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The Jacquard weaving method is an intricate textile process that fundamentally altered the way fabrics were produced. The degree of accuracy required for this technique enables the development of complicated designs, ranging from straightforward geometrical patterns to complicated figures. Jacquard weaving has had a significant influence on the fashion and textile industries. Finnish multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Amsterdam , Netherlands Kustaa Saksi embraced the method of jacquard weaving to create his textile designs that combine the world of art and design. Specialising in graphic storytelling through patterns, textile art and installation Saksi constructs a world of playful, paradoxical and troubling yet inviting shapes and environments. The textile designer combines organic qualities with uniquely detailed textures wrapped in rich colour palettes and experimental material use. "I am inspired by the repeating patterns in nature and mathematical chaos, I get immersed in them and attempt to understand their essence. Afterwards, I simplify and modify them to include them in a visual world of my own” shares Saksi.
In honour of the 150th anniversary of the Helsinki Design Museum, Saksi unveiled an exhibition titled In the Borderlands on May 5, 2023. This textile installation occupies the museum's halls until October 15, 2023. The exhibition is a physical catalogue of Saksi's textile art and jacquard weaving work which are inspired by visual delusions and illusory states, which are typically pattern-based or kaleidoscopic. New works by Saksi, including the seven-metre-long tapestries Forest Boy and Ideal Fall, are also featured at the design exhibition.
To create intricate digital-to-analogue textures, the product designer blends natural fibres like mohair, alpaca, cotton, and wool with rubber, metal, acrylic, and phosphorescent threads. Through years of experience, he has developed the unique weaving process that he calls ‘action-painting with warp and weft’. He initially sketches his ideas on paper or on a computer, and then he uses the jacquard weaving technique to turn the sketch into visual art on a piece of fabric.
Saksi’s tapestries are produced in limited editions, and he is one of a growing number of contemporary designers who want to transform woven textile traditions by experimenting with novel methods and aesthetics. The widely popular category of collectable design is characterised by design objects that straddle the lines of art and design. Suvi Saloniemi, the Chief Curator at the Design Museum comments on Saksi’s product designs by saying "Saksi's textile works combine the qualities of a functional product and piece of art. Saksi is particularly fascinated by weaves and the various twists and twines that are an inherent part of the textile techniques. One typical starting point for his works is stories. Stories often have plot twists, which resemble their intricate turns the complexity and precision of weaving. Saksi's tapestries weave together stories and techniques as well as art and design.”
The visual artist is renowned for his command of a complex and multilayered visual world and is admired for his artistic ability to deftly negotiate the fine lines between truth and illusion. His intriguing compositions usually explore the unfathomable reaches of the brain's liminal zones, conjuring images related to conditions like aura migraines or the mystery world of hypnopompic hallucinations.
Blurring the distinction between fine art and practical objects Saksi invites viewers to investigate the borderlands of reality and illusion with each complex thread and meticulously designed pattern. He asks viewers to consider the tremendous possibilities that exist within the field of modern textile production while he challenges their preconceptions. Saksi's expertise leaves an irreparable mark on fabric art and textile traditions, demonstrating the enduring strength of innovation and inventiveness in the field of design.
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