Digital Textile Design

Introduction

This is a rationalization of how I feel are the significant changes that are developing, we are moving towards a new era within the experimental environment that is ‘Digital Technology in the 21st Century. I will be comparing and contrasting the emergence of new designers as well as established designers such as: Issey Miyake, Hussian Chalayan and Comme des Garcons and many more. According to Bowles, Melanie & Isaac, Ceri. (2009, p.10) they stated that ‘Fashion Designers…are breaking new ground with the creation and use of highly innovative prints that make little reference to traditional: florals have been reinvented through the use of photography, and geometric designs as the focal point of a garment have been given a futuristic edge by designers such as Jonathan Saunders’.

In keeping with the fickle world of fashion design and textiles design, new methods are being created through the growth of technology; therefore it is only natural for me to conclude that digital technology will continue to break new grounds. In relation to the advancement of digital technology Bowles, Melanie & Isaac, Ceri. (2009, p.7) declared that ‘Digital technology is changing the face of textile design, from methods of creating and presenting designs to the ways in which they are realized…working in a digital environment, designers are afforded more time to experiment, explore and create, while manufacturing technologies offer innovative new printing solutions’.

Digital techniques are prominent within fashion, interior design and home furnishing industries Bowles, Melanie & Isaac, Ceri. (2009, p.7) pointed out that ‘the development of digital printing is changing printing methods and removing the restrictions that textile designers have traditionally faced: freed from concerns about repeat patterns and colour separation that are key considerations in screen and roller printing, designers are able to work with thousands of colour and create designs with a high level of detail…experimentation, facilitating one-off production as well as smaller print runs engineered specifically to fit the form of a garment’.

The only way this is possible is with the introduction of software programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Bowles, Melanie & Isaac, Ceri. (2009, p.7) have expressed the abilities concerning such programs as the above mentioned ‘the perfect platform for textile design…the industry standard tools for textile designers, offering the freedom to work with both bitmap and vector-based imagery, manipulate drawings and photographs, to create accurate details and graphic effects’.

According to Bowles, Melanie & Isaac, Ceri. (2009, p.7) their critical judgement on digital technology pointed out that ‘digital printing allows a rich mix of layered imagery, the surface and tactile qualities associated with some methods of traditional printing can be lost: as a result designers are finding ways to put these qualities back into the fabric using techniques such as overprinting and embellishment, this combination of digital and handcrafted techniques has even created a new hybrid craft’.