Weekend Read: Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures by Maarit Salolainen
Interwoven - Textile Design Pedagogy at Aalto University
Weaving has always been a technology of consequence. Long before the language of innovation entered design discourse, the interlacing of warp and weft shaped trade routes, coded status, carried memory and advanced mechanical thinking. In Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures, Maarit Salolainen positions woven textile design within this expansive continuum, presenting a study grounded in material knowledge, studio experimentation and cultural awareness. Recently republished in a revised edition by Thames & Hudson, the book consolidates over a decade of research and pedagogy developed at Aalto University.
Book jacket for Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures, by Maarit Salolainen
Across nearly 400 colour plates, Salolainen traces a lineage that runs from prehistoric twining and early treadle looms to contemporary digital jacquard production. The narrative connects fibre technologies to the invention of binary logic and to current material innovation driven by sustainability. Textiles appear here as active participants in human development—embedded in social structures, economic systems and aesthetic movements.
Interwoven, p334: Jacquard fabric being woven on an industrial weaving machine. Master's thesis collection, 2019, Netta Tormäla.
The publication unfolds in four sections—Interwoven, To the Looms, Jacquards and Finished Fabrics—each building technical and conceptual fluency. Early chapters establish fibres as the fundamental units of construction, examining their behaviour, tactility and structural potential. From there, readers move through sampling processes, derivative weaves, multi-layered constructions and three-dimensional surfaces. The jacquard section, developed with Maija Fagerlund, extends this exploration into digital pattern engineering and industrial translation.
Interwoven: p86-87, Weaving Human Stories.
A defining feature of Salolainen’s methodology is its emphasis on structure before surface. Students are trained to understand density, tension, fibre interaction and construction logic prior to colour exploration. This sequence reinforces the relationship between material choice and visual outcome, encouraging designers to build collections from structural insight rather than applied decoration. Studio assignments are integrated throughout, enabling rapid progression from foundational weaves to complex shaft constructions and jacquards.
The inclusion of woven stories by Aalto ARTS students adds depth to the technical content. Paper yarns generate brittle translucency; wool-silk blends create quilted relief; striped monofilaments explore transparency and tension. Sampling becomes a research method, and the loom operates as both testing ground and site of reflection.
Interwoven: p108 - 109. Finland / Florida. Woven fabrics studio course assignment 2012, by Tina Teräs
Salolainen’s parallel career in industry informs the book’s breadth. Alongside her academic leadership, she has served as creative director at Vanelli, overseeing the development of interior textile collections for international markets. That experience strengthens the book’s trajectory from handwoven experimentation to finished fabrics for fashion, interiors and multidisciplinary application.
Photographed with precision by Eeva Suorlahti, the woven samples retain their material presence on the page. Clear graphic notation and a colour-coded navigation system supports readers at different levels of expertise, and Interwoven offers a comprehensive framework for contemporary textile education—one that integrates craft knowledge with industrial awareness. It presents weaving as a field of material investigation and design strategy, anchored in history and oriented towards future practice.
-
Further Information:
Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures by Maarit Salolainen is published by Thames and Husdson and is available now in the Selvedge Bookshop.
-
Image Credits:
Lead: Jaquard Harness. Image courtesy of Maarit Salolainen, as fetured in Interwoven.
All further images as credited in photo captions.