My Research About Textiles, Art and The Book - Worn, by Sofi Thanhauser

Textiles as an Artistic Medium – Between Craft, History, and Identity

The return to textiles in my artistic work didn’t happen overnight. It was more of a gradual rediscovery—a search for a common thread that was there from the beginning but had long remained hidden. Even during my training as a men’s bespoke tailor, I became familiar with the craftsmanship that goes into every garment. I learned what it means to wear a handmade garment tailored to your body, made of a material that is flat and supple, yet three-dimensionally accommodating. This experience laid an important foundation for my artistic curiosity.

During my studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Städelschule, textile practices disappeared from my everyday life. The material that had shaped me so profoundly suddenly seemed no longer to belong to my artistic vocabulary.

Through a wonderful series of coincidences, I met the artist and—at the time—fashion designer Felicity Brown years later. We met in Dubai, and I watched her working on a mannequin in Tashkeel. Something about her attitude, her concentration, and the way she handled the fabric captivated me. The needle once again became a constant companion in my life—one I wanted to learn more about. Since then, my work has been shaped by intensive research and engagement with fibers, fabrics, and their cultural, material, and social dimensions. Textiles fascinate me as carriers of history, knowledge, and identity.

Today, my work is permeated by an intensive engagement with fibers and fabrics. Textiles, as an artistic medium, possess an inherent human dimension that draws me in. 

One book that has had a lasting impact on my understanding of textiles is Worn: A People’s History of Clothing by Sofie Thanhauser. She brings the history of clothing to life in a unique way. Her detailed account of the history of clothing and the clothing trade explains why we know so little today about the history of textiles, how they’re made, and the people sitting behind the sewing machines—even though fabrics are our second skin. Or to put it another way, we know so little about them precisely because textiles and the trade in them are so significant and profitable.

Thanhauser convincingly describes how, with the introduction of guilds in the 13th century, home-based textile production gradually disappeared, ultimately leading to the loss of women’s economic independence. Their reduced visibility in society and archaeologists’ lack of interest in textile finds and their historical context were corresponding consequences. Interestingly, we refer to this period as the Age of Reason.

Today, we have stopped passing down inherited knowledge to our children and no longer show them even the simplest things, such as how to sew on a button or tie a knot.

Women, however, have never stopped creating with fibers and fabrics—spinning, weaving, dyeing, embroidering, and sharing their knowledge with others.

When I research textile craft methods today, I find most of the information among those who work outside the mainstream narratives: among indigenous communities where textile practices are alive and thriving, among quilters, and among independent individuals such as the women of Gee’s Bend or Rosie Lee Tomkins—and the many who today explore and reinterpret traditional textile processes and manifestations.

Imagine you’re sitting at a backstrap loom. Your own body holds the tension of the threads. Every movement, every slight shift changes what is taking shape. Your movements are woven into the new fabric; you feel the fabric before it even exists.

This physical, natural, and sensorial connection between person and material is special.

Imagine transforming your dreams into patterns, like the girls who learn mola sewing from their grandmothers. Or imagine wearing a fringed skirt that has been a symbol of fertility and life for over 20,000 years.

For anyone who wants to delve deeper into this world, I highly recommend two books: Sofie Thanhauser’s Worn and Elisabeth Wayland Barber’s Women’s Work – The First 20,000 Years. They have permanently changed my perspective and invite you to see textile art with new eyes.