Nine projects from Lucerne School of Art and Design graduates, presented here in their VDF school show, highlight the craft and heritage inherent in textiles in a bid to raise their public profile.

This showcase features work created as part of the school's undergraduate textile design degree, which is one of three courses from Lucerne's product design department to be highlighted as part of the Virtual Design Festival.

A further nine projects from Lucerne's BA Object Design students tackle social issues from racism to ableism, while projects published as part of the BA XS Jewellery exhibition push the boundaries of what constitutes jewellery.

BA Textile Design, Lucerne School of Art and Design

University: Lucerne School of Art and Design
Course: BA Textile Design
Tutors: Marion Becella Neff, Franziska Born, Brigitt Egloff, Doris Kurzmeyer, Christa Michel, Tina Moor, Daniela Zimmermann, Jonas Leysieffer, Alexis Schwarzenbach, Caecilia Anderhub and Clara Sollberger

Course statement: 

"Textiles accompany our whole lives. With a refined sense of colour and pattern, texture and structure, functionality and sensuality, tradition and innovation, textile designers reinvent this world over and over again. They appreciate how the properties of materials and designs interact. They develop products in terms of their use and across various contexts such as fashion, interior architecture, product design and research.

"The students are encouraged to trace their passions, make decisions, formulate their own personal stance and follow their own paths within the rich and varied context that textile design provides.

"Within the framework of the Virtual Design Festival, the Lucerne School of Art and Design is proud to present 22 degree projects in total, stemming from the BA Textile Design, BA Object Design and BA XS Jewellery courses, which due to Covid-19 were largely created off-campus.

"We warmly congratulate our graduates on their successful degree works, wish them much future success and hope they receive a lot of constructive feedback from the worldwide visitors to the Virtual Design Festival.

"Their degree show can also be seen online under hslu.ch/wwwerkschau and in person at the School of Art and Design, from 18 September."

Wear Textile History by Miriam Barth and Sabrina Licskai

"Textiles are part and parcel of our daily lives and we encounter them everywhere. Despite this perpetual presence, the appreciation of textiles has continually shrunk over the past decades. Our aim is to highlight the history of textiles in order to heighten awareness and respect for the craft – both today and in the future.

"Using a combination of textile design and digital media, we created a cloth collection that embodies the textile history of the two cities of Basel and St. Gallen. Expressed in a jointly developed design idiom, the resulting pieces are contemporary while simultaneously making the history of textiles accessible in a new way."

Emails: miriam.barth22@gmail.com and sabrina.licskai@gmail.com
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Weaving a Facade by Edna Buchmeier

"The starting point for this work is the idea that expertise in weaving techniques can help find new applications for textile thinking in architecture.

"In this particular case, weave diagrams provide inspiration for the design of a facade. The idea was created in relation to a specific project – a high-rise block in the city of Sursee, currently being developed by Deon AG. In dialogue with the architects, I was able to review and critically reappraise her ideas."

Email: edna.buchmeier@hotmail.com
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Mehr als Schlaf Gut by Céline Eberle

"Textiles create the atmosphere of a room, a function which is especially important in hospital rooms. The textile collection Mehr als Schlaf Gut, or More Than Sleep Well, aims to create a more comfortable environment in the patient rooms of children's hospitals. The bed linens feature a two-sided design, that allows children to personalise the look and feel of their room.

"Additional items such as positioning pillows also come in varying colours and patterns to allow them to play with different combinations. In this way, the textiles give children the freedom to discover and stimulate their imagination and provide a small distraction from the everyday hospital experience."

Email: celine.eberle@bluewin.ch
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Traces by Salome Finschi

"The focus of this project is on the aesthetic potential of textiles in the design of baby slings, by subtly interweaving their visual and tactile appeal. The most important concern is the choice of the material, as determined by the practical use of the wraps. Silk, cotton and wool are used, to play with the different colour intensities created by the cellulose and protein fibres in the dying process.

"Using a hand-weaving loom, the raw material is woven into samples with different weft and warp sequences, as well as weaves. The specific arrangement of the material defines the pattern, which only becomes visible once dyed with the vegetable dyes. The end result is a catalogue of patterns, systematically showing the potential design scope created by varying the selected criteria."

Email: salome@ipot.info
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Wear Attitude by Leda Fluri

"The textile industry is always spinning faster and faster and the perpetual need for something new is insatiable. As a result, people's awareness of the time and handiwork it takes to create an item of clothing is disappearing more and more.

"Through a collection of lining materials and a lining exchange service, I hope to create a greater understanding of the value of textiles and the handcraftsmanship associated with them. By exchanging the worn-out lining, the garment is given a new lease of life, while allowing the wearer to display their belief in the longevity of their clothes."

Email: ledafluri@gmail.com
Website: traghaltung.ch
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Be Longing by Rebecca Frei

"This project is based on my exchange semester in Ahmedabad, India. It provides insights into the exciting process of immersing yourself in a new culture – the initial encounter, the fascination and ultimate return. Using motifs from my own recollection, I designed cloths that showcase and appreciate the diversity of this process, while counteracting the fleeting nature of memories.

"Issues of cultural appropriation are also discussed and reflected in the project, which hopes to demonstrate that inspirations from the cultural other can indeed be used positively."

Email: rebifrei@hotmail.com
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Urban Longings by Marcelina Häringer

"For centuries, people have been drawn to cities as places of unlimited opportunities. But despite the diversity and cosmopolitanism offered by urban areas, a sense of longings always remains. The inspiration for this project is people's collective yearning for the metropolis, nature and utopia, which has existed since the beginning of urban development.

"This collection, composed of bed linens and matching, knitted throw, brings the different facets of this longing into the urban home. The combination of the sheets and knitted throw creates both visual and tactile feedback that stimulate the senses and brings the long-desired atmosphere into the bedroom. With these textiles, our yearnings become close enough to touch."

Email: marcelina.haeringer@bluewin.ch
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Disbanded by Franziska Ostermeier

"Textiles have something inherently paradoxical about them: they surround us everywhere and yet have become foreign to us. Purchased in abundance, people have lost all feeling for their fundamental qualities, the materials, techniques and production processes remain unknown to many of us.

"Disbanded encourages viewers to consider these different dimensions of textiles. In a series of deconstructed clothing items, layers are removed, threads exposed and microscopically small fragments are blown-up to exaggerated proportions. This creates visual associations with the origin of the word textile, which comes from the Latin word texere and means to weave, braid, assemble and build."

Email: fra.ostermeier@gmail.com
Instagram: @textile_mood
Website: saanfrancisca.com/disbanded
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

In-between Binary Being by Valérie Rust

"Nonbinary people identify themselves largely outside of traditional gender roles. At a time when gender-neutral fashion pervaded into the mainstream, this project examines genderqueer representation within a purely textile context. The aim is to create visibility for people with a wide variety of gender expressions so that their existence and appearance becomes normalised and accepted.

"In order to chart their preferences and desires, seven nonbinary people were asked about (self-)representation, textiles and their backgrounds. The conversations formed the basis for these embroidered and printed cloth designs, intended to empower nonbinary people and stimulate wider social reflections about gender. Human diversity is mirrored in textile variety."

Email: valerie.rust@windowslive.com
Instagram: @relavierust
Course website: hslu.ch/textildesign-bachelor20
Degree show: hslu.ch/wwwerkschau

Virtual Design Festival's student and schools initiative offers a simple and affordable platform for student and graduate groups to present their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for more details.