Arantza Vilas

Bio-Inspired Textile Structure

With ‘Bio-Inspired Textile Structure’, designer and researcher Arantza Vilas explored how textiles can be used as self-supporting, three-dimensional constructions. The project grew out of an early collaboration with the Bio-Inspired Textiles research team at the University of the Arts London. For Vilas, it was her first introduction to the lab as well as to the weaving technique. 

Vilas had already conducted extensive research into origami and pleat structures in textiles. At the TextielLab, she experimented with seamlessly weaving similar cellular structures and investigated how their form and functionality could be maintained when built mechanically rather than by hand. She drew inspiration from cellular structures in biology, developing lightweight, foldable, and potentially load-bearing textile constructions. 

During the making process, she explored how an origami-like structure could be woven in multiple layers simultaneously, with the layers connected at specific points. This resulted in an integrated, threedimensional textile structure capable of standing independently and potentially bearing weight. The woven structures are made from natural fibres such as cotton and wool. The project was realised with the support of a research grant from the Cotton Textiles Research Trust. 

Photography by Michele Panzeri