Organized by the Mediterranean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (ATHİB), the final of the Woven Fabric Design Competition was held in the unique atmosphere of the Adana Museum (Former National Textile Factory) in its 10th year. Combined with the imagination of the 10 finalists and bearing traces of different themes, the fabric designs were presented to the jury with a flamboyant fashion show consisting of 10 different pieces, attracting attention with their hologram visualization. In the 10th ATHİB Woven Fabric Design Competition, Nuray Er Bıyıklı was the Coordinator and Consultant, Hatice Gökçe was the Design Coordinator, and Yasin Soy was the Art Director.
While Sema Arı won the first place with the theme of Cleopatra’s Love, Demet Yavuzyiğit came in second with the theme of Struggle for Life, and İpek Çakır came in third with the theme Silhouette of Nature. Designers who were deemed worthy of a degree among the finalists, the winner’s prize was a foreign education award of 50.000 TL and foreign language support, the second 40.000 TL and the third 30.000 TL monetary award. In addition, all the finalists were awarded the Desktop Dobby Weaving Loom and the right to participate in the International Première Vision Paris textile show on February 8, 2022 with a faculty member from the university they studied.
Fabric designs “flew” at the fashion show
4 different fabric designs designed by each finalist were transferred to a 3D environment at the fashion show, realized with hologram visualization. Fabric animations were prepared by giving movements to the fabrics in the form of ripples and staged with an extraordinary presentation by being reflected on the ghost screen that provides the hologram image. The designs of young and talented values made their mark on the night in the flamboyant fashion show, styling by Nur Eda İşbilir, make-up by Erdem Sahanlı and hair design by Sabit Akkaya.
ATHİB Woven Fabric Design Competition offers training and business experience to finalists
Contest Coordinator and Consultant Nuray Er Bıyıklı said that the Woven Fabric Design Contest started with the idea of organizing a design contest within ATHİB in 2012 and turned into a passion with a team spirit in 10 years. Bıyıklı stated that this is a project that aims to discover young designers with innovative and extraordinary ideas with their original and creative designs, to support their professional development by helping them gain experience in the industrial production process, and to be a pioneer for them; “Each finalist selected for the finals with their theme selection, design ideas and preliminary products in line with the competition criteria, will gain operating experience by working in the industrial production process the sponsor companies of the association after the design, production and personal development training program specially prepared for ATHİB finalists within the LC Waikiki Corporate Academy”.
A journey in history
The project design coordinator of the competition, Hatice Gökçe relayed that while preparing for this project, they first made fabric paths consisting of the designs of the finalists who participated in the competition in 10 years and displayed these paths by hanging them from the high ceiling walls of the weaving workshop of the historical building. Stating that they did the photoshoots in the centre of this historical factory, where the weaving management room was located, Gökçe said; “We photographed the designers of the future in this room. So in the main centre! In addition to the fact that the factory where Orhan Kemal worked at the time and was an inspiration for his novels Murtaza and Cemile and knowing that the story of the guard Murtaza character took place in this place took us on a journey in history”.
Relaying that they interpreted the fabric designs of 10 finalists, capes made of 100 different fabrics and 10 different garments in the final presentation, one by one, representing 10 years, with their own patterns and designs, Gökçe said; “In addition, we make the fabrics wearable in our Karakarga workshop by designing accessories for each product. The best award of the night for us was the satisfaction and gratitude of the designer nominee finalists, and the models’ unwillingness to take off their designs and leave the area after the fashion show was over. We thank the ATHİB family for their trust in us and proudly hand over the 10th year to the 11th year”.