ELISA STROZYK’S AMAZINGLY SOFT WOODEN TEXTILES

All Images Courtesy of Elisa Strozyk.

It’s all made of wood. Seriously. When I came across these interesting textiles by Elisa Strozyk, I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing – carpets, blankets, tablecloths, even clothes, all made from wood! As you know, I love some good old fashioned woodworking, but this takes the term to a whole new level.

The Berlin native received a masters degree in Future Textile Design (how cool is that?) from the prestigious Central St. Martin’s school in London, and has gone on to wow the design world and win awards throughout Europe with her innovative use of wood as a textile material.

Strozyk was inspired to attempt her adaptation of wood from something sturdy and supportive, into something more delicate and malleable when she saw a photo of a water-damaged parquet wood floor, noting how “the wood came back to life and is frozen in motion” (Dwell). From here she took this idea of motion in the material and began experimenting with many different types of wood until she found that cherry and maple wood veneer sheets worked best for her purposes.

To create the designs, she uses a laser cutter to slice the 0.6mm wooden sheets into geometric shapes, then places the thousands of pieces by hand onto a base fabric which holds the textile together. The geometry of the shapes and patterns, along with the size of the pieces give each textile a different movement and feel. With these variations she’s been able to create all sorts of designs from lamp shades, to dresses, to soft blankets for the bed. Really? Soft blankets made of wood? I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself at a trade show.

I just love the idea of using technology to produce a different kind of handmade textile. Some materials will never go out of fashion, no matter what new-fangled technology we use to manipulate them. As Elisa says, “I love how wood ages without losing its beauty. Somehow it just grows old in a nice way,”. I couldn’t agree more!