‘Silicone’, a rubber like substance, least connected to the delicate silks and soft rayons used in high fashion, is now being utilized by textile designer Tzuri Gueta to create silicone silk textiles. Used to create jewellery and fabrics with an organic aesthetic, particularly reflective of forms found in the ocean, Gueta has patented the completely original method to create his work, known as ‘lace-fed silicone’. By pushing hot silicone through silk tubes and lace, the resultant material can take the look of wood, ivory, beading, leather, or most commonly coral, and yet upon touching the material it is soft, pliable, and lightweight. When translated to be used in textiles, fabrics can be embellished with this material, often paired together with lace and silks. Even though the achieved design looks aesthetically appealing and commercial, still research is needed to solve problems like – silicone is washable in regular laundry, when adorning a more delicate fabric, it would require dry cleaning and also how the blended materials will behave with each other to expand the design potential.
