Heimtextil 2024 in Germany to spotlight student designs

The Heimtextil University Contest aims to offer young talents the opportunity to present design concepts at Heimtextil 2024 in Germany. Each year students from design universities around the world get to submit their latest and most unusual designs and have their concepts evaluated by a selected expert jury based on a set of criteria at the event.

This year, among the 28 works submitted, three outstanding artists will be given the unique opportunity to present their work free of charge and exclusively at Heimtextil 2024 and to represent their university. From January 9—12, 2024, the winners will have the chance to network on an international level and make valuable business contacts thanks to their own exhibition stand in Hall 3.0 in the New & Next area, organiser Messe Frankfurt said in a press release.

“As trade fair organiser, it is important for us to invest in knowledge transfer. Because creativity must be thought of holistically. The industry needs young and unconventional approaches, which we want to promote and develop with our University Contest format,” said Olaf Schmidt, vice president textiles and textile technologies at Messe Frankfurt.

The Heimtextil University Contest will showcase young designers at leading textile event Heimtextil 2024, Germany.
This year, three artists will exhibit for free, representing their universities.
The winners can network and make business contacts at their own stand.
The event supports young talent and unconventional approaches in the textile industry.

From unconventional pattern dimensions to functional modular elements and fabrics as a means of communication—three projects with fundamentally different approaches convinced the jury with their original concepts.

“The ambiguity of the work lies in the regulated development scheme and the four defined pattern dimensions that form an aesthetic, constructed formulation of ambiguity. It is enacted through the combination of translucency, materiality and three-dimensionality of the bonding structures,” said winner Rebecca Milautzcki when describing her work titled Below the Pattern.

In her master’s degree in Textile Art/Textile Design, Milautzcki developed this project in collaboration with the Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau.

In addition to the black and white representation, there is also a very colourful and functional design, developed by Tasja Videmšek.

“In my project Home textiles inspired by Bauhaus, I focused on modularity of products, developing a modular tufted rug which can be freely assembled into different compositions depending on the needs of the space. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, several design areas were explored, preserving the vision of the movement, and placing it in an environment of a contemporary home,” explained Videmšek. She is studying Textile and Fashion Design at the University of Ljubljana and was also able to develop the result as part of her master’s degree.

Svenja Bremen, master’s graduate in Fashion Design / Costume Design / Textile Design at HAW Hamburg, is the third winner of the contest. “Soft memories is a design research project in which I explored textiles as a potential memory. It was especially important to me to find a way to embed personal memories into the fabrics to enhance their value and promote respectful interaction. I want the textiles to be much more than mere fabrics; they serve as powerful means of communication, carriers of meaning, and memory,” she commented on her project.

The Heimtextil International Trade Fair for Home and Contract Textiles will also be held from January 9–12, 2024.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)