Aalto University: Aalto University’s pedagogy in textiles studies relies on ‘textile thinking’

“Interwoven – Exploring Materials and Structures” by Maarit Salolainen (Aalto ARTS Books, 2022) makes a gigantic effort in outlining how the manifold history of textiles has been intertwined with human innovation from prehistoric twining to the invention of the binary code, through to today’s new material discoveries and urgent quest for sustainability. The book also covers articles by textile design teachers Maija Fagerlund and Anna-Mari Leppisaari.

‘I wanted to make a book on fibers, yarns, structures of the textiles and the pedagogy of Aalto in teaching textile design. There had been no such book done, and now I know why – it was a challenge!’, laughs Maarit Salolainen, Adjunct Professor of textile design and director of the Fashion, Clothing and Textiles (FaCT) Master’s programme at Aalto University.

Salolainen says her core message throughout the book is that one has to know how to use techniques and be creative with them – and to see into the future.

The majestic book guides the reader into textile materials and structures, and further to woven fabrics, advancing to jacquards, textile finishes and applications. It introduces the process of design and visual research, as well as principals of collection design.

“Interwoven” discusses the ways in which textile making, throughout history, has catalysed and changed human thinking. It tells the history of textile industry from its beginning to modern times and beyond, envisioning the future potential.

Salolainen believes the book will be of interest to designers and design collaborators alike. It also aims to add to the international debate of design pedagogy on designing as learning.

Introducing the ‘textile thinking’ method
The new pedagogical method introduced in “Interwoven”, is a tool for woven design teaching, which helps creating a multi-disciplinary learning environment. The world of textiles is multidisciplinary and collaboration between fields is necessary. Textile thinking strives for a holistic understanding. The method guides towards professional textile design practices and processes, renewing the way in which textile design has been taught. It also helps open up the essence of techniques as well as craft and design practices. The pedagogical model can be applied to other teaching as well.

‘Textile thinking is embodied thinking. It is the way of combining tacit knowledge guided by emotions together with the understanding of the mechanisms in textiles – in short, it bridges the creative and the technical’, says Salolainen.

The book is grounded in design pedagogy and the principles of learning design by doing. It interweaves technical knowledge, artistic expression and storytelling, which makes it a unique guide on the path to mastering textile design. What is important, it includes the creative aspects of textile design. Emphasis is placed on experimentation and tips given on how to do this, without forgetting the importance of mastering technical skills all the way up to computer-aided design.

The ability to imagine new sustainable design solutions is encouraged.”

Professor Maarit Salolainen
What is of great importance, the book is strongly addressing environmental concerns, which are particularly fundamental to the future of textiles and fashion. When discussing the textile lifecycle, all phases must be considered: fibre cultivation, material manufacturing, yarn spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing processes, different finishing options and logistics phases, as well as the use and the end-of-life stages. Environmental information and concern is provided throughout the book.

‘I want to encourage students to fearlessly tackle technical knowledge as they are learning-by-doing and, what is exceedingly important, to utilize this knowledge to understand the complexity of the environmental impact of textiles in order to work towards new solutions for sustainable textile futures’, Salolainen explains.

Towards interdisciplinary learning
In the foreword of the book, textile designer, Professor Emerita and former Dean of Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Helena Hyvönen recalls that the elementary aim during her period as a Dean was to aim for a comprehensive and shared design approach.

Part of that was the aspiration to weave together the Textiles and Fashion Studies programmes as closely as possible, and to envision what role textiles and fashion can have in design pedagogy.

‘A significant leap towards interdisciplinary learning between the fields was taken by investing in fashion and textile studios, and developing the curricula towards learning by making’, Hyvönen says.

Central to the teaching approach back then was to focus student time on the essential; teaching design thinking, producing content and weaving a narrative, as well as developing technical skills in an efficient way.

‘Testament to this approach are the various successful careers our students have gone on to have in the textile industry and international fashion houses, not to mention the BA Programme in Fashion and MA Programme in Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design which reached the top of the Business of Fashion ranking in 2019.’

Today, Aalto University’s top-level infrastructure of studios and workshops have become the core in promoting learning by doing. Aalto’s expertise in fashion and textiles is unique in the world.

Educating designers with hybrid skills
Professor Maarit Salolainen has a respectable history with textiles. She recalls her early textile student times, when facing an assignment of a woven fabric, and how challenging it was as she had yet no information nor understanding on what would be the best possible materials or structures, and what is the process.

‘It took me years to gain enough experience of different types of warps, textile fibres, yarns and woven structures to feel confident in my ability to design woven fabrics.’

These experiences were clear in her mind as she started to develop and renew the textile and surface design courses at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2016. Working as a design director of a weaving mill, her point of view to textile design was from within the industry and business, and she sought to bring the design practices of a professional design team to the textile studios of Aalto University.

Aalto’s students create a versatile fabric collection already in the beginning of woven textile design studies, which increases their practical knowledge of textile fibre properties and yarns, as well as their behaviour and relation to different weave structures. This way the practice-led research process is integral to textile technology studies and students advance quickly to combined weaves and jacquards to innovate, implement and apply their skill in textiles and fashion or other domains.

The development of designer who has ‘hybrid’ skills is key for Salolainen. ‘The ability to imagine new sustainable design solutions is encouraged.’
Back to history: Jacquard loom started the industrial revolution. In the beginning of the 19th century, Joseph Jacquard’s invention of the jacquard loom stored information for the first time in binary format on its perforated cardboard cards, and laid the ground for automatic information processing, computers and data networks.

‘Today, textile structures and materials are applied in novel medical applications, electronics are incorporated into woven textiles and new fibres reform the futures – textiles remain at its core. We might be on the verge of a new era, resembling the revolution which the invention of the jacquard loom started’, says Salolainen.