Right now a lot is happening with the nano technology which will transform the medico textiles and the interior textiles

Liste Noire: As a textile designer you mainly work “with light, pixels and optical fibres”. If materials evolved in such a highly technological manner, what remains in textile design nowadays is only the tradition of weaving and the patterns archive?
 
Astrid Krogh: “Only the tradition of weaving and the patterns archive?” Well, I would like you to take away only... because that is practically the basis of textile design. I use materials/fibres that exist nowadays and use them into a tradition. I guess that is how craftsmanship is renewed. To work with light when you talk about textile design is very natural... Think about how beautifully light can be sieved through a curtain. To work with artificial light is basically to be able to control light. That is the hard thing about the natural light... and also fascinating, since natural light is so unpredictable. It’s always an inspiration for my other works using artificial light.
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LN: I adore the neon wallpaper inspired from the kaleidoscope called "Ornament". You basically draw or rather you weave with light. Many contemporary artists write with light, Tracy Emin or Sue Webster&Tim Noble, to name a few. The metropolises are flooded with light in the night. Do you feel that neon is the new colour?
 
AK: I would like to answer this question with an extract from a text written by Sø Steff in the catalogue for one of my exhibitions.
Light.It’s darker.Textiles are texts, patterned stories which produce profound superficial depths. Textiles are tapestries, layer upon layer. When the layers are taken away, surface by surface, we see that ’nothing’ has depth.Here the world begins. Off. On.
 
Red, blue, green, white – a kelim made of Las Vegas Light is a spectacular presentation of a world in which everything begins in the space between two-dimensional coloured rods.. The kelim´s tightly-bound knots, dissolved in an aura of colour. Between red and green a non defined colour arises, is it yellow?
 
It’s definitely not yellow! When the light escapes, we begin to doubt…what we (don´t) see. Blinded by escaped light, (because illumination occurs in the dark – where light becomes light): ’Everything’ and ’nothing’ are woven in a mutual pattern.
 
A new sentence is formulated: ’handiwork’ means to be able to handle nothing – a surface. A fragile pale Lilac  colour appears. The darkness disappears slowly. Still we see nothing: red, blue, purple, green, yellow, or white?
Off. On. There is still no beginning and no end. The light runs along its own ray, like a drop flowing down the river – disappearing, changing character and reappearing.
 
LN: I discovered your works on the Danish craft website. Do you feel that there is a sense of danishness (if I may call it like that) in your works? The fact that you are born and live in Denmark gives you a particular identity in terms of design?
 
AK: No, actually, I do not fell much related to the Danish design tradition. Of course it is nice to operate in a country where people are aware of design and therefore are potential costumers.
 
LN: What other textile designers do you admire or feel inspired by? And why?
 
AK: Petra Blaisse from the Netherlands, who does a lot of work for OMA architects. I like the way she thinks “BIG” and also the way she transforms textiles into architecture. I am also inspired by fashion designers in general. Fashion is often the first mover to introduce new materials.
 
LN: Your pieces stand alone as unique works. You collaborated with architects already. Have you considered working for fashion designers?
 
AK: Yes. I have been in contact with several international fashion designers. I suppose the right opportunity has just not come yet... Maybe, one day.
LN: Could you name some fashion designers who used textiles in a different way? Who brought something new in the field of fashion by experimenting with textiles?
 
AK: Issey Miyake, Hussein Chalayan, Yoshiki Hishinuma
 
LN: In what direction could textile design develop? What's next?
 
AK: Right now a lot is happening with the nano technology which will transform the medico textiles and the interior textiles. But surely we will also see much more textiles in architecture. Regarding houses as a body with an integrated dress.
 
LN: If you were able to change something in the textiles industry what would that be?
 
AK: Be more aware of the environment...But that is slowly coming.
 
LN: Are you working on a new project, and if so, could you please describe it a little?
 
AK: Next week I will go to the Netherlands to install a new artwork... It is a big light box – 5m x 5m - for a hospital. The box consists of a 3D rendering of a very old pattern called “flower of life”. I thought that might be nice to look at when you are sick; it’s changing colour very slowly.

 Ornament

 Ornament

 Ornament

 Ornament

 Ornament

 Holbein

 

 Polytics

 Polytics

 Polytics

 Brokade

 Lightfall

 Lightfall

 

 Flora

 Flora