Material Memory
How Traditional Textile Arts Are Being Rewritten for Today
Before art was framed and mounted, it was held and worn. Textiles were among the earliest forms of human making. They were woven to carry grain, knotted to secure shelter, printed to mark identity and belonging. These were not decorative gestures, but functional acts shaped by necessity, environment and community.
Over time, these techniques evolved. As societies grew more complex, textiles began to move beyond survival. Knots that once held fishing nets became ornamental. Weaves that carried goods began to carry stories. Cloth became a medium through which rituals were marked, identities expressed and cultural values passed down. What started as utility slowly transformed into expression.
Artisan weaver with her hand-woven design. Image from Morii Design
Today, contemporary artists are returning to these textile traditions with fresh intent. They are not looking backwards in nostalgia, nor are they interested in preservation for its own sake. Instead, they are asking what these materials still remember. What histories are embedded in a knot, a weave or a repeated print, and how can those memories speak to the present?
This is where the idea of material memory comes into focus. Materials remember use, labour, place and time. When artists work with inherited techniques such as weaving, knotting and block printing, they are not simply reviving craft. They are activating histories and reinterpreting them through the lens of contemporary concerns. Sustainability, abstraction and modern design sensibilities shape how these traditions are reimagined today.
The featured artists inherit centuries-old textile traditions from different entry points. Some work through narrative and handwork, others through sustainability, material reuse or spatial design. Together, they reveal how traditional textile practices continue to evolve, not as relics, but as living systems.
Custom hand-stitched wall-panels using traditional macrame embroidery techniques sit handsomely in a modern restaurant and hotel setting. Image from Dhaagewali
From Survival to Story
Macramé is one of the oldest forms of textile construction, a language of knots built through rhythm and repetition. Historically associated with domestic craft, it lived quietly in homes, shaped by patience and time. In Sanpreet Mittal’s practice, macramé becomes a contemporary narrative tool.
Working under the name Dhaagewali, Sanpreet transforms knotting into an act of storytelling. Her works are not ornamental gestures but carefully constructed compositions. Time is a visible medium in her art. The slowness of the process becomes part of the meaning.
14-inch macrame wrapped disc for a project in Singapore. Commissioned by Fiidaa Art
What distinguishes her work is the way it reframes a traditionally feminised craft as a powerful artistic voice. The materials remain humble, but the outcomes are deliberate and expressive. Macramé moves beyond decoration into conceptual territory. The knots no longer hold objects together. They hold attention, inviting viewers to slow down and engage with the quiet strength of hand-made form.
If macramé represents the emotional and narrative evolution of textile traditions, block printing offers another form of inherited repetition.
Printing Memory Into Cloth: Continuity Through Repetition
Block printing is a practice built on imprinting. A single carved block, pressed repeatedly onto cloth, creates continuity and pattern. For centuries, it was a way to visually record history, with motifs passed down, refined and reinterpreted through generations.
Morii Design approaches block printing not as a relic, but as a living system. Through collections like Bela, the studio works closely with artisans to preserve traditional techniques while translating them into contemporary visual compositions. The patterns are grounded in heritage, yet the presentation is clean, restrained and modern.
Bela hand-block printing technique. Image from Morii Design Studio
What sets Morii apart is its commitment to sustainability through continuity. Rather than extracting aesthetics, the studio sustains entire ecosystems of making, ensuring that skills survive because they remain relevant. The work honours the hand-carved block, the natural dyes and the quiet discipline of repetition.
Here, material memory lives in the act of printing itself. Each impression carries the weight of history, yet feels unmistakably current. These textiles do not ask to be seen as craft. They ask to be understood as design, informed by the past and firmly situated in the present.
While block printing preserves continuity through pattern, weaving opens up a different conversation when material itself becomes the message.
When Weaving Meets Sustainability: Material as Message
Weaving is one of humanity’s most enduring methods, a structure built on interlacing, tension and balance. JJ Chuan inherits this logic, but replaces traditional fibre with a distinctly modern material, discarded cassette tapes.
Once vessels of sound and memory, cassette tapes are now largely obsolete and destined for landfills. JJ intercepts this trajectory, cutting and weaving the tapes into sculptural textile works. What emerges is MusicCloth, textured surfaces that shimmer with quiet complexity.
Hand-weaving old cassette films. Image courtesy of Rehyphen
Her practice extends beyond the artwork. Through her sustainability-led initiative Rehyphen, weaving becomes part of a broader conversation around circular design and material responsibility. The work is not simply about reusing materials, but about reframing waste as memory.
In JJ’s hands, heritage lives in process. Weaving becomes a timeless act capable of holding contemporary zeitgeists such as sustainability, obsolescence and preservation. The result is work that resonates deeply with today’s audiences and is grounded in values that extend beyond aesthetics.
Weaving Place Into Space
Design from Tanoti reflecting the multi-cultural heritage of Singapore. Commissioned by Fiidaa Art for Capitol Kempinski hotel, Singapore
While some textile artists reinterpret material use, Tanoti’s work expands the space. Collaborating closely with indigenous weaving communities in Sarawak, Malaysia, the studio preserves traditional techniques for contemporary interiors.
Rather than altering the craft, Tanoti innovates through scale and application. Handwoven textiles move from ceremonial and functional contexts into architectural environments, becoming part of how spaces are experienced. This approach was exemplified in a woven installation commissioned for a heritage hotel setting, where traditional patterns were reinterpreted to complement a modern hospitality environment.
Textile sculpture by French-Filipino artist, Olivia d’Aboville. Image from artist website
Where Tanoti’s work engages a cultural narrative, Olivia d'Aboville approaches space through light, movement and perception. Using hand-pleated and woven textiles, her practice transforms fabric into suspended forms that respond subtly to air, illumination and proximity. Her works are structural, yet softens the environments, introducing rhythm and atmosphere through translucency and motion.
Together, these practices demonstrate how textile traditions can operate across scales. From anchoring heritage within large architectural spaces to shaping intimate, sensory encounters, weaving becomes a spatial language. One that adapts thoughtfully, remains deeply material and continues to evolve within contemporary design contexts.
Looking Forward: The Future Is Made by Hand
Across these practices, a shared thread emerges. Heritage is no longer confined to motifs or symbolism. It lives in process, material and intention. Innovation, in turn, is not about abandoning tradition, but about reinterpreting it with care.
From knots that once held tools, to prints that recorded identity, to weaves that now address sustainability and space, these artists show how material memory continues to evolve. Their work reminds us that the future of contemporary art may lie not in constant novelty but in remembering how things were once made: slowly, purposefully and with meaning.
In revisiting these traditions, they are not preserving the past. They are carrying it forward.
For those interested in commissioning bespoke works or exploring how these practices can be translated into contemporary spaces, the Fiidaa Art team is available to guide the process.