London – The Textile Futures Research Centre at Central Saint Martins has released its first publication, Material Futures, which profiles the centre’s work on designing textiles and materials with a reduced environmental footprint.
The report includes features on key research areas such as bio-manufacture, or how biology can inform future textile design, an examination of the intersection between textile design, architecture and smart technologies, and the influence of open sourcing and co-creation on textile design.
Each section includes trend predictions and profiles of young designers whose work draws on these areas. The bio-manufacture section, for example, predicts that future textile designers will use synthesised spider silk and the luminescent chemical secretions of fireflies in their creations.
For more on the collision of science, commerce and culture, a trend that LS:N Global is calling Re-enlightenment Rising, attend our forthcoming Spring/Summer 2013 Trend Briefing.