Original scientific paper
Patterns and Lives of Hand Block-Printed Textiles: Creativity and Community in the Work of Twentieth-Century Women Designers
Alicia Mihalić
; Independent Researcher, Zagreb, Croatia
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* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Within an environment increasingly dominated by mechanised, large-scale production, the interwar turn to hand printed textiles highlighted the aptness of textile surfaces to accommodate a straightforward application of modern art principles that, accompanied by a high level of craftsmanship, integrated the designer and maker. Created as both interior and dress fabrics, wood and linoleum block-printed textiles particularly exemplified the creative work of women who devised their designing and printing processes as inseparable activities through which unique and captivating engagements with textile patterns articulated an awareness for their quotidian and utilitarian functionality. In this sense, produced in independent and intimate workshop settings that affirmed the role of community and exchange in the development of design methodology, the fabrics allowed for an unmediated exploration of abstract compositions and figurative representations, encapsulating the simplicity of a traditional craft through the display of vivacious and innovative motifs. By examining the ability of hand printed textiles to transgress the boundaries between fine art and craft as well as to encompass aesthetic and functional qualities, the paper will situate the dynamic expressiveness of twentieth-century women designers within the experimental and embodied contexts of block-printing processes and position their activities at the intersection of individual and collaborative practices.
Keywords
block-printed textiles; women designers; modernism; art; craft; handmade
Hrčak ID:
350352
URI
Publication date:
4.10.2025.
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