Vagalume, hand woven fiber optic fiber fabrics

Vagalume, artisan fiber optic fabric, will be exhibited at What's Next?

It will be exhibited in "What's Next?" the exhibition that Materfad has at the Disenny Hubb in Barcelona.

Vagalume is the name we have given to this handmade glass fiber optic fabric that has been created in our Textile Workshop. This project was born from the research we carried out two years ago with Materfad in Barcelona and the company Eurofibroptics. We collaborated with both to carry out an artisan project with a high technological component.

The base fabric is linen with rayon and the fiber optic filaments were introduced into the weave of the fabric in an absolutely handmade way. Thus, the manufacturing possibilities of this handcrafted fabric are infinite, both from a decorative and technical point of view.

It is in this case where collaboration becomes again the necessary tool to carry out innovation and research in textiles. We are very proud because it will be on display for six months in the exhibition that the Materials Research Center Materfad has at the Disenny Hubb in Barcelona, where new materials for design, fashion, architecture, interior design, etc. are shown.

Vagalume means firefly in Galician, I came up with the idea of making this fabric to alleviate the night terrors that my daughter suffered at that time, with a solution that would provide her with soft light and that during the day would have an aesthetically pleasing component.

In time the idea matured into a fabric that could merge fiber optic technology with a completely handmade process to provide different solutions to other professionals, such as lighting designers, interior designers, set designers, architects and others.

Crafts must be open to new work processes

I have always thought that craftsmanship should be open to new work processes and new materials that enrich it and make it evolve.

The process was long and the advice of Javier Peña, the director of Materfad, was fundamental. Although the idea was clear in the approach, the knowledge of the behavior of the optical fiber as a material was essential to carry out the process, its technical qualities and characteristics were going to determine the final fabric and its correct operation.

After several meetings with the people in charge of the fiber optic company and the person in charge of the Materials Center. Everything was ready to weave the fabric on our loom.

The result has been as expected, a handmade fabric that in appearance is a decorative fabric with fall and movement, but that can be turned on, timed, and modulate the light emission according to the previous design.

It can be adapted to multiple designs as it is washable, can be sewn and shaped in almost the same way as a conventional fabric.

The experience of the realization of this fabric has been very interesting. That is why we hope to continue investigating the fusion of new materials and processes for the realization of fabrics, thus contributing to the innovation of the textile world.

And although our Textile Workshop is small and artisan and with a careful but slow process.

The enthusiasm and creativity we put into our projects overcomes all difficulties as you can see.