Christiane Maurer

Christiane Maurer (1963, DE) studied Industrial Design at the University of the Arts Berlin. After finishing her PhD at TU Delft on the perception of artefacts (1994), she worked as a designer, visual artist and researcher. Woven textiles are central to both her commercial work and her free work. In a unique process that she developed herself, digital design, complex hand-weaving techniques and scientifically based color exploration form one whole. This results in works of art that no longer resemble ordinary, handmade or industrially produced fabrics. The perception of colors is central to her Double Weaves. Applying complex color gradients, she explores how colors influence each other and how the same color is perceived differently time and again, to the point of being unrecognizable. Her work is woven: threads in solid colors and discrete steps in warp and weft make each image point a conscious choice and enable her to precisely analyze color effects in their environment. The Double Weaves can only be realized by combining digital design and artisanal elaboration. Concepts are explored in extensive computer studies and ultimately realized in hand-woven works. With this, Christiane reverses the role of creativity in textile art: all creative processes take place in a digital environment; the loom is not an inspiration, but a tool that precisely carries out defined steps.