With a group of four people and a good programme in our suitcase TextielMuseum we went to Milan to present ourself and network, spot work of Dutch and foreign designers, firms and young talent. Because work made in the TextielLab was spread throughout the city I ‘ll give you some idea putting it together virtually.
The festive overture was our presentation ‘Turkish red & more’ in the Dutch Ambassy in Milan. (see the contribution of Caroline Boot) During the Breakfast Debates organized by the The New institute together with Design Academy Eindhoven, Vera Sacchetti, editor of Domus, pointed out ‘Turkish red’ as being an excellent example of how to connect tradition and innovation, and giving insight into the process of making.
The nice exhibition by Dutch Invertuals with the overall theme ‘TRANSFORM’ was also a good example of how to link a process, starting from a concept and giving insight into the results. RAW COLOR developed their ‘Index Collection’ in the Lab.
 ‘Index Collection’ RAW COLOR |
Other interesting textile work were by Brit van Nerven and by Jetske Visser with ‘Hydrophobia’. At the presentation ‘Our House’, a presentation which dealt with sustainability, Jetske showed ‘Tide’, a plaid with subtle colour range woven in the Lab. She had painted the outside of yarn cones with natural pigments. Colours slowly immersed the mohair so only parts of the yarns get tinted. While weaving these yarns a perfect gradient in colour arises.
 'Tide' Jetske Visser |
Lidewij Edelkoort and Raffaele Carrieri, curators of the small exhibition ‘Nomadism’, gave a key place to the tactile carpets young designer Daniel Costa developed in the TextielLab. The carpets, showing different surfaces, were made not only to look at them but also feel them and intriguing in aesthetic and tactile sense.
 'PROLOGUE TO THE GROUNDED JOYS' Daniel Costa |
In Ventura Lambrate our first stop was at Prometteo gallery. The group exhibition of high standard showed textiles by Mae Engelgeer and work of Studio WM, who used the TextielLab for making the textile parts of their furniture and lamps.
 'ISH' Mae Engelgeer |
At Zona Tortona, which sometimes feel s more like a luna park than an exhibition area we made a step into the future of night clubbing. Heineken Open Design Exploration for the second year presented the outcome of a masterclass for young designers of all branches to think about a new concept of club life. At the Magazzini space we were welcomed by beautiful ladies dressed in voluminous white dresses and body suits woven and knitted by our product developpers. The two designers of LEW also this year supervised the design process of young talent. Everybody received a white balloon filled with helium. All balloons attached to a softly floating textile surface at the ceiling – thus forming a moving sculpture. We are curious of the future, not only that of night clubbing.
