The topography of textile making
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Author
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Design
Language
en
Pages
150
Series
Abstract
While often perceived as a static background, the landscape surrounding our homes is inherent to our ever-changing living places. As we navigate ourselves through and between them, our surroundings continuously shape our daily experiences. Focusing on the surrounding aspects of places we can better understand their nature. This thesis studies the concept of place as a source of inspiration for textile design focusing on two main concepts as discussed by social anthropologist Tim Ingold: ‘dwelling’ and ‘correspondence.’ It indicates that places are dynamic, structured by geography, history, and family ties, and accents the potential of storytelling through mapping them. Positioning the textile designer as a cartographer the thesis introduces a contemporary way of mapping, that aims to grab the multifaceted nature of places, and links map-making with textile design practices. Using an autoethnographic research method, I explored my place of upbringing by integrating both geographical and familial contexts into the data collection process. This method enabled me to create a deep map by combining written text and images, to visually present the layered stories that are rooted in my family’s connection to our home. From this map, patterns that inspired woven and printed textile designs were then extracted to build a textile collection. During a focused two-week workshop at Aalto University, the production phase resulted in five larger-scale woven textile designs, alongside explorations of printing techniques, weaving structures, colors, and yarns. Each piece reflected the corresponding relationship between individuals and their surroundings. Some of them were later used for further finishing with printing and embroidery techniques. Ultimately, the design process was presented in a collective map format and evolved into a lookbook that showcases the results. In brief this thesis explored how our surroundings shape our experiences and affect our design practices, with a particular focus on the concept of place. It shows how mapping a place can inspire inventive ideas for textile design and outlines the practical application of collected data within the textile-making process.Description
Supervisor
Salolainen, MaaritThesis advisor
Hidalgo Uribe, LeonardoSalolainen, Maarit
Keywords
textile design, storytelling, deep mapping, cartography, weaving, printed textiles, dwelling, correspondence
