The Textile Eye - Report 27

In Collaboration

Exploring the Aesthetic Power of Partnership

Collaboration threads through this report, from co-founded studios and capsule collections to museum labs and artisan cooperatives. Across rugs, wallcoverings, and textiles, shared authorship becomes a way to test materials, extend narrative, and move beyond a single point of view. Eindhoven’s Dutch Design Week and Tilburg’s TextielMuseum TextielLab frame a season of experimentation, while at MoMA, Otobong Nkanga’s Cadence—developed at the TextielLab—connects conceptual practice with production. Alongside these touchpoints, case studies and interviews with designers, curators, and makers trace how collaboration is reshaping contemporary textiles.

What’s inside:

Design Themes
Seven collaborative themes map how partnership influences surface, from distilled geometrics and prim florals to eccentric conversationals and richly textured plains.
Dutch Design Week & TextielLab
A visual survey of Dutch Design Week and the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab, together with Otobong Nkanga’s Cadence at MoMA, highlights how residencies, technical specialists, and new equipment support sustained material research rather than one-off showpieces.
Studios, Craft & Practice
Spotlights on Yvonne Mak, Claudy and Jesk Jongstra’s LOADS Collection, Kiki van Eijk, Melina Finkelstein with K’era Morgan and Jen Garrido, Le Gracieux, RB Curated and Casa Flor, Gee’s Bend with Dedar and Stephen Burks, Tuft the World, and Lucille Boitelle trace how studios, mills, and artisans share systems for color, production, and authorship.
Chromatic Dialogues
Thirty-plus pages of palettes translate collaborative projects into usable color direction for residential and contract textiles.