From 25 May till 9 November 2008 Audax Textile Museum Tilburg will present the exhibition From Labyrinth to Big Mama, projects from the TextileLab. With this exhibition the museum will show work which has been produced in the TextileLab, the museum’s creative workshop, by trend-setting designers and artists, like Studio Job, Piet Hein Eek and Christie van der Haak, Jan Taminiau, Scholten & Baijings, Pieke Bergmans and Berend Strik.

Projects from the TextileLab
‘I’m glad they still remain toy rabbits’, exclaims visual artist Berend Strik when he views the carpet which he designed, as it leaves the workshop of the Audax Textile Museum Tilburg. The carpet, which was produced by the tufter with much care and attention during months of unremitting labour, forms part of an installation by Strik, ‘Rabbits First’. The shimmering colours of fabric and carpet and the cuddly feel of the textile evoke an unreal image, removed from clichés and reality.
Together with other design and art projects this installation forms the exhibition From Labyrinth to Big Mama, projects from the TextileLab. The common factor in all the works is that they were produced in the TextileLab. In this dynamic part of the museum machines rattle and whirr, whilst artists and designers are working together with the museum’s textile technicians. The focus in the TextileLab is on six techniques: weaving, knitting, embroidery, laser-cut, printing and tufting. Next to the high-tech, computer-controlled machinery also manual workmanship is cherished, as is demonstrated in the exhibition by hand-tufted tapestries by Berend Strik and Barbara Broekman.
In an earlier exhibition, in 2005, the Textile Museum showed a broad range of art and design projects from the TextileLab under the heading Made in Tilburg. Now a sequel to this exhibition is presented, in which process and realisation of some fourteen projects are highlighted.

In From Labyrinth to Big Mama the spotlights are focused on a number of larger projects which were recently carried out in the TextileLab. An example is the project 'Labyrinth' by Studio Job, an installation dominated by a labyrinth pattern woven into table linen with napkins, curtain fabrics, a carpet and other textiles.
Berend Strik and Barbara Broekman designed room-sized textile spaces, whilst painter Reinoud van Vught had three strong textured tapestries produced on the computer-controlled weaving machine. In the field of interior textiles some intriguing designs are exhibited, like the three-dimensional fabrics ‘Architextile’ of Aleksandra Gaca and the woven and laser-cut textiles of Hélène Dashorst and Eugène van Veldhoven.
Visual artist Christie van der Haak entered into a joint venture with furniture designer Piet Hein Eek. The result was a bench with a length of approximately 7,5 meters, upholstered with a fabric showing large patterns and changing colour along its full length.
From the designer duo Scholten & Baijings new ‘Colourplaids’ are shown, unique ‘colour bombs’ for interior decoration, executed in double weave. The prototypes were developed in the TextileLab, but now that orders are pouring in, they have the production done outside.
A number of designers concentrated on furniture. Under the imaginative title ‘Big Mama’ sitting objects by Pieke Bergmans can be seen, consisting of bulging, round forms covered with a huge knitted sock. They invite the visitor to sit down and dream away. Kiki van Eijk designed a chaise longue and a folding screen, drawing her inspiration from the Victorian era. She covered them with fabrics dominated by nostalgic objects, as a tribute to the age in which quality was highly valued
A three-dimensional lamp, woven in one piece, was designed by Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe. It consists of a multi-layered fabric, which by a simple action can be fitted with metal rings and turned into a lamp. Also fashion is presented. For his collection ‘Follies - autumn-winter 2007/2008’, fashion designer Jan Taminiau made use of all the machines in the Textile Museum. His singular use of techniques and materials resulted in designs of a romantic and nostalgic nature. Conny Groenewegen will show some models from her recently presented fashion collection ‘Deliberate pixelation’, all of them knitted on the computer-controlled knitting machine in the TextileLab.
Apart from the finished works considerable attention will be given to the development process in the TextileLab: from first sketch and digital file to the testing of colours and materials.

Most of the projects were realised on invitation by the Audax Textile Museum Tilburg. Not only established designers and artists were invited, but also up-and-coming talent. The museum did not limit itself to inviting designers who were already familiar with the textile medium. It is precisely the cross-fertilisation between various disciplines and the contact between more or less experienced designers and the museum technicians, offering their expertise for the realisation of a design, that produced inspiring results.
The lay-out of the exhibition was in the hands of the designer duo Scholten & Baijings from Amsterdam.

A large proportion of the projects was realised and acquired for the museum collection with the aid of grants by the Mondriaan Foundation and the province of Noord-Brabant.

Publication
Concomitant with the exhibition there will be a publication From Labyrinth to Big Mama, projects from the TextileLab.
Author Caroline Boot, curator art and design at the Audax Textile Museum Tilburg; lay-out Irma Boom

Survey of the designers and artists and their work
‘Architextile’ by Aleksandra Gaca
‘Big Mama’ by Pieke Bergmans
‘Colour Plaids’ by Scholten & Baijings
‘Deliberate pixelation - Spring/Summer 2008’ by Conny Groenewegen
‘Domestic Jewels’ by Kiki van Eijk
‘Follies - Autumn/Winter 2007/2008’ by Jan Taminiau
‘Labyrinth’ by Studio Job
‘Multiply’ by Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe
‘Orchidee’ by Eugène van Veldhoven
‘Rabbits First’ by Berend Strik
‘Textile Room’ by Barbara Broekman
‘Sassandra’ by Christie van der Haak seated on ‘Jufferbank’ (damsel’s bench) by Piet Hein Eek
Tapestries by Reinoud van Vught
‘Wave’, ‘Grid’, ‘Circle’, ‘Happy’ and ‘Flowers’ by Hélène Dashorst