NEW TEXTILE CRAFT

6. 7. - 30. 7. 2011

Direktorenhaus presents the new show of 4 young textile designers: The 5th Element. New European Textile Craft. From 5th of July until the 30th of July 2011 the Direktorenhaus changes into a mazy wintergarden

of knitted materials, woven textiles, organic objects and hand-stitched fabrics. The exhibition is showcasing for the first time works of Signe Emdal (Kopenhagen), Hao-Ni Tsai (London), Ruth Duff (Glasgow) and Izumi Sato (Stockholm) in Berlin.

Hao-ni Tsai (Stockholm)

 

Born in Taiwan, Hao-ni Tsai explores the possibility of transforming both Western and indigenous Taiwanese fibres and craft techniques, into innovative textiles through hybrid combinations. This cross-cultural approach aims to create a link between East and West with a new contemporary aesthetic and add value to an ancient material craft.

Hao-ni uses a range of hand techniques: traditional textile crafting, knotting, looping, knitting and Hao-ni uses a range of hand techniques: traditional textile crafting, knotting, looping, knitting and binding with combinations of different fibres and materials to produce the pieces.

Her project Textile Futures Textile demonstrates a process of re-evaluation and re-interpretation of abandoned materials from the natural environment in order to redesign them and celebrate their potential value.

 

(Photo above: Hao-ni Tsai)

Signe Emdal (Kopenhagen)

 

Since 2007 Signe Emdal has created digital knitted materials and garments in her studio. Signe Emdal is an expert in transforming digital visuals into knitted fabrics. In terms of both colors and graphics. Main focus is a field of ” Nature versus Digital “ and a deep respect of the world’s textile-heritage. Signe practice a highly intuitive process and have faith in a sustainable and personalized future. The artists work with a German Industrial digital knitting machine from 1984.

It is an early industrial KNITTING-machine with Jacquard- options, which is copied from industrial weaves and transformed into a knitting technique. Originally the 84´machine worked with punch cards, but have since then been “upgraded” to a digital system. At Direktorenhaus Signe Emdal shows her newest project, a Victorian-like Wintergarden scenery out of knittered wallcoverings.

Ruth Duff (Glasgow)

 

Ruth Duff is a 21 year old Scottish born textile designer. She has recently graduated from Heriot Watt University with a first class honours degree in Design for Textiles. The collection Ruth Duff is showing at Direktorenhaus, "Botanical Brights", is inspired by the flora and fauna of Glasgow's Botanical Gardens, focussing mainly on the colour, structure and pattern of the plants and flowers to inspire dobby weave structures and jacquard designs.

Botanical Brights is an exploration of dobby weaving, jacquard weaving and screen printing to produce a collection of innovative, exciting and unique fabrics for the interiors market. Pushing the boundaries of woven textiles by combining geometric and organic shapes through jacquard and dobby weaving and discharge printing to create complex designs.

Izumi Sato (Stockholm)

 

Fabric “a m a o t o” is like imagining a space where you can relax and be at perfect ease and where the sound of the rain enhances the mood. In a manner similar to the Japanese tradition of onomatopoeia (capturing sound with words), Izumi blends the rhythm of rain into her fabric to describe an atmosphere and state of mind.

Clear glass beads are carefully hand-placed in the double-stitched, semitransparent fabric creating a poetic and subtle light reflection like raindrops on a window.