Svenja Boissel

I am a textile researcher and designer.

Q&A

What craft do you work with?

I am a textile researcher and designer. Already in the research for my master’s degree in 2021 in Conceptual Textile Design, I focused on a holistic understanding of textile production processes and the recycling of textile waste products of the textile industry. For two years I work in side by side in collaboration with Lil Petersen for our material research studio petersenboissel based in Berlin. Our experiments are usually based on traditional textile techniques such as knitting or felting.

What inspires you to work with this craft?

The variety of materials that can be used is immense in the textile sector. My vision is a no-waste circle in textile product development and production. In the conventional textile industry, for example, waste is often generated, but its starting material is high-quality natural raw materials such as wool, silk or linen. Working with this pre-consumer waste in conjunction with textile techniques such as knitting or water felting fascinates me and empowers me.

How would you best describe your workspace and what tools could you not do without?

My workplace is very variable, as it often moves. In our studio it is always colorful and equipped with collected objects, materials that we encounter in everyday life. The knitting machine and various colorful yarns always move with us, no matter how small the workspace is. Laptops and printers are constant digital companions.

Are there new techniques you would like to try?

I would like to continue to learn which techniques make it possible to return textile waste to industrial processes and to new textile surfaces.

What have you learnt or the best advice you have received that you would like to share with fellow crafters?

The greatest clout for a know-waste industry lies in a network-like understanding of skills and goals. And their key is interdisciplinarity. Only in this way can we learn from the different needs and wishes. I would like to see more possible collaboration between designers and industry, in which joint work is again more focused on craftsmanship know-how and the artistic view of things is valued more again. If I could choose a foreign discipline to work with, it would be to combine textiles with glass and ceramics. I find the tension between hard and flexible materials appealing.