Mr. Maarten Kolk

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For the Audax Textielmuseum Tilburg we’ve tried to design our fascination for water. Textile and water do not seem to have too much in common, but they are indissolubly connected by the industry. The textile industry is one of the biggest polluters of water in the world. For this reason we didn’t just portray water, but we developed production methods that spare the water as much as possible. We experimented with digital printing on textile, different type of unbleached and uncoated yarns, and all kind of weaves. We tried to enlarge the surface of the prints by adding very little water to the production process. This water was fully absorbed by the farbric, so no water was wasted. The combination of material, weave and way of adding water to the process resulted in unique effects on the textile.
As prints we used photographs of water. To shoot these photographs we went to Iceland, the country where durability and water go hand in hand. With its glaciers, geothermal spas, geysers, rivers, waterfalls, fjords, oceans and lakes this turned out to be the perfect location to document our starting point.
The research has resulted in a series of textiles. The table cloth, grand foulard, tea towels, autonomous objects and rug all carry the general name “Waterloop” (Flow of water).

Fishery
grand foulard, table cloth
The linen “Fishery” cloths are printed in a graphical motive. A computer program can convert any of the 44 water pictures into this design. The satin weave causes the horizontal flowing of ink. This effect might remind one of ikat textile.

Fish
autonomous objects
The Fish have been woven with two types of yarns that have very different characteristics; one transports water very well, and the other transports water very badly. By letting the print spread the weave of the cloth becomes very visible and accentuates the colors of the ink.
 

Skills