Signe Emdal’s Chromatic Weavings Manifest Wonder and Joy

Twenty years ago, Signe Emdal founded a business that focused on making unique textile objects and garments, drawing on her background in jacquard weaving, fabric printing, and a range of other techniques. By 2021, though, she was feeling hemmed in and longed for a way to express herself through a more intuitive, less functional creative direction.

“It was time to free myself from a frame I no longer fit and make a new one,” she tells Colossal. “I had no idea what the new frame would look like, but I trusted that life would bring me something better if I said goodbye to a setup that didn’t bring me joy anymore.”

an abstract, bright weaving radiating fiber in red, white, and blue into a puffy form, with long fibers gathered and draping long at the bottom — “Maison” (2023)

A self-described “textile composer,” Emdal views the loom as a window where warp and weft interact to create storage vessels for memories. She is also deeply influenced by exploring new locations. “Art allows me to travel in a completely new way because I get to be in a creation process while spending time with or (being) in other cultures,” she says. Many works she makes on-site, influenced by her surroundings.

Process is central to Emdal’s artistic education and continues to be the primary influence in her practice. “Everything is process, and everything is changing all the time,” she says. “Nothing is ever going to be finished!” She shares that through textiles, she learned to hone her concentration on both physical and metaphysical levels, finding that the meditative methodology of weaving echoes how she views art-making and life more broadly.

Emdal’s related series Touch and Loop comprise sculptural, loom-woven wool in vibrant colors. From radiating puffs of vibrating color to elegant, draping details, her pieces are inspired by science fiction, feminism, art history, and music. “The sculptures are layers of delicate memories,” she says, embodying fragility, resilience, sophistication, and joy.

Emdal’s work will be included in the Textile Art Biennial Slovenia, which runs from May 31 to August 14 across five cities. Find more on Emdal’s website and Instagram.

an abstract, bright weaving with long fibers draping from the sides and the bottom — “Dreams of Gaia” (2024)

a detail of an abstract, bright weaving — Detail of “Dreams of Gaia”

an abstract, bright weaving radiating fiber in red, yellow, lilac, and green into a puffy form, with long teal fibers draping long at the bottom — “Heart of Nebula” (2024)

an abstract, bright weaving radiating fiber in other colors into a puffy form, with long fibers gathered and draping long at the bottom — “Fantasia” (2023)

an abstract weaving installed on the wall, primarily pink and green, with radiation tufts of fiber to make it appear very soft — “Acqua 4 ever/Evigheden” (2024)

an abstract, vibrantly colored weaving with green in the center and radiating fiber in other colors into a puffy form, with green fiber draping long at the bottom — “Spirit of Green” (2024)

a detail of an abstract, vibrantly colored weaving with green in the center and radiating fiber in other colors — Detail of “Spirit of Green”

an abstract weaving installed on the wall, primarily purple, with radiation tufts of fiber to make it appear very soft — “Murex 4ever” (2023)

an abstract, bright weaving radiating fiber in other colors into a puffy form, with orange fiber draping long at the bottom — “Silky Way” (2023)

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