Materialness: expressive qualities of a physical material in textile design creativity

Although a physical material is a key component in textile design creativity, textile designers rarely articulate how a material is crucial for their creation. For this reason, experiential knowledge of the relationship between textile materials and the creative processes remain personal and unable to be shared with others. This paper explores the influence of the expressive qualities of a physical material on the experience of a textile designer during the process of creation. The exploration utilized a practice-led approach, i.e. the researcher adopts the role of a practitioner, creating artifacts and exhibitions, and taking them into research as case studies. The materialness conception this study offers shows that the physicality of a material has the expressive potential to inform the maker and viewers how to interpret the artifacts. This conception can be useful for textile pedagogy and designers, both in textile and in other craft design fields.