Texture
Author Dan Harfield
This month, I’ve been exploring the role of texture in design, and how it shapes our relationship with everyday objects.
From conductive textiles that respond to touch to woven fabrics to soften technology, these four projects show how material choices can make all the difference in designing desirability.
SAMSUNG X Erwan Bouroullec
Samsung and Earwan Bouroullec’s latest collaboration brings a tactical sensibility to the Music Studio series of WiFi speakers. Building on their decade-long partnership, Bouroullec wraps his simple, geometric forms in richly textured fabrics that feel as considered as they look.
It’s this attention to surface detail that does the quiet work of making technology feel human. A lovely piece of lifestyle design.
Braque Speakers by Nocs Design
Check out this brutalist combination of art and function by Nocs Design. Their Braque Speakers pair dark, rich plywood atop unapologetic brushed stainless steel. The result feels straight out of a sculpture gallery, or like something Darth Vader would have in his music room.
It’s the honesty of these raw material finishes that brings the design to life, creating a textural dialogue between industrial severity and organic warmth that needs no embellishment.
Soft Interfaces by WINT Design Lab
I love the idea of bringing new tactility to touch points, utilising the instinctive and familiar textures of fabrics, and introducing new functionality. The Soft Interfaces project does exactly this, embedding conductive liquid metal into custom-knit textiles to create stretchable, touch-sensitive surfaces that respond to the gentlest pressure.
It’s a promising glimpse at screenless, haptic interactions that could potentially reshape automotive interiors, home textiles and HiFi systems.
Full metal jacket by Vollebak
Vollebak has done it again! Hailed by WIRED as the “Virus Killing Coat of the Future,” their full metal jacket copper edition uses the core qualities of Copper – a material humans have been using for millennia – and takes it to the next level.
Each strand is laser-measured to stay soft and malleable, creating a fabric that’s both high-performance and surprisingly wearable. The resulting texture is a sensory fusion between coarse wire yarn and the luster of raw copper.
