About
Sylwia Orynek is a contemporary weaver whose work positions itself between the disciplines of craft and design engineering. With interest in research-driven creative practice, she approaches her investigations in a cross-disciplinary manner.
As a curator, Sylwia strives to bring together some of the most ground-breaking designs while honouring the heritage and diversity of textile making. By presenting established practices through the lens of novel materials, methods and applications, she hopes to reinvigorate traditional craft and increase its appreciation as a driver of interdisciplinary innovation.
Sylwia has an extensive knowledge of experimental textile making and computer-aided design, which she combines in pursuit of a hybrid practice in order to disrupt and advance traditional weaving processes. Her graduate project – The FreeWeaver – explores the new possibilities such mixed methodology affords, while maintaining the inherent properties of weave such as strength and component versatility. The resulting 3D hand-weaving technique offers a new approach to textile construction, accessible to professionals and hobbyists alike.
Thanks to its ‘made-to-measure’ concept, it proves more sustainable than traditional weaving methods, as unnecessary waste and labour are minimised. The potential to produce modularly and locally suggests additional environmental benefits, which Sylwia aims to study further during her PhD at the 3D Weaving Innovation Centre, University of Leeds.
