WEEKLY TOPIC: DESIGN and TEXTILE
Presenter: Soledad Hoces de la Guardia
Designer and Academician at Universidad Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Area of interest: Artisan, Clothing and Textile design Artesanía, Tangible and Intangible Heritage
Date: 18.04.2018
Key Concepts and Key Words:
#Historyoftextile #Definitionoftextile #Differenttextileexamples #Textile techniques #Textileanddesignrelation #Textileandhumanrelation
Key Questions:
What is textile? What are the charactersitics of textile material? What is the relation between textile and humans?
Focus of the class:
A brief history of textile
Textile materials
Textile and Human, Culture Relationship
Introduction:
Coming from a country (Turkey) which gifted the human history its beautiful and elaborate fabrics, patterns, motifs, clothing, accesories, hometextile materials, carpets and any other textile element that can be ever imagined, and from a city where most of the textile productions of today’s big fast fashion brands such as Topshop, H&M, Zara and etc take place, I always thought I know quite good about textile: the history, the types of fabrics, different weaving techniques, and different uses of textile materials. Therefore, at the beginning of the class, I was excited to see a different perspective on the things I already know and I was curious about the future use of textile materials in design. It was a little bit disappointing not to see different examples from around the world to illustrate how textile is used in a varied and diversified way. Moreover, in a class like this, it is a pity that we have discussed just briefly about the potential of textile as a future design element. Yet, there were some important points worth to be mentioned.
Highlights of the class:
A brief history of textile
People have used textile for different purposes: for clothing, for decoration, for household items and etc. We can find the early examples of these pieces in the archaic excavation fields everywhere around the globe. In Chile for example, Chinchorro mommies could be an example to this:
“They (Chinchorro fishermen) prepared the body by removing the muscles and viscera and replacing them with branches, feathers, leather strips, skeins of yarn and other material.”
(ChileantesdeChile.com)
The fabrics and textile were so important that the humans created routes between the places where they were produced and sold. One of the earliest example to these routes was Marco Polo’s Silk Road.
Image:Owlcation
Then appeared routes for the colorants and other materials to use in color-making techniques. Another famous route for textile trading was Spanish Manila Galleon Route.
Image:GoogleImages
The geographic discoveries had a great impact on the development of textile and clothing, so did social movements and industrialization.
Image: GettyImages
Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a calculation machine which was able to read the patterns and weave these patterns in the loom. So that was one of the milestones in textile history. This was the beginning of the machinery production. With the help of industrial revolution, t-line production made textile one of the most profitable sectors of the time.
Image: GoogleImages
Another important invention was velcro. George de Mestral gave a new dimension to the history of textile.
TEXTILE, HUMANS and NATURE
As our lecturer said : “When there is textile, there is culture. Because we are all woven somehow, the skin covering our body, the hair, the organs, the systems, the nerves...”
It is not a coincidence that the word “tejido” (derived from tejer) means not only woven but also tissue, texture and textile. Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that our body is “tejido” since it contains systems and textures and tissues which are bonded and biologically woven.
Similarly, the nature also has its own systems exemplifying textile and woven textures. The insects and bugs and animals weaving textures; the planst creating rhizome roots to grow are just a few examples to that.
Image: GoogleImages
Image: GoogleImages
We have different types of textiles all around us but we do not notice them most of the time. Even in language, we refer to these woven systems. Some examples would be:
“No dar puntada sin hilo”
“Seguir o perder el hilo”
“Ser paredo en la hilacha”
“Hilar fino”
“Textile is a dialogue with the world”
Language is not the only concept which textile or textile systems are transferred. Santiago as a city and its systems like transportation,architecture, even social relations are vertically or horizontally woven.
We, as humans, interpret the nature in our woven material or we look at the nature to get inspired.
WHAT IS TEXTILE?:
CHARACTERISTICS of TEXTILE
Physicochemical Properties:
Flexibility
Elasticity
Permeability
Solidity of colors
Tensile strength
Heat resistance
Incombustible (Fireproof)
Resistance to friction
Abrasion resistance
Static resistance
Electroconductivity
Texture
Transparency
Lustre
Textile potential
The textile material should be rigid (solid) but they should be also felxible enough to allow movement. According to this definition, we can say that any object or any material or surface which has a range of flexibility could be woven: therefore is a texttile material.
TEXTILE TYPES
Textile material with another textile material
Textile with non-textile material
Non-textile material with non-textile material
USE of TEXTILE
Clothing
Carpets
Shades
Architecture
Constructions
Containers
Scenography
Shadow display
Shades and blinds
Agriculture
Experiments
Recycling
Technology
Health and many more
PRACTICE in TEXTILE ATELIER (UC Textile LAB)
At the end of the class, we were invited to the textile lab of the university to learn more about textile with hands on activitites.
REFLECTIONS:
At the beginning of the presentation our lecturer said that her main aim is to make us aware of the woven systems that are surrounding us and if you ask me she managed to do that. After the class, I started looking at the buildings and materials with a different eye and started seeing the vertical and horizontal textile patterns everywhere.
Here are some photos I took remembering that textile class:
Valdivia, Museum of Natural Science and History
My Wayu bag (Colombian, handmade)
A typical wooden Valdivian Cottage (the hanger made from wooden, totally flexible)
Valdivian Cottage, from the kilim on the floor to the basket where we put the wooden to the ceiling or stairs all woven in different forms
Valdivian Fresh Market (Dried Seafood, beaded like a necklace)
Godzilla Concert (The lighting installations, the ceiling, the speakers hanging from the ceiling all are constructed imitating the textile patters)
Parque Bicentenario (The sunseats and umbrellas)
Parque Bicentenario (Nature has its own way to weave the things. )








