Exploring sensuous qualities of textiles

As designers we engage with materials in various ways throughout the design process. Especially textile designers who are met with a demand to be able to describe and communicate textiles – in words as well as in physical materials. In this paper we propose a tool consisting of a sensorial wheel and a visual wheel aiming at textile design students at a foundational level.
The tool is meant to develop textile designers’ awareness and language by evaluating existing textiles, but at the same time providing the students with an open tool to readjust and combine with other methods and include in their existing design process.
The tool has been tested in a workshop at BA level and showed that students were able to evaluate and vocalise their chosen textiles and the sensorial qualities the textiles expressed by using the two wheels.
In the reflection session afterwards, we have focused on the outcome of the sensorial wheel for the students to reflect on the use of the tool and how they experience sensorial qualities differently, thus developing their individual design language and process.