A manipulative fabric is what I believe a textile to be. Endless possibilities.
Everything has a textural quality.
Working with textiles to me is all about manipulation. Therefore something that can be manipulated to me defines a textile.
Everything can be manipulated with the right processes, artists and designers are experimenting and developing manipulation techniques all the time. Therefore everything has the potential be a textile.
As a traditionalist, I have always considered textiles to be fabrics that can be manipulated. Yarns – cloth – thread. Naturally I will always consider these first and imagine they will feature heavily in my coursework. However, already this course is opening up my mind to other possibilities hence my response when asked to define “textiles.”
