Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize

“The textile is seen as a conceptual power, through the impermanent handcrafted beads that hold seeds tell stories of migration and are seeds known for resilience – perennial seeds that can repair dirt to soil and sustain communities.” Jacob Olmedo’s winning submission to the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design prize. Photography: courtesy of Jacob Olmedo and Mohawk Group

Because of the nature of the textile industry – of working with textiles, the accessibility of feeling the hand of certain materials and pushing them to their limits, testing them and using them in ways they haven’t been before – a textile design competition is a perfect way for designers to move forward with innovation faster than in other product categories.

If you’re not already familiar with the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize, we invite you to become familiar here; the design competition, hosted by an organization called Trend Union and sponsored by carpet manufacturer Mohawk Group, beckons the best in textile innovation from students around the globe.

The competition recently completely its fifth cycle, and the year 2020 winning submission is a concept that we couldn’t take our eyes off of. As we dug deeper into the conceptual and structural innovations behind the design, we were even more smitten.

Last week, we spoke to Royce Epstein, A&D Design Director of Mohawk Group; Philip Fimmano, Director of Trend Union; and Jacob Olmedo, winner of the 2020 Dorothy Waxman Textile Prize. Our discussion was a flawless reflection of how innovation in textile design can move so far beyond the textiles themselves.

“This competition started as part of a bigger program that began 11 years ago, called Talking Textiles,” said Fimmano. “Five years ago, we started a design competition for students in textile design, and Mohawk Group has sponsored four out of our five years.

Royce Epstein, A&D Design Director of Mohawk Group, and Philip Fimmano, Director of Trend Union

“We started our organization because we were surprised and upset about so many mills and textile makers closing. It began as a way to raise awareness around textile innovation and its significance to our communities, and textile education efforts.”

The competition garners around 200 submissions from around the world each year, and then the field is narrowed to 20 finalists. From those entrants, a jury of design professionals selects the winning design.

“Each year we have entrants from very famous design schools, but also schools we’ve never heard of,” said Fimmano. “That speaks to the power of the internet and to the interest we’ve had from all places.”

Once Epstein learned of the competition, she knew it would be a perfect match for a Mohawk Group partnership.

Jacob Olmedo, winner of the 2020 Dorothy Waxman Textile Prize

“At Mohawk, we were very interested in sponsoring something like this because we have the same goals,” Epstein said. “We’re one of the oldest carpet mills in American, and from our perspective, we’re trying to keep the mills working and alive and vibrant. And, we’re also working to push the envelope in textile innovation. Textile students will inherit this industry, and I’ve found that students interested in textile design are very experimental. At Mohawk, we’re constantly focusing on where we’re headed next, and so we find a lot of kinship with this program.”

Fimmano noted that the competition itself, and the design brief presented to entrants, is always intentionally kept very open-ended.

“We want to encourage creativity, innovation, aesthetics, and in the last two-to-three years, we’ve added sustainability as a criteria,” said Fimmano. “Many of the submissions already had a sustainability component, and we wanted to encourage that even more because it’s such an important part of the textile industry.”

“Most of the students who enter are technically trained textile designers, and we veer away from simply textile art and veer toward textile design. As far as judging based on if the textiles are technically able to be produced, that is not the goal here. We veer away from the American notion of scalability, and we want to instead inspire innovation.”

“The textile that Jacob created is made from all natural materials. Wool is used as the yarn base for the object and isomalt, a sugar-like biomaterial, is used to make the beads.”

Each year, the competition and its submissions take on a mind of their own, often following unplanned trends that reflect current thinking.

“Two years ago, many students were working with food – baking and cooking their materials, which was a really interesting trend,” Epstein said. “This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most students were working out of their homes, and there was much more of a hacker approach, which I found fascinating. We’ve also seen a big trend in submissions that hope to connect textiles to all of the five senses. For example, one submission infused fragrance into the fibers; another student focused on climate change, and irrigated water through her textile, and the color of the textile changed depending on the acidity of the water. This return to the focusing on all five senses is so important to consider when we operate in such a digital world.”

Epstein noted that the jury gravitates toward submissions that move beyond the design of a textile to communicate a deeper message. In that respect, the 2020 winner delivered in full.

“Jacob’s project was by far the most sophisticated, all-encompassing project we’ve ever seen. The nature of young people is to question and to challenge. It is so moving, and so thoughtful. His project is intersectional, combining all different social issues – sustainability, land use, gender, race, local cultures and heritage. It touched on so many things that I care about, and Mohawk cares about, and so many people around the world care about. We don’t see these things as political; we see them as humanity issues.”

“With water, the beads dissipate, exposing the raw seeds to grow into the earth. When the textile is worn on a body like my own – underrepresented and dismissed – it gives me and many others the power to “take back” land for our future.” – Jacob Olmedo

For his winning design, Jacob Olmedo, a recent MFA graduate from Parsons in New York City, will receive a prize of $5,000 to support his emerging design career and practice. His project, titled, “Your Land is Our Land”, is a “thoughtful series of work that begins with beads made from seeds and is then embellished into clothing,” notes a Mohawk Group announcement. “Jacob’s inspiration for this project is complex, covering a wide range of societal issues today, such as migration and identity, both tied to sustainability.”

“One garment is the equivalent to 70 square feet of regenerative soil creation.”

The textile Jacob created is composed of wool, used as a yarn base for the object, and isomalt, a sugar-like biomaterial used to make the beads.

Jacob’s textile project statement:

“We as humans are all connected together through collective land and plant life and as they dwindle and change, taking care of them and each other in our current state becomes more radical of ideas and values. This project takes back systemically destroyed soil for new frontiers through textile. The armor garments are a new future, a vision that holds our environment to its highest value; providing traditionally marginalized people with the power to change the way we operate in the world.”

“The textile is seen as a conceptual power, through the impermanent handcrafted beads that hold seeds tell stories of migration and are seeds known for resilience – perennial seeds that can repair dirt to soil and sustain communities.”

“With water, the beads dissipate, exposing the raw seeds to grow into the earth. When the textile is worn on a body like my own – underrepresented and dismissed – it gives me and many others the power to “take back” land for our future.”

From Mohawk Group’s description: “A large part of this project is the creation of the beads themselves; starting with a 3D model and then 3D printed, the models are cast to create a silicone mold of the beads. Once the molds are made, the isomalt is heated and cast in the silicone while being injected with seeds. The seeds are seeds of repair, perennial prairie seeds that reform systematically destroyed soil for better soil health.”

Seed bead sample

“After the beads are fabricated they are separated into their heights and a map is created digitally of the designs in which the seeds will be placed. Row by row the seeds are strung in the order of the digital map. Finally, once the stringing and labeling of the rows is completed the yarn and beads are crocheted in the round to create armor garment like structures.”

Mohawk Group was particularly impressed with the regenerative theme. From its announcement:

“A large part of this project is the creation of the beads themselves,” which are 3D printed. “After the beads are fabricated they are separated into their heights and a map is created digitally of the designs in which the seeds will be placed. Row by row the seeds are strung in the order of the digital map.”

“The hope and expansion of this project is that the seed beads themselves are used to grow the perennial prairies, as the beads dissipate with water allowing the seeds to grow into the earth. One garment is the equivalent to 70 square feet of regenerative soil creation.”

“The hope and expansion of this project is that the seed beads themselves are used to grow the perennial prairies, as the beads dissipate with water allowing the seeds to grow into the earth.”

Jacob’s regenerative textile project ties in closely to his primary interests – focusing on wearable and spatial activism, and in “creating work about his own intersectional identity in the context of the climate crisis.”

Jacob recently completed his MFA from Parsons, and his submission to the competition was one piece of his graduation project thesis.

“Once the stringing and labeling of the rows is completed the yarn and beads are crocheted in the round to create armor garment like structures.”

“As a queer artist and climate activist, I also thought about the world of the moment. In my practice, something I like to do is take very simple materials in their most raw, natural forms, so I can focus on its materiality better. I also have a focus in hydroponic textiles, and in my MFA, I wanted to take those concepts and move beyond.”

Jacob devoted much focus to creating the beads themselves.

“I’ve always loved beading – this meticulous task that no one really wants to do,” Olmedo said. “I wanted to look at the heritage of beading and beads, think about how I could redesign a bead for myself, for this new future. What is the afterlife of this object? How can it live beyond its life as a bead? I examined growing fields, farming techniques, colonialism.”

“I wanted to create something that would grow on land and propagate and sustain itself better – something that could take on a lot, but also something that could also solve another problem. I wanted the beads to be clear so that you could actually see the seeds, but it was also important to find materials that were healthy. I ended up casting I don’t even know how many bead prototypes – it went through so many stages.”

Each year, the winning student is presented with a big prize check embroidered on linen – a quirky memento from a competition that seeks the next generation of design talent in the field of textiles. With his prize money, Olmedo has opened his own studio in Brooklyn, New York, to begin his promising design career as a multidisciplinary artist, sustainable creative, and textile maker.

“I’ve already been experimenting in it for three weeks, and I’m very thankful to have it,” Olmedo said. “It’s a place where I can be thoughtful, and vulnerable. A lot of my making is in a very vulnerable space, and I can do that in my studio.”

Cheers to Jacob, and to Trend Union and Mohawk Group – for helping make a young designer’s dreams become reality.