Kay Politowicz

Kay is currenly Course Director for BA (Hons) Textile Design at Chelsea with a direct interest in all contemporary interpretations of the subject. The enthusiasm for specialist material processes and a continuously evolving series of contexts for textile related products as evident in the work of staff and students on the course, is the stimulation for research and inventive applications. The focus for research has recently centred on design and production of textiles using a combination of new technologies and established processes to address design in the environment. Leading a research group who have collaborated in the development of fabrics which incorporate a variety of functions in defining interior and exterior spaces, Kay has been able to expolore ideas which are current in architectural thinking. Resulting interior products are emerging as potential developments from these experiments. They include the ability of fabrics to carry light technologies as well as colour and pattern, often transferring low/medium- technologies from other industries into textile design and manufacture. Experiments include the use of long-life, synthetic fabrics with natural dyes and mechanical patterning to produce prototypes for installation. The use of industrially produced 'multiples' and 'flatpack' production has enabled fabrics to be used as temporary and reusable environments. 'Particle Fabrics' an exhibition in Milan 2002, as part of Signatures of the Invisible (Sci-Art Exhibitions in four EU centres), explored the potential of fabric to change and define an environment. 'Artists at Work' Exhibition in Museo del Tessuto Prato, Italy 2003. This selected group show allowed the installation of textile 'lanterns', constructed using magnets, in a group show of contemporary European textile artists reflecting the cross-over of art, science and industry in new textile media. Textiles Environment Design (T.E.D.) is a staff research project at Chelsea, established in 1966, seeking to explore the possibilities of environmental research and collective practice of designers and educators. As project leader for this development, Kay has been able to establish the post of Research Fellow and of a Materials Resource which occupies a vital place in the development of the environmental impacts of contemporary textile design.