In yesterday's post we looked at one of the projects, focused on colours and sustainability, that won the latest edition of the Henry van de Velde Awards in the category Design Research. Let's move for today onto another winner, this time from the Crafts category, with something equally colourful and sustainable – The Gradient Rug by Emma Terweduwe.
After graduating in 2019 in Textile Design at KASK Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (Belgium), the Belgian artist and designer started working on jacquard weaving for fashion and interior design using natural and durable materials.
If we study Terweduwe's Gradient Rug purely from the material and technique points of view we discover that it is a multifunctional jacquard woven felt rug in bright and vivid colours.
What makes it unique is that it is made from a combination of merino wool, mohair, linen and cotton recovered from deadstock and using both industrial and to make it Terweduwe employed manual techniques to show off the tactile qualities of these natural materials.
The tactility is enhanced with the felting technique that allows the designer to wrinkle, shrink and deform the rug. In this way the reversible rug assumes more intricate textures and shapes and a three-dimensional touch (by the way, the Gradient Rug was developed in cooperation with the TextielLab in Tilburg).
The rug can also be used in a metaphorical way: it could indeed be interpreted as a critique to our society focusing on everything that's visually striking. Besides, touch is the main sense neglected during the Coronavirus pandemic and the rug makes good therapy for all those of us who miss touching things and getting that special soothing feeling from textiles.
Terweduwe is one of the three winners of the Crafts category, but we will find out who will be taking home the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards per category during the presentation of the Henry van de Velde Awards on 8th February at Bozar, in Brussels, Belgium. The Lifetime Achievement, Young Talent, Company, Ecodesign by OVAM and Public Gold Awards will also be announced then.
In the meantime, we can all help determine which entry wins the Public Gold Award by voting online at henryvandevelde.be from today till 23rd December 2021.