Talking Textiles: Creativity & Awareness

Webinar with Li Edelkoort

Friday September 26th

9:00am - 10:30am EST

Textiles are one of the oldest surviving material cultures, with their history firmly rooted in the Neolithic period. Since then, textiles have influenced design around the planet, with weaving becoming an indispensable skill connected to family traditions, farmed fibres and local production — spanning to modern times when the loom became mechanised during the Industrial Revolution. Li Edelkoort will take the audience on an inspiring journey through the Europe, Morocco, India, Nepal, Japan, America and beyond. Marking the first ten years of New York Textile Month, this presentation celebrates fabrics, motifs and their origins, since students and designers everywhere have taken up the loom as their most important instrument and ornamentation as their most narrative device. The multiple fruits of this abundant creativity is increasingly being collected and savoured, redefining contemporary textiles in fashion, art and interiors.

Royce Epstein from Mohawk Group will announce the winner of the Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Prize

Ragna Froda will present highlights from New York Textile Month

FINALISTS DOROTHY WAXMAN INTERNATIONAL TEXTILE DESIGN PRIZE

Lidewij Edelkoort is arguably the world's most renowned trend forecaster, working in industries from fashion to food, design, architecture, tech, communication, automotive and retail. Founded in 1986, her company Trend Union produces trend tools for strategists, designers and marketers at brands from Zara to Prada. She is also a publisher, humanitarian, educator and exhibition curator. Edelkoort has been named one of the Most Influential People in Fashion and one of the Most Influential People in Design. Written in 2014, her much-talked about ANTI_FASHION Manifesto was the first to raise awareness about the shifts and upheavals currently experienced in the global fashion industry. From 1998-2008 she was Chairwoman of Design Academy Eindhoven before moving to New York from 2015-2020 where she was Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons, establishing an MFA Textile masters and New York Textile Month. In 2020, in response to the covid-19 pandemic, she co-founded the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. Edelkoort's latest publications include Proud South (2020), Uxua Utopia (2022), and Proud South Craft (2025), each of which celebrate the creative talent of the Global South. 

@lidewijedelkoort
@worldhopeforum @newyorktextilemonth