The defining feature of the nuclear-free movement in New Zealand was people power: a groundswell of popular support which achieved a major change in government policy and became a turning point in our national identity. Creative expression was crucial to building visibility for the cause. By looking at the textiles produced at this time, we can both read the history of the movement and understand how New Zealanders saw ourselves and our place in the Pacific. Banners, fabric prints, and t-shirts used conventional protest messaging like peace signs and caricatures of key political figures. But it is the imagery chosen to support these messages which echoes a wider conversation in New Zealand’s identity as a Pacific nation. In the 1980s and 1990s, an emerging “Pasifika” movement in craft and fashion adopted Pacific Island imagery to create a unique New Zealand style. Anti-nuclear textile designs formed a part of this, drawing upon the romanticized image of palm-tree-fringed islands, a natural paradise in which grotesque mushroom clouds had no place. This article considers how anti-nuclear textiles are a visible creative record of New Zealand’s changing self-identity.

Following up from a previous article on the possibility of materializing intention through the design and production of a “knot dress,” this study confirms that the maker’s intention can be transferred to, and actively perceived by, the garment’s wearer. The interviews and related documentary on wearing the knot dress show that an unusual piece of clothing induces movements and behaviors in the wearer that more ordinary garments do not, thus triggering “epidermic self-awareness,” that is, the experience of greater or lesser discomfort as a chance for the wearer to appreciate the connection between body and garment. Minimal discomfort, however, will disappear as the wearer becomes accustomed to the feeling. The wearer-garment interaction through the amount of imbalance created, more or less intentionally, by the maker, causes garment and body to be felt as separate, yet connected, entities, whilst also linked to the world outside. The results of this study suggest the possibility, or a method, for a maker to sharpen the wearer’s perception of both the garment and the added value of its maker’s intention.

The traditional manufacture of the vueltiao hat is a symbol of identity in the Colombian Caribbean. In recent decades, it has become a symbol and primary source of income for numerous indigenous Zenú families in Tuchín (Córdoba-Colombia). In this study, through qualitative methods, we document narratives around the vueltiao hat supply chain. As a result, we describe the current practices surrounding the cultivation, transformation and braiding of cañaflecha, related with the dynamics of commercialization of this handcrafted object, considering the different sociocultural dynamics of its crafting.

This paper entwines the voices of art historian Dr. Fionna Barber and Artist Scholar Prof. Jools Gilson to propose the critical importance of textile art in contemporary debates about the climate emergency. Framed in collaborative counterpoint to previous work on femininity and water (notably Neimanis 2012, 2017), this discussion focuses on three textile-based projects through two meteorological exhibitions; Mapping Climate Change: The Knitting Map & The Tempestry Project at the Berman Museum of Art in Pennsylvannia, US and Strange Attractors at Tate St. Ives, UK, both 2021. The paper proposes The Knitting Map as a way of thinking about textiles and climate, as well as an artwork. It visits Cork City, the Irish bog, and Cornwall, traversing tropes of landscape, weather and national identity as it tangles textiles, analysis, and story.

Since the 1970s, Haiti’s zòn franch (dislocated sites where garments are assembled and processed for export to the North), have reconstructed bonds of coloniality through structural violence. Despite over two hundred years of Haitian independence from French colonial rule, and over 80 years since the US occupation of Haiti, these “ports,” exempt from tax and duties, are often viewed locally as self-contained non-independent islands that reproduce a colonial logic of transnational wealth extraction. Mixing voices from ethnographic fieldwork and literature, this article examines the creative resistance of Black women garment workers in Northern Haiti. It sees their opposition to a precarious local textiles industry, to substandard labor conditions in the zòn franch and to increased climate vulnerability as a legacy of Black Haitian women’s continuous resistance to plantation slavery. I conceptualize the combination of informal livelihood strategies the women deploy as a form of what Haitian anthropologist and artist Gina Athena Ulysse calls rasanblaj (2015), or the re/assembly or regrouping of ideas, things, people. For Black women workers viewed as disposable by outsiders and a wealthy elite, self-organized textile-based initiatives not only tackle ecological issues such as waste management, but also extend social and educational benefits to the local community.

Suxiu, “Suzhou embroidery,” is one of the major styles of traditional Chinese embroidery. In 2006, Suxiu was listed as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of China. Although the official media highlight the glory of Suxiu and its cultural significance as ICH, the industry has encountered great difficulties and challenges for the last 20 years. This paper explores the predicament of Suxiu and the far-reaching impacts of the China’s ICH policies on the embroidery industry. It argues that the state policies fail to provide community members with equal participatory opportunities in the heritage industry. Instead, it creates intragroup hierarchy and classification, favoring certain members while excluding others. More specifically, it examines local embroiderers’ different attitudes and reactions toward the ICH system, thus illustrating how the top-down policies affect the sociocultural process of recognition. It aims to offer a critical reflection on how China’s industrialization and ICH policies have transformed the nation’s handicraft industry.

This paper explores the language of knit as a key influence on its status as an artform and craft. The basic nature of the language used in knitting is so commonplace, so entrenched in our language at large, that it leads to distinct associations with everydayness that knit can struggle to overcome, often leading knit to be considered “only” a simple craft. We find that the skills needed for knitting are disassociated with the value of knitting as skill and cultural presence. From dismissive language aimed at the knitter to cultural significance throughout history from metaphor to online neologisms this paper explores the relationship knitting has had with both creating and being shaped by language. Historical linguistics associates a range of “higher” crafts with imported Romance language words, whereas the “lower” craft status of knit is echoed by its use in in the English language (and elsewhere) where simple, domestic words are used. The historical and cultural reckoning of knit, and the language that perpetuated these attitudes today, has influenced perception consciously and subconsciously. With new terminology heralding knit as an evolving, person-centred community that is driving the subject forward. Knit, in its own terms, has many a yarn to tell.

The research is a theoretical analysis of the relationships between minimalism in Western and Eastern design. The research purpose is to identify the influence of oriental minimalist design on the development of design in the West. The scientific value of the research is the comparative analysis of Eastern and Western minimalist design that may be of interest to teachers and students learning art, design, and architecture. The research methodology used the philosophical principles of Determinism, the Interdependence of Being and Consciousness, the Harmony of Man and Nature, the Unity of External and Internal, form and content, style and meaning. The scholars followed different methods of analysis, reviewed scientific literature, and applied the method of theoretical modeling to the research framework. The results helped to identify key characteristics, commonalities, and distinctive features of minimalist design in the East and the West.

Phad Tradition as a part of visual culture is a performative, ritualistic, audio-visual folk craft of Rajasthan, India. Its cult following is based on its regional Gods, such as Papuji and Devnarayan Ji. Phad Tradition can be broadly divided into three aspects as narratives (tales, myths), paintings (visual), and performance (audio). Phad Paintings has a unique visual language that is painted on muslin fabric (sacred textile) by the Chippa community from Bhilwara, Rajasthan, and are recited by priest singers locally known as Bhopa and Bhopi in form of elaborated performances. The lesser-known Phad Tradition is a part of Indian cultural heritage, yet many communities engaged in this craft-making are perhaps struggling socially and economically. The aim of the current review is to bring different literature resources and discourses on the subject matter and provide a comprehensive knowledge of the traditions with future scope of research. With this reference, the scoping review was conducted by deploying electronic (Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar) and non-electronic (library resources) searching. A total of 70 papers were included to achieve the intended goal. These 70 papers were further divided into three categories based on the relativity of the subject matter. The review established that there are different paradigms where the subject has not been explored extensively. Hence, the review might encourage researchers and designers to engage with the subject from different perspectives to build further knowledge.

The author, a Red River Métis beadwork artist and researcher, offers a brief introduction to the history and purpose of octopus/fire bags, a traditional Métis garment. She explores both her experience of reclaiming the garment design following disruption of intergenerational knowledge transfer as a result of colonialism, and details textile and garment construction processes. Reflecting on the finer points of selecting materials, choosing lining, and binding of the piece, the author takes an organic detour into the sphere of Métis fingerweaving and beadwork, and ultimately explores the meaning and visual language of the beadwork featured on Ob-La-Di, Oc-To-Pus (Life Goes On): A Modern Métis Fire Bag.