Mono-Material Library: Designers Sophia Fenlon + Stephanie Rolph
What is the Mono-Material Library?
The Mono-material Library aims to showcase how mono-material design, created with a single fibre such as wool, can achieve diverse textures, forms, and functions through engineered use of woven structures.
This innovative approach shifts focus from selecting fibres based on their inherent properties, to engineering, through woven structure, functionality and transforming a fabrics mechanical properties.
As an emergent area of design, mono-material designing responds directly to the climate emergency by prioritising material or product recyclability or biodegradability at the end of life. This project has evolved from the Designers shared interest in the role textiles can play in achieving Net Zero.
Mono-Material Library x Schoenenkwartier
This collaboration challenged conventional approaches to woven design and shoemaking through an interdisciplinary partnership. This process driven project explores how jacquard and dobby weaving can be used to create mono-material footwear uppers. Focusing on the ability to engineer multi-layer woven textiles on- loom and then transform them through finishing techniques to create functional footwear components. Through an in depth exploration of woven structure, the project investigates how to strategically engineer areas of flexibility, rigidity, stretch and cushioning where required within the uppers.
Over the summer Fenlon and Rolph completed a residency in the Netherlands at Schoenenkwartier. The residency presented a unique opportunity to experiment with structural engineering of mutli-layer woven fabrics to form 3D shapes, while also developing novel approaches to mono-material footwear uppers. EE Exclusive, jacquard weaving specialists, supported the development of the multi-layer polyester fabrics.
The Schoenenkwartier, a living museum, offers residencies supported by footwear designer and lab coordinator Marijke Bruggink, alongside their master cobblers. Through interactive workshops and shoe-making guidance, the vision of woven mono-material footwear became a reality.
The residency fostered cross-disciplinary collaboration, creating textile assets through knowledge sharing and iterative prototyping. The project has furthered understanding of how woven structures and fibre interactions can generate varied properties. The first material explored for the Mono-Material Library was polyester, a common jacquard warp fibre in the textile industry, transformed into unique footwear concepts
The resulting assets will be showcased at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, from 19th to 27th October 2024, as part of Schoenenkwartier’s Artist in Residency 2024 showcase.
This project is generously supported by the Theo Moorman Trust and The Worshipful Company of Weavers’
Stephanie Rolph
Stephanie Rolph is a highly skilled textile designer with expertise in design-driven material innovation. With a distinguished educational background, graduating from Central Saint Martins [CSM] and Royal College of Art, Stephanie blends originality with innovative approaches to textile design.
Over the past decade, she has collaborated with prestigious global brands in diverse industries. With a passion for material provenance Stephanie is an expert in UK Wool supply chains and woven innovation.
In addition to her successful studio practice, Stephanie is a Senior Lecturer at CSM where she leads the Woven Textile Department and a design researcher at UAL. Her academic research leverages her design experience to establish circular, regenerative, and traceable supply chains. Currently, Stephanie is a postdoctoral research fellow on the pioneering Bio-Inspired Design Research Project and a Project Lead on an Innovate UK Funded Regenerative UK Wool research project in partnership with Dash & Miller Ltd.
Sophia Fenlon
Sophia Fenlon is a practising textile designer and senior lecturer, holding a BA (Hons) in
Textile Design for Fashion from the University of Brighton and an MA in Textiles from
the Royal College of Art. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Her work is characterised by a love of offbeat color, contrasting textures, and
unconventional material compositions, resulting in playful and often subversive
designs. She employs jacquard, dobby weaving, and mixed media textile techniques
to bring her dynamic research themes to life, pushing the boundaries of the loom
through the distortion of scale, pattern, and repetition.
With extensive experience in the fashion textiles industry, Sophia has worked in
fabric sourcing, design, and development. As a freelance designer, she has
collaborated with clients including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane,
Lululemon, Calvin Klein, Knoll, Cos, The Row, and Esteban Cortazar.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at industry trade shows and events such
as Premier Vision Paris, Indigo Salon & Maison D’Exceptions, Premier Vision New
York, London Craft Week, Denim Days, London & Paris Fashion Week, and the
Yugen JTex Showroom in Paris.
Leave a Reply