There's many a usage for ‘thread’ in our common vernacular, often used within a turn of phrase designed to metaphorically help describe an element of or effect upon our shared existence; pulling the thread, threadbare, hanging on by a thread, common threads, threading the needle and losing the thread. It seems we’ve have a steady but perhaps often-overlooked relationship to threads and it's one that stems back further than perhaps we'd ever imagine.
The V&A's current exhibition Fabric of India goes some way in elevating threads, yarns and fabrics and with it educating us about the significance they have had upon human life. It charts their history; the oldest surviving cotton threads dating back to 4000BC and the oldest examples of dyed threads coming from 2500BC, both of which having been made in India. Indeed, the name ‘India’ itself was synonymous with ‘cotton’ to the Ancient Greeks.
India has an abundance of natural resources with which to make threads and the dyes with which they are traditionally coloured. The exhibition, which is beautifully designed by Gitta Gschwendtner showcases the very plants, roots and beetles used. It also charts the developments of silk manufacture (another natural raw material), Bandhai tie dying as well as some of the finest embroidery and weave patterns.
The exhibition also draws attention to the role traditional Indian fabric played in the country gaining its independence from Britain in the last century. With the steady demise of the fabric industries in India due to British industrialised processes taking over came uprising and revolt. With the support of Gandhi amongst others the Indian people rose up wearing traditional Khadi fabric as a sign of their national identity and in support of the textile industries of their country.
It appears there is growing interest in the role threads have and continue to play in our lives. Dulux’s Colour Futures 16 includes the trend Heritage and Future and is inspired by the rich colours and vibrant details in tapestries such as those on show at the V&A.
Artist Gülay Semercioğlu uses enamel-coated threads as a vehicle to question ‘Turkey’s persistently patriarchal society’ in her works on show just around the corner from us at Pi Artworks .
The Woman on the Wire showcases a series of works made by hand looping the threads to create knitted structures that take the form of domestic objects and imagery, all of which were made in collaboration with women from across Turkey.
The shimmering gold surfaces are loaded with associations of opulence, traditional marital customs and industry yet have a hand-crafted and domestic outcome, which results in a blurring of conventional gender roles.
Elsewhere we’ve seen other socially considerate uses of threads; we covered Siem Pabon’s allergy defensive Fervent Carpet at last year's Dutch Design Week. The spiralled rope made from a woven thread not only looks great but through a nifty connection to a domestic radiator can also be heated to 60°C killing off dust mites in the process.
In the summer, designer Ulysses Lacoste teamed up with Atelier Yok Yok to create the winning installation at Cahors June Garden festival . Centred in the grounds of St Stephen’s Cathedral in Southern France the installation involved a set of tunnels created from thread-like cords attached horizontally to specially designed archways.
At the same time artist Chiharu Shiota , who is famed for her use of thread in her large-scale installations created The Key in the Hand for the Japanese pavilion. Attached to metre upon metre of red yarn that was already zigzagged about the gallery space were individual keys, an encompassing metaphor for memory, protection and security.
From a more contemporary angle, Kengo Kuma’s absurdist interior scheme for Tetchan restaurant in Tokyo utilises modern day waste in the form of disused electrical cables that form looped threads of dense rainbow colour across the walls and all over the furniture.
We’ve spotted a pixel inspired trend developing in textile design of late; there was Hatch by Danielle Toledo during Dutch Design Week as well as Philip David Stearns’ Glitch textiles , which ‘render the subtle structures of our digital reality into intimate, tactile materials'.
With an increasing awareness and ability to work with online coding and digital imagery it seems that threads may well continue to connect as tangible entities in an ever-expanding digital world.
