Anna Bruun Kristiansen first developed her graduation project ‘Woven Walls’ in the TextielLab in early 2021. After Designmuseum Danmark selected these woven dividing walls for a year-long exhibition, the fabrics were further developed for this purpose in collaboration with the lab team.
‘Woven Walls’ is a series of self-supporting woven textiles that can function as flexible walls. They can be rearranged, creating smaller spaces or routes through a larger space. The textiles consist of several layers. Their three-dimensional curves simulate traditionally draped curtains but do not need a fixed hanging system. The curves also allow the textiles to fold and expand. Each layer has its own colour, which reveals itself depending on the viewer’s perspective.
The project explores how textiles can unite craft and industry, construction and poetry. The walls challenge the hard, cold surfaces of a building and celebrate the sensory experience of space and colour. Initially a graduation project, ‘Woven Walls’ was scaled up in collaboration with the TextielLab for a year-long exhibition at Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen.
The project is supported by Tage Vanggaard og Hustrus Fond, Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond, Beckett Fonden and Marie Jacobine Snedkers Mindefond.
Bruun Kristiansen wanted to create large-scale woven textiles in the TextielLab. The textiles were initially developed on a small dobby loom and then upscaled to an industrial production method in the lab. Three-dimensional shapes were created using a multi-layered weave, a monofilament warp, stiff materials and shrinking yarns. The main challenge was creating enough stability for the larger versions of the walls. The weaving technique and materials also posed various challenges on the loom. The team of product developers and weavers tried numerous solutions and adjustments, working closely with Bruun Kristiansen to realise the larger ‘Woven Walls’.
Anna Bruun Kristiansen is a textile designer and weaver who lives and works in Copenhagen. She graduated from the Design School Kolding in 2021. The same year, her ‘Woven Walls’ project was nominated for the Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Prize in New York. Her work focuses on woven textiles in a spatial context. She is fascinated by thread as the smallest element of a woven pattern and how that can lead to three-dimensional structures and shapes. Her goal is to push the boundaries of what can be created on a loom. She uses the sensory experience of our surroundings as a starting point to explore how this experience can be affected by colours, materials, patterns and shapes.
‘The Future is Present’, Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen, June 2022-June 2023
‘3 Days of Design, DDcated Designhub’, Copenhagen, 2021
‘Tråd, Bemærk’, Copenhagen, 2021
