Week 6, Textiles, Reading, "Textiles for Residential and Commercial Interiors, by A. Willbanks et al.

Though the cover is as interesting as the subject matter covered by the reading, the technical quality of the reading left me hoping for more.  It was a bit more like reading the scientific journals of a fiber lab researcher than writings of an architect or an interior designer.  It was however, incredibly in depth, a little too in depth though.  If I am ever expected to recall the cellular level of anything, let alone the drapery fabric I may or may not run and hide.  Or, now as an alternate option, I can run over to this reading and read aloud.  That would be an impressive social trick.  Back to the reading though.  This particular chapter focused on the fiber classification system and fiber properties, which on a macro level means the general pros and cons of each fabric, (yes in their generic name) which is probably the most useful information I took away from reading the chapter.   Although, it was not the most fun part of the chapter, that I reserved for the few pages at the beginning of the reading which suggested a number of methods to identify an unknown fiber, chief among them, the burning test.  The reading suggested that this would be necessary when clients brought in their own custom fabric.  The reading then included a table that described the burned and flame qualities of various fibers.  While interesting and incredibly fun, in a mad scientist sort of way, I cannot imagine burning a potential clients fabric in the feeble attempt to identify a material.  I am quite sure that hat trick would not go over well in any sort of client-designer relationship. 

Getting beyond the sparky section, the remainder of the reading focused on the fiber aspects such as composition, molecular structure, external physical features,  and the properties of the fabric, such as durability, strength (tenacity), resiliency, and reflective properties.  One of the terms in particular that I preferred over some of the other more bland terms and concepts in the reading was the 'hand' of the fabric, or in laymen's terms the quality of the feeling of the fabric under the hand of the end user.  This in particular intrigued me because in a reading where the clear intention of the writer was to deconstruct fabric into its most basic scientific parts, she couldn't convey a thorough understanding of the object without including the very inherent subjective nature of any fabric, its feeling to the purchaser.  While cotton has been so aptly coined as the, "fabric of our lives", others might shy away from the fabric in search of a more durable alternative, or even hand.