3D

3D

LONDON (UK) - Whereas textiles have traditionally been used as a smooth covering for flat surfaces – floors, walls, ceilings – in recent years we have seen more and more three-dimensional experiments, such as blob-like pavilions and walls folded from fabric or built from textile tiles. One early practitioner of this new approach to fabrics in architecture is the Finnish-born, London-based designer Anne Kyyrö Quinn.

Quinn does not confine herself to the production of fabrics, which is to say the actual weaving, but concentrates on turning them into handcrafted objects. She snips, cuts, folds and stretches felt and other fabrics into sculptural wall panels, cushions, blinds and table runners. As a result, in addition to their artistic and acoustic qualities, her works have a decidedly tactile quality and they impart a three-dimensional effect to a space.

All her work is based on a portfolio of eighteen core designs 'inspired by organic shapes and expressed with Scandinavian simplicity', according to her website. Motifs from nature – wave and sand structures, leaf and coral shapes, bold and camouflage colours – are clearly recognizable in the various objects. It is precisely that contrast between the natural world and the urban interior that fascinates the designer herself and in turn makes her work so fascinating to others. (Kirsten Hannema)