Textiles with a story.

Textile fabric offers the great chance for designers as well as users, to interact along the product live cycle. By that, the consumer get aware of the story behind and might be even activated to bring themself into the design process. As a communication designer I see great potential in printed textiles, because they can be seen as a platform for voices, stories, cultures and education.

One aim for reducing societies growing overconsumption, is the idea of a closer prodcut attachment. There needs to be a closer relation between consumer, producer and the final product to create a closer attachment towards the item. The ideas of open source design, universal design as well as participatory design offer options for including the consumer within the producer – product circle. This will intern to put the consumer in a closer position and relation to the purchased product, which then in the longer run will maintain a longer lifespan. Products as well as textiles need to create narratives to maintain a longer product attachment and nurture a longer product satisfaction. The creation of stories with the products or in this case textiles implies the inclusion of cultural dialogue by the producers. When looking at examples of participatory design cases, such as shown in “the peoples print” or Slow Design business “Alabama Chanin” (www.alabamachanin.com), there seems to be a growing interest and need in “user – designer – producer – production” closed cycle manufacturing.

"The People's Print pioneers new concepts for textile design combining traditional and digital technologies, open source, participatory and co-design, aiming to create a community of like minded people with a passion for designing their own textiles."
http://www.thepeoplesprint.blogspot.com/