Finding Balance in Soft Choreographies: Unraveling Stories, Memories, and Care

This research unfolds as an intimate journey and a hands-on practice engaging with textiles. It explores the dynamic shifts in personal and communal relationships to material culture. Grounded in both individual reflection and collaborative participation, the research investigates how textile-making processes serve as meaningful rituals of care, healing, and collective storytelling. Through autoethnographic experiences and participatory workshops, it emphasizes the significance of engaging with materials as active participants in our emotional and social landscapes, demonstrating how textiles become conduits for personal memory, identity exploration, and community-building. At the same time, it acknowledges that working with textiles is not universally soothing or positive – moments of frustration or discomfort can surface alongside healing. Recognizing this complexity early on tempers an overly romantic view, reminding us that even caring creative practices involve challenges. This approach gives room for a shared dance between the carefully choreographed and the improvised, between structure and the unplanned. Informed by the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang, this project highlights the transformative potential embedded in the intentional and reflective handling of textiles, advocating for a deeper sense of care toward our garments, ourselves, and each other. These insights gained offer valuable considerations for designers interested in exploring emotional connections, collaborative creativity, and reflective approaches to material engagement in their own practices.