Our material (and human) world

A textile (even one as dense as felt) invites the eye to see its strands and, at the same time, see it as a field. This dynamic becomes further complicated when it is draped, folded, or otherwise attached to some thing or some body. Then thread, fabric, and scaffolding become a trinity of interdependence.

We then used these objects to prompt discussions through questions of making – specifically asking participants ‘why do you think this was made?’ Making motivations is a lens being explored by the V&A East team as a curatorial framework and we wanted to build on this. Through these conversations, participants drew lines between their objects and... See more