As humans, we often forget that everything we see around us has been made from scratch. Look around your home. Do you have kitchen towels? Do you have furniture? Curtains? How exactly did it get there? You don’t go and pick them up from the park near you; you go and purchase it from a department/home store. Although, before the items reached the store, it was designed by someone. Right from the material to the color combinations, patterns, etc. And this is when Textile Design comes into play.
A “textile designer” is a person responsible for the aesthetic characteristics of the fabric or cloth. Therefore, a career in Textile Design is something that can never go out of date. Textile designers have a powerful impact on our daily lives and we probably don’t even realize it.
In an industry that can never extinguish itself, careers in Textile Design can range from Clothing/Textile Technologists, to Colour Technologists, Textile Artist, Interior or Spatial Designers, Fashion Designers, Weavers, Quality assurance inspector for textiles, Product Developer for Interior Design, and even Textile Designers! The scope is almost infinite. With the kind of materials being discovered or created in recent times, having students from the newer generations would change the world in Textile. Fresh ideas are created by fresh minds and fresh minds are created amongst the people that are educated and aware of the possibilities within a particular subject. In this particular case, the subject being Textile Design.
Embarking a career into the Textile Industry would be a very intelligent decision for someone who’s passionate about design, fashion and science as it amalgamates all three to a perfect combination. If students are taught together, research outcomes can hold more significance. Due to the rise in digital software’s such as Adobe, designing has become much more accessible, scalable and most importantly, sustainable.
With Sustainable Living and Clothing on the come up, a career in Textiles can be rather exciting and modern. The methodology now used for teaching and creating has changed a lot from the times of manual re-doing.