Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures, Maarit Salolainen

Interwoven: Exploring Materials and Structures is a deeply immersive treatise in the art and science of woven textile design. Maarit Salolainen guides readers from ancient textile origins—prehistoric twining, early looms—to the brink of today’s digital jacquard, showing how yarns, fibres and weave structures are entangled with the evolution of human ingenuity.

Beautifully illustrated across nearly 400 colour plates, the book combines rigorous technical instruction (covering fibres, warps, layered constructions, transparency, texture, and even 3D forms) with emotionally resonant stories by students at Aalto ARTS. The pedagogical approach invites makers to not simply learn but to weave their own narrative—bringing textile design into a space where craft, sustainability, and personal expression are inseparable.

About the Author
Maarit Salolainen is Professor of Textile Design at Aalto University, Finland, where she also heads the Master’s programme in Fashion and Textile Design. With extensive experience in both academia and industry, she bridges technical mastery with creative innovation. Her work emphasises renewing textile pedagogy and fostering interdisciplinary thinking among makers, thinkers and designers.

Publication date: 2025
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Pages: 496
ISBN: 9780500027806