Designing In-Between: Innovation from Field to Fabric

Abstract In this article we present the reflective and reflexive accounts of two research and textile practitioners designing in-between—whereby encounters between human and the more-than-human—shape textile design practice as an ongoing and relational connection with soil, land and landscape. From selectively breeding a flock of Shetland sheep for fleece to designing for decomposition to support soil health; both accounts articulate the lived and felt experience through: place and the stewardship of land; the importance of terrain; transparency and traceability; the pursuit of [re]generative material cycles; and innovation from field to fabric. As practitioners, we frame a [re]positioning of dominant discourses through the lens of environmental sustainability and ecological renewal. We locate more-than-human as an interconnected matrix of inter- and intra-dependencies, which includes the wisdom of nature within the wider ecology. This extends to local and vernacular materials including the ritualistic and performative qualities of decomposition and specifically to the recuperation of perceptions around the value of wool both economically and environmentally. We go on to advocate for the radical [re]imagining of production cycles within the textile industry broadly conceived and conclude with a call to designers to consider alternative starting points—innovation from field to fabric—embodied within the more-than-human rubric. In so doing, we [re]consider how a full set of contributors—from sheep to soil microorganisms—can [re]position, [re]define and [re]imagine existing textile production cycles.