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Phlox Van Oppen

The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås

Phlox van Oppen graduated cum laude from the KABK in 2022 as a textile designer. Currently she is doing her masters at the Swedish School of Texiles, with a specialization in weaving. Phlox approaches weaving as both material practice and conceptual language, exploring textiles as sites of storytelling, transformation, and tension. Rooted in an experimental mindset, her work continuously challenges traditional techniques, allowing construction and deconstruction to coexist within layered, shifting surfaces. Emerging from a generation, where recycling, upcycling, sustainability, and other ecological terminology have become commonplace, Phlox focusses on overlooked everyday materials as a source of inspiration. During her time living in the largest female student house in the Netherlands shared with 36 women she began observing the systems, routines and unnoticed material flows within domestic environments. This experience fueled an ongoing research practice exploring materials, waste streams and ecosystems as both conceptual and physical foundations for her work.

Website

Continuous Flux

Category: Interior

Competitions: Home Competition 2026

Continuous Flux uses multi-layered jacquard weaving, ranging from two to twenty-four layers on a monofilament warp, partly made with deadstock yarn from a local Swedish carpet factory. The work is based on interviews with women, I let biography inform material, structure, and process rather than illustrating stories literally. The work reflects my own experience of resilience and transformation, while addressing the universality of these experiences among women. Opening the textiles with tools drawn from each woman’s story. Each piece exists in a constant state of change: as layers are opened and the textile is manipulated, new colors and materials emerge, so the work never settles into a single fixed state. This means a piece can be reshaped and reconfigured for different spaces and contexts rather than existing as one final object, extending the life and relevance of a single piece rather than producing new work for every new context. This mirrors how identity and memory are never static but continuously reshaped over time, bringing together material practice, adaptability, and biography as inseparable. With this series I hope that these resilient women will inspire others. The textiles are not fixed, because the lives they hold never were.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Working with our partners at Arts Thread to develop lifelong learning and career opportunities for students of fashion and design. Our partnership provides the opportunity to compete on a world stage, participate in industry led workshops, set up an outstanding portfolio and gain access to the resources that will kickstart careers in fashion and design.