Belgium is Design presents textile exhibition 'Woven Whispers' at Alcova for Milan Design Week.
From 7 to 13 April, Belgium is Design and 18 design studios present an exhibition around textile at the Alcova site near Milan.
As every year, Belgium is Design - an initiative of the three design organizations in Belgium, Flanders DC, WBDM and MAD Brussels - participates in the international Design Week in Milan to promote Belgian design. This year the focus is on Belgian textile design, with extra attention to experimentation, material research and the various applications and product developments within the textile sector. The exhibition takes place in Villa Bagatti Valsecchi at Alcova, the platform that annually attracts more than 90,000 visitors and in 9 editions has become one of the highlights during Milan Design Week.
Woven Whispers
WOVEN WHISPERS highlights a selection of 18 designers and studios. A tribute to Belgium's rich textile history, the exhibition brings together innovation and sophistication and highlights the designers' know-how and expertise. There is a wide variety of creations, from unique handmade pieces to industrial and mass-produced textiles.
The exhibition features inflatable lamps made from pig intestines, hand-felted tapestries and a rug made from recycled plastic casings. Ancestral techniques are reinvented, while digital tools are applied to craft processes. The limits of the loom are being explored, leading to complex weaving structures suitable for industrial production.
The diversity of materials used is equally rich: raffia, recycled leather, natural and sustainable materials, reused fabrics, plant roots, as well as bioactive textiles with therapeutic features. The lightness and transparency of the fabrics often contrast with the complexity of the design. In addition to colorful, minimalist and luxurious interior textiles for furniture, curtains, partitions, floor and wall coverings, customized solutions are also presented.
Participating designers
For WOVEN WHISPERS these designers and studio's were selected: Amandine David, Amandine Fabry, Charlotte Lancelot, Emma Cogné, Emma Terweduwe, Esther Van Schuylenbergh, Kato Herbots, La Gadoue, Minjung Kim, Morevi, Mathilde Wittock, Natalia Brilli with Atelier Contour, Rosie Broadhead, Sarah Carestia, Stefanie Everaerts and Xavier Servas. The selection also includes a project by Juraj Straka, produced with interior company Ibride France.
More details on some of the participating designers:
Emma Terweduwe designs striking woven textiles that combine vibrant colors, rich textures and bold graphics.
Her Transience series embraces the transformation of natural and recycled fibers over time and makes it a core part of design. She interweaves floating threads of synthetic, natural and recycled materials with different properties, and they will change differently over time, creating unexpected textures and tactilities.
Esther Van Schuylenbergh focuses on the development of woven textiles, both at the craft level and within the high-tech industry. Her designs reflect a fascination with mathematical systems and architectural constructions.
Shifting Colors is her series of hand-woven panels in monumental waffle weaves, in which subtle shifts of color relative to structure create fluid color transitions. With endless variations in color and pattern, the double-sided panels are customizable, applicable as a tapestry or room divider.
rosalinefiems.jpg "Shifting Colors © Rosaline Fiems")
rosalinefiems.jpg "Shifting Colors © Rosaline Fiems")
Kato Herbots is a product designer with a fascination for the relationship between people, materials and context. Materials and storytelling are at the core of her work.
Her Solar Blanket is a solar beach towel with integrated solar (bathing) pointer, and emphasizes time as an important factor in seeking the sun. The sheet provides insight into vitamin D production and shows how long you can be unprotected in the sun. In addition, a UV-sensitive yarn changes the pattern, further emphasizing the power of the sun over time.
Esmeralda_Emanuela.jpg "Residents of Solar Space © Esmeralda_Emanuela")
Esmeralda_Emanuela.jpg "KatoHerbots RSolar Blanket © Esmeralda_Emanuela")
Morevi, the Georgian-Belgian artist duo Ana Naskidashvili and Frederik Poisquet, focuses on hand felting, an ancient traditional craft in Georgia. Morevi values the relationships created between the material and its maker, between the artwork and its audience, and between the materials themselves.
For this exhibition, Morevi presents a large hand-felted tapestry of Belgian wool from the Terra series. This collection expresses a deeply rooted, earthy essence in a palette of natural, earthy tones. The Liminal pieces are hand-dyed with indigo pigment, creating deep blue hues that evoke the twilight zone between day and night.
%20closeup_c_Morevi.jpg "Terra V (Ecru/Brown) closeup ©Morevi")
%20Morevi.jpg "Terra V (Ecru/Brown) ©Morevi")
Stefanie Everaerts is deeply rooted in the technical dimensions of industrial knitting. As a designer and programmer of industrial knitting machines, she uses an experimental, hands-on approach to explore the possibilities of machines, yarns and techniques.
The Kniterations project explores how a simple industrial knitting structure can be used as a basis for designing versatile products. As such, this project pushes the boundaries of knitting technology to create 3D shapes that also enable scalable production. The products change appearance when deformed, with elastic elements bending inward to reveal surprising color combinations.
Patty_Van_Den_Elshout_.jpg "Kniterations © Patty Van Den Elshout")
Patty_Van_Den_Elshout..jpg "Kniterations © Patty Van Den Elshout")
Juraj Straka (Textile Studio JS) is a Slovak textile designer living and working in Belgium. He specializes in bold and colorful print designs for the fashion and design industry. This project came about in collaboration with the interior design company Ibride France.
The installation Boucan invites viewers to sit or recline on cushions with vibrant prints, or relax under a canopy of light fixtures that evoke the enchanting atmosphere of a tropical forest. The intricate, hand-drawn designs are combined with modern technologies such as digital printing and cutting.
%20Ibride.jpg "Boucan cushions © Ibride")
%20Ibride.jpg "Boucan cushions © Ibride")
Alcova
Founded in 2018 by Valentina Ciuffi (Studio Vedèt) and Joseph Grima (Space Caviar), Alcova has become one of the most followed design projects worldwide. Last year, the event boasted more than 90,000 visitors.
During Milan Design Week, Alcova brings together the designers and studios that define today's design culture through groundbreaking work on living environments, products, systems, materials and technological innovation.
For its ninth edition, Alcova is further committed to covering exceptional historic sites. In 2024, Alcova already occupied the Villas Borsani and Bagatti Valsecchi, in the town of Varedo near Milan. Two more sites in Varedo are added this year: the Pasino Glasshouses and the SNIA factory.
Belgium is Design exhibits in the main hall of the stables (Scuderie) of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, a masterpiece of 19th-century villa architecture in Lombardy, surrounded by extensive gardens. The remarkable portico rests on 15th-century columns saved from the demolition of Milan's Lazzaretto, the former plague hospital.
The Belgian Design Map
Every year, more than a hundred Belgian labels and designers present their new products during Milan Design Week. The Belgian Design Map gives an overview of this each time, both of brands present at the fair Salone del Mobile and in the city (Fuorisalone). This digital guide of Belgians in Milan is published via belgiumisdesign.be
Practical info Expo 'Woven Whispers' by Belgium is Design 7- 13 April 2025 |
Press kit and images via belgiumisdesign.be/press |
