December 2019 Thesis + Capstone Exhibition

The Textile Design department invites you to our Thesis and Capstone Exhibition at The Design Center on Friday, Dec 13th from 4-7pm. We are excited and proud to showcase the work of Undergraduate students Ryan Wojciechowicz, Julia Ableson, Julianna Palmer, and Neilah Lizwelicha, and Graduate students Lauren Brauninger, Emily Reppert, Jiyoung Park, and Ben Jones.

These students have impressed us with their vision, innovation, and dedication to their studies and creative problem-solving.  Join us in celebrating their hard work and thoughtful textile design.

Refreshments and beautiful designs will be served.

Interview Series: Ben Jones

For the final installment of our Interview Series for this semester, we have an interview with Ben Jones, a weaver in the graduate program of Textile Design. Ben is a force of energy in the studio and his absence will be noticeable after he graduates this month but we are so excited to see where he goes from here.  Be sure to check out Ben and all of our graduates' thesis show at the Paley Design Center on Dec 13 from 4-7pm. Enjoy!

How did you choose Textile Design as a major?

I was interested in silk-screen printing as an art form. I wanted to gain more technical skills in printing on fabrics using newer technologies. When I took a class in weaving, I knew that I wanted to weave all the time, so I made that my major. Weaving also allows me to dabble in making images (like prints), but also textures, and forms with really cool machinery and technology.

When did you learn to knit/weave/print, and who taught you?

I learned how to silk-screen print at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in 2016. The apprenticeship mentors taught me how to do silk-screen printing on like 50 yards of fabric. I learned how to weave in Weave Design 1 with the amazing teacher here, Bridget Foster.

Do you have a background in design or textiles?

I have a background in a “fine” art studio practice, which included painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture.

Who are your design heroes?

Probably Rei Kawakubo from Comme Des Garcons, or Wolfgang Tillmans (an amazing German photographer), or Anni Albers for uncovering the visual language of weaving, there are too many…

Tell us about the colors, landscapes, artists, or architecture that inspire your design work.

Rosy colors have been a theme in my work for about a year now. Science Fiction plant life, queer culture, house music, physics, early morning light, paradigm shifts, and urban life are just a few of the things that inspire me. Like the previous question, there are too many to list them all, so many!

Which design from your portfolio are you most proud of, or is most special to you?

I don’t have a single design that I am most proud of. There’s one weaving that has sort of been cemented as “the best,” but that’s likely because it was the first in the series I am working on. The weaving I am talking about opened a lot of doors for new weavings, so it’s special to me.

Are there any techniques in textile design you’d like to explore further?

Multi-layer cloth, open reed, weaving with one warp on multiple looms simultaneously, knitting, felting, devoree, tatting, weaving trims, moire with calendaring, macrame, braiding, ikat, resist dyeing, dye-sub printing, velvet weaving, so many things to try...

What do you have on your knitting machine/loom/sketchbook today?

I have a tubular double cloth on my loom today with different weave structures throughout that make the tube function as a “sock” or “shoe” concept. The idea is to show potential employers how weaving structures/weaving technology can be utilized in mass manufacturing to easily make shoes in one step, without cutting, sewing, etc...

What is your favorite thing to do to distract yourself from school stress?

I make sure to go hangout/chillout with my boyfriend and play video games with him every night for about an hour. 

What is your favorite class, and why?

Studio, because it’s an amazing environment and structure to discover yourself as a designer. It took a while to understand that it was up to me, though.

What advice would you give an incoming student into the Textile Design department?

Be yourself and work harder than you think you should.

What surprised you the most about Textile Design at Philau/Jefferson?

How eager the faculty is to help you make your dreams come true. They really just want to make you your best self.

What is your favorite thing about Textile Design?

I don’t have one favorite thing about Textile Design. I love that yarn is a line and is organized into a dimensional pattern. I just love that. I also LOVE the people in textiles, both in industry and school. I also love that textile design is a very powerful industry/trade, and no one understands it.

To see more of Ben's work, you can visit his website, Studio Ben Jones, or follow him on Instagram.

Interview Series with Julia Ableson

Continuing in our interview series, we are happy to introduce Julia Ableson. Julia lends such a positive attitude to the studio. It's been lovely seeing her grow in her design abilities over the years.

How did you choose Textile Design as a major?

When I graduated from high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study, so I started working and taking a few classes at the County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ. I had heard of Textile Design programs, but I wasn’t ready to go away to a four-year school yet. I soon declared an Interior Design major because I knew that I wanted to do something art-related and because it was the closest major to Textile Design that CCM offered. For a while, I planned to finish my Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design, but eventually, I realized that I wanted to do something more hands-on and materials related. During my last semester there, I took an independent study course with Daryl Lancaster, an NJ-based handweaver and fiber artist. That course helped solidify my decision to switch majors to Textile Design and to move to Philadelphia to attend the program at PhilaU/Jefferson. 

When did you learn to knit/weave/print, and who taught you?

When I was around eight years old, my mom gave me a knitting kit for Christmas, and my aunt and grandma taught me how to handknit. They also taught me how to sew and instilled a love of fabric and fiber in me. I also remember my grandma teaching me how to weave on a tapestry loom (another Christmas gift!). Daryl Lancaster taught me how to hand weave, from winding the warp and dressing the loom to weaving with floating selvages and color effects. 

What is your favorite book of all time?

This is such a hard question because I love books and the way that words can change your life. I think I’ll go with Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It feels like home, and it is sweet, wise, funny, serious, perceptive, and joyful all at once. I also appreciate its rich history and how it is still impacting the world today. 

Which design from your portfolio are you most proud of, or is most special to you?

I’m the proudest of the woven collection I created based on the movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I planned out the harness draft specifically so I could weave a sample that looked like a wall in Lara Jean’s room from the film, and I’m really pleased with how cohesive and balanced the yarns and colors are throughout the collection. I’m also really happy that the collection celebrates a film with Asian American representation in its lead cast. 

Are there any techniques in textile design you’d like to explore further?

Yes! This semester, I’ve been playing a bit more with materiality (such as using magnetic ferrofluid to create motifs for a print collection), and I would love to continue doing that. Embracing materiality has helped me to break outside of my design box, so to speak, and to embrace the process more, which has been really good for me. As far as weaving goes, I’d love to try leno at some point. 

What advice would you give an incoming student into the Textile Design department?

Welcome! We’re so glad you are here! You will learn so incredibly much in the next few years. This program is hard and takes a ton of dedication, but you are going to grow so much and make beautiful and innovative things. Don’t try to do it alone. One of the best things about our Textile Design program is how supportive everyone is. You can be honest with your peers and professors about how you’re feeling on both your good and bad days. Whether you’re an undergraduate or graduate student, make friends with the people around you. It’s important to participate in both the giving and receiving ends of that support system. 

And ask questions, lots of them! Ask how to use the equipment, ask what your fellow students are working on, ask your professors what their career paths have been so far. There is so much to learn, and those questions will help you move forward. 

What is your favorite thing about Textile Design?

I think my favorite thing about Textile Design is that the possibilities are endless. Textiles are everywhere, and their purpose can be aesthetic, functional, or any combination thereof. I love seeing people’s personalities come through their work and watching how everyone’s original ideas evolve throughout the semester. Being a textile designer means I get to turn ideas into fabric! It’s pretty incredible to be a part of that.