Textiles as a discipline is unusual in that the textile is rarely the end product, but rather becomes part of a further making process. i.e. fashion, interior, installation, furniture, sculpture, architecture, product, automotive, etc.
Textiles may be created specifically to fulfil the needs or demands of specific contexts. a design may work to a brief to develop a durable textile in a specific colour palette for seating on public transport.
A textile may also exist already and be selected to meet a particular end use. Fashion designers and brands often build their garment collections after seeing textiles presented by manufacturers at specialist trade shows.
Main Qualities:
ART or DESIGN: Consider the intention of the textiles. Do they serve commercial design outcomes, are they being used within a functional context, or are they presented as works of art?
TEMPORARY of PERMANENT: Is the installation or placement of the textiles intended to be temporary, or do they form part a long-term or permanent structure?
LARGE SCALE or SMALL SCALE: Do you perceive the overall scale to be large or small? Think about how you might relate to the work in its context.
TRANSFORMING and/or DEFINING and/or FORMING: How do the textiles work to change the context they are placed within? Do they TRANSFORM an existing space or place? Do they function to DEFINE or perhaps emphasise a place or space in some ay? Do the textiles FORM their own shape, space or place? Or do they do more than one of these?
IMMERSIVE and/or DISTANT: Are the textiles made to be experienced close-up and in an IMMERSIVE way? Perhaps they’re designed to be touched or the viewer is placed within a textile environment. Or are they viewed form a DISTANT location?A distant location could be from across a room- or from a plane in the sky.
PATTERN and/or COLOUR and/or REPETITION and/or SHAPE: These four qualities are key factors in the design and creation of textiles. Consider if they’re dominant or important in the context the textiles are placed in. These qualities are by no means exhaustive, but should be a starting point for you to analyse the contexts of the works that follow.
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