Makers in the Lab

In recent years, we have welcomed different groups and individual makers, scholars and artists in the TextileLab. Here's an overview of "who's who" and the projects they have been working on! 

Individual makers

  • Andrea Ósk, student at Borås Textile Academy in Sweden, worked with the Tc2 digital loom to create textiles for bridal wear. It's fair to say that this is the first time in a very long time that the material for a wedding dress was woven in Iceland. 
  • Hanna Dís Whitehead // Staðbundið. Research focused on straw and wool in collaboration with the Textile Center. One of the project's results was the exhibition Blíður Ljómi held during DesignMarch 2023.
  • Halla Ármannsdóttir. The knit designer was the first maker to use the Kniterate, the TextileLab's digital knitting machine. Halla developed a new design for a shawl displayed during DesignMarch 2023. Hanna returned in September 2024 to work with the felt loom.
  • Júlíanna Ósk Hafberg, visual arts master student at the Iceland University of the Arts, experimented the felt loom, laser cutter and digital embroidery machine to create work later displayed in her Reykjavík studio. 
  • Kamilla Henriau // Áseta. This project was supported by the Rannís Student Innovation Fund. Kamilla researched the use of horse hair and wool as a replacement for the plastic sponges usually used as elastic springs or filling. 
  • Valgerður Birna Jónsdóttir // Fundið fé. Final project for the Icelandic University of the Arts product design program in collaboration with the Textile Center. 

Collaborations / groups 

  • Studio Flétta and Ýr Jóhannesdóttir // Felt. Project focused on utilizing textile waste, e.g. knitted leftovers from factories or Red Cross clothing collections, using the felt loom. 
  • Intelligent Instruments Lab. The Reykjavík based lab used the equipment in the TextileLab to experiment with e-textiles and prepare an interactive, textile, and musical installation. 

  • MunkLoua Design Studio // RE:TEX. The designer team came all the way from Denmark to experiment with the felt loom and work on a project using leftover textiles collected in Ghana.  

Fabricademy 

The following Fabricademy students studied and experimented in the TextileLab from September 2022 - April 2023: 

  • Alberte Bojesen // Seaweed Dialogues. Alberte's final project was all about the use of seaweed for biotextiles. The project was nominated for the Distributed Design Awards!
  • Alice Sowa // Glacial Bio Pottery. Research on how to use food waste materials such as egg shells and ash for making ceramics. Alice has since been working on the bacteria dye project "Fjólublá", a collaboration of the Textile Center and BioPol in Skagaströnd. 
  • Emma Shannon // Hearty Party. A unique project focused on heart health, e-textiles and wearables. 
  • Margrét Katrín Guttormsdóttir // Moving Objects. Margrét's final project looked at visualising dance movements as textile patterns.