Interviews with two representatives each of ten areas of applied and desing art on their own careers and the current state of profession | The artists talked to Hedvig Dvorszky and László Attila Márton

- How did you find your way to the area in which you became a well-known and recognised artist?
- In which of your works do you think you succeeded in realising the objectives you had set?
- What is the current situation and the future of your profession like? What are its opportunities?

The development of tapestry art, a timeless genre, is distinguished by the fact that in renewed forms it has been able to preserve its thousand-year traditions in today’s rapidly changing and instant result-oriented world. I regard tapestry as a woven picture, as a unique combination of image and the qualities resulting from weaving. My works are testament to my belief in this special co-existence of fine and applied art. My tapestries are not solely built on the decorativity created by variations of materials, colours, forms and weaving techniques but also convey ideas and inspire viewers to think about these; they are gateways opening into our innermost reality, here we can meet the transcendental. The long and profound process of the birth of tapestry has made it unambiguously clear for me that there is no room here for ad hoc ideas, and that I should treat large, universal themes that pry beyond the material and seek the meaning of existence. My professional programme that I developed in my last years at college was filled with philosophical and theological content. My personal faith has led to my commitment to sacred art.

During the design and weaving process I reinterpret the genre’s complex and diverse treasury of techniques to create textures and woven surfaces of multiple meanings and contrasting effects that convey ideas the most expressively; these are not only mediators of sacred themes but also result in a unique visual effect unlike any other. When I am weaving my tapestries, the completed parts of the work are continuously winding up on the cloth roller, while the warp thread is being fed from the beam roll. Hence the special difficulty of this process: the entire composition is hidden from view until the process comes to an end, leaving no room for subsequent repairing and correcting.

Interview conducted by Hedvig Dvorszky

In the year I was working on my degree project, I had the opportunity to apply to a six-month trainee position with the Swiss company, Creation Baumann. It is an incredibly cool, innovative textile factory in the international vanguard. I got the position. I completed my degree in June, and by July I had a contract in Switzerland. In Hungary I had pretty grim prospects with many textile factories closing down. For example, the Goldberger factory stopped its production at the time, and there I was able to work at a company where they gave me a chance, took me seriously and supported my efforts. Designers were given a free hand at Baumann. There was a ‘background’ textile engineering team entrusted with the task of finding a way how the designs dreamed up by us can be realised. I arrived in Switzerland with a knowledge of weaving that students there did not have. They were amazed that I was able to warp the loom. It was a productive and creative period for me, utterly filling me with enthusiasm and creative energies.

Returning home, I designed a home textile collection, I made designs for foreign exhibitions, and I worked together with architects and interior architects in Hungary on various projects. I slowly built my career up, and more and more people got to know my work. A short while later I designed exclusive hand-tufted carpets and other textile accessories for my embroidered and applied design curtains. Then I received a commission for an interior glass design – that is when I first encountered glass pane lamination. I really liked this technique, and I started to experiment with it, developed it further, and that is how glass textile came into being. My first glass textile collection debuted at 100% Design in 2011. I was included in a successful publication: it was selected to be included in a prominent international design book. Glass textile is an innovative artistic combination of glass and textile. When a foil placed in-between two layers of glass is melted at high temperatures it liquefies and soaks into the textile, thus transforming the character of the material, which looks as if it was wet; mixed colours are produced where the layers meet. This material can find its place in minimal spaces, but also in those where attractive surfaces can be found. That is when the design job for the Budapest metro line 4 came. Palatium Studio’s architects, Zoltan Erő and his team, saw my creations and invited me to join the project. Now my glass textile panels can be seen on the platforms of four metro stations.

Interview conducted by Attila Márton László