue University College of Agriculture. The content for this series is created by the students of ASEC 280 (Digital Storytelling).

See More Visionaries Stories

Explore other videos and blogs created by our student-filmmakers

Videos are also available on the Purdue Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication YouTube channel

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