Communicating climate change through textiles. That's a novel idea. How did the idea come about? How did Raw Color fork out as the Temperature Textiles project?
We were regularly discussing climate change during lunch break with the team, as probably many people are doing this globally. During COVID-19, we had extra time due to cancelled or postponed projects. We were thinking, how can we contribute with our skills to this issue. Quickly we came to the conclusion to combine textiles with the data. And, use our design/communication skills.
How would you describe TT to an ordinary person? Would you call it a collection that includes items like scarves, blankets, etc, that depict temperature change, sea level rise and emission?
Yes, I think that is a description we use. Important to add is that the pieces' patterns are based on climate change data. We have chosen three fields--temperature, sea level and emissions, since we think these are very relevant. Also important to say that it is a collection of knits. We like the technique. In the case of flat knitting, we only utilise the yarns for the piece. This means the cloth size comes out of the machine as desired, unlike weaving in which you always need to use the whole width of the machine. Also, we could use 100% merino wool, that makes it a monotype material. If it ever needs to be recycled it can be done. Also, the knits create heavy pieces.
Coming to the items in the collection. Could you tell us how those are manufactured? What are the materials used, and where do you source them from? Where are those manufactured?
Besides merino wool, we had to use several materials for the double knit blankets. We also wanted to experiment with this technique. Unfortunately, biobased materials aren’t available yet at the producer for the filling yarns. The blankets have been developed locally at TextielLab in Tilburg and are produced on demand.
